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| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner | Page: 1 2   |
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| Classical guitars and folk music. | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Thu Sep 29th, 2005 11:34 pm |
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1st Post |
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Rex Approved
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Both of my guitars have nylon strings and wide necks. I like them that way. I play fingerstyle mostly but also use a pick. I have been told I am playing the wrong guitar for bluegrass. Folkies seem to be more open minded about what instruments one plays. I jam with my bluegrass and Gospel music buddies and we have fun. Anyone here have any thoughts on using nylon string guitars for folk music? I also play regular classical on my guitars, but that is more of a solo thing. The real fun is getting together with others and playing and singing.
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30th, 2005 12:54 am |
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2nd Post |
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1four5 Approved 
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The real fun is getting together with others and playing and singing. That's the answer  The first six months of my playing were done on a nylon string classical guitar. And quess what I was playing...blues  I've learned several classical pieces...and don't hesitate to play them on a steel stringed dreadnaught guitar or my reso. I play banjo tunes on my uke, and play slide on my banjo...etc...etc...etc... Bottom line, they are my instruments, and I'll play them babies any way I want Play your guitars, enjoy them, sing, and if anyone disagrees, hit them over the head with their guitar
____________________ These are the good times! |
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30th, 2005 04:15 am |
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3rd Post |
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banjo brad Super Moderator 
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Rex- Classical guitars are fine for folk music. The bluegrassers have volume sickness, so the sweet dulcet tones of the fingerpicked nylon stringed guitar is lost to them. I have been playing folk music since the late 50's, and, influenced early on by Peter, Paul and Mary, The Limelighters, and Bud and Travis, have always used my Goya G10. As long as you like the sounds of your guitar, stick to it. Other banjo players look askance at my Deering Good Time, but I like the sound of it, so that's their problem. The only problem you might have is do you really want to stick that strap button on the body (I got around that with a strap that used a padded hook in the sound hole, ala B&S).  Keep on pickin'Brad ps. I also studied (mostly on my own) classical guitar for 30 years or so. Used the same Goya.
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30th, 2005 05:15 am |
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4th Post |
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Austonian Approved 
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i agree with everyone else -if you like what you have play it. i collect the old "Harmony' guitars and people sometimes give me a quick look wondering 'why don't you play your Fenders etc... i like the sound and feel of old instruments. they played them back when and times have not changed to me-concerning fine musical instruments. my 60's Harmony's are no different to me than someone's 57' Fender strat. Have Fun and thanks for the post! also - 'Rex' is my middle name...... Last edited on Fri Sep 30th, 2005 05:23 am by Austonian |
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| Posted: Sun Oct 2nd, 2005 02:24 am |
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5th Post |
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Rex Approved
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Thanks for the thumbs up. I have never encountered a problem playing my classical with others, but I also know that people are sometimes just too nice to say anything. As soon as you leave then the comments start. On the internet folks seem ready to give their 2 cents worth. My main instrument is a Manuel Rodriguez C1, made in Madrid.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18th, 2006 12:26 pm |
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6th Post |
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WOTE Approved 
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Well now! If I send you an MP3 of a rhythm guitar say about 3 min. long and then you could send me back the picking tune you put to it, and we could say we had virtual internet Jam!
____________________ Poverty is the war of mankind |
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18th, 2006 03:27 pm |
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7th Post |
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Philj200 Approved 
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Wote...Please post it and we'll see what can happen. Rex... Some people get all high-hat or more ethnic-than-thou. Blow 'em a raspberry and play the music the way your talents and tastes direct you. Yesterday, as a big music thing in Brooklyn, I played some two banjo tunes with a guy from Harrisburg PA, (never got his name). I had a long-neck, steel-strung banjo. He had a real beauty of a late 19th century instrument with gut (he really used nylon) strings. And he knew what he was doing. Lots of jigs and reels ... a soft gentle sound, with me playing chords, and ersatz counter-tones. The music sounded terrific. The banjos were from different centuries. And no one gave a damn.
____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18th, 2006 05:10 pm |
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8th Post |
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banjo brad Super Moderator
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WOTE & Rex - Check out this thread: http://www.ezfolk.com/forums/forum26/2330.html Always ready to try something new. Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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| Posted: Thu Sep 21st, 2006 01:21 am |
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9th Post |
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CMHansen Approved 
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I agree with everybody here to. If you like the sound and the feel of playing with the nylon, do it. It may not be traditional, but maybe you'll just start a new trend. 
____________________ Chris. 'My Music' |
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| Posted: Thu Sep 21st, 2006 12:42 pm |
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10th Post |
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kvngermain Approved
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The very word "Traditional" me thinks is deceptive, and I have struggled with its implications and will continue to do so. I agree with everybody else here, if sounds good don't fix it!
____________________ Psychedelic folk fused with the traditions of Sufism or some Turkish Oud Music |
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| Posted: Fri Sep 22nd, 2006 02:31 am |
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11th Post |
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CMHansen Approved
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I really don't like the word 'traditional' either but I don't know of another word that would actually fit there and people would understand. When you say traditional you thing steel string, or at least I do. But it also might mean, not inventive. Which I don't like either. 
____________________ Chris. 'My Music' |
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| Posted: Fri Sep 22nd, 2006 01:25 pm |
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12th Post |
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garyblanchard Approved 
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I find that some folks have a very limited sense of what is "acceptable." They get caught in a "tradition" that is probably much more recent than they imagine, and can't get their heads around someone who steps outside the box. Me, I do what I want, and if folks don't accept it, whose problem is it? I read threads on various boards over the years complaining about people who brought inappropriate instruments to jams, who weren't "good enough" to play in jams, offered an unacceptable song, and so forth; I vowed to keep away from jams. Thankfully, a recent move left me longing to play music with folks, so I went to a jam at a local music shop. I have so far brought my acoustic/electric guitar (not plugged in, Brad ), my round-neck resonator guitar, and my mandolin (which I barely know how to play). These folks are welcoming and encouraging. The music last night varied from "pure" bluegrass, to folk, to classic country, some Townes Van Zandt, and even some jug band music. We had a ball.Continue to play your nylon string guitar, and find some folks who are more interested in having fun than following some unwritten rules about what is acceptable. 
____________________ http://www.GBandF.com http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/919/audio.php?p=1 |
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| Posted: Fri Sep 22nd, 2006 03:44 pm |
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13th Post |
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Philj200 Approved
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While this may be redirecting someone else's thread... but I could not agree more. Most of what we accept as "folk" music was professional entertainment done by musicians for pay. They performed to the best of their abilities with the best instruments on hand. And when they lived long enough to have their set overlap with the ability to record them, they recorded to the best of the economic/technical envelope they could fit in. If the original Carter family were recording today, they would not sound the Carter family. Shana Twain, had she performed to audiences in the 1920s might have sounded less suggestive and more Maybelle. Add to the fact that (in my humble opinion) most serious folkies today are better musicians than a heck of a lot of the old timers, we are in a tail-wagging the dog situation. Doc Watson is so much a better musician than let's say Jimmie Rodgers that if one of them was a women, they could not breed viable young. We listen with veneration to scratchy old field recordings and are expected to be awed. Noooo. I hear people who had a naivite, an enthusiasm, a pioneer tone. But pioneers lived in huts. The following generations built cities named after the pioneers. And they lived better. I like the old stuff...clunkers, poor timey, aweful recordings, mumbles. mistakes and all. But I can name dozens of better musicians in the same genres who wouldn't recognize a mule if it kicked them. We all can. Half the posters on this board could trade lickes most pros from "Golden Age." What the hell, I'm on a roll... Gus Cannon began a great tradition. He did not perfect it. The blues did not die with Blind Lemon Jefferson on that cold night in Chicago. And if bluegrasss most only repeat it's roots, why did Bill go on after Charlie died. Bugs in amber belong in jars. (I shall now get off the soap box and allow the opposition to speak.)
____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27th, 2006 02:32 am |
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14th Post |
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Philj200 Approved
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Geeeselouise, you're letting a perfectly good rant float away.
____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27th, 2006 02:50 pm |
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15th Post |
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garyblanchard Approved
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Phil I am with you here, but that doesn't surprise me, as we seem to think alike. I believe that there is a need to preserve the tradition as it was done by (insert name of artist here), but I feel that we are lucky to have recordings that help us to do that. If an artist wants to continue that tradition in a live performance setting, I think that is great, too. But...I also think that we tend to put too much importance on recordings as the way a song should be done. I am by no means an expert musicologist, but my personal search for origianl recorded versions of songs that I do and my reading indicate that there were usually two takes done of most field recordings; the "better" of the two was released commercially. Some CD's now offer both takes; there are often vast differences between the two. My point is (yes, I have a point in this rambling) that what we have is a snapshot of how a song was done that one time. When we determine that as the way a song should be done, we have placed limitations on the music and on the artist. To me, the "old-time/good-time" tradition that I want to preserve is the tradition of the porch and street corner players, playing music that brings them joy, on the instruments they could build or afford to buy, to the best of their ability, in their style, not to impress others but to bring the joy of music to themselves and others. Now I'll step off my soapbox.
____________________ http://www.GBandF.com http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/919/audio.php?p=1 |
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27th, 2006 04:05 pm |
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16th Post |
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Philj200 Approved
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Radical change of subject to make the point anew: Arthur C. Clarke, the great SF author wrote a book early in his long career called "The City and The Stars." I read it. Great genre reading. Thirty years later and with the book long out of print, the publisher wanted to re-issue it and offered him a chance to edit it, tighten up some of the enthusiasms he had in written long ago. He said he would like to revise the book. But out of loyalty to that ernest young man he used to be, he wanted both books published with a cross reference. The City and The Stars was rewritten and retitled Against the Fall of Night. The same story. One written by a energized young man. The other by a respected scientist and author now mature in his thinking. I read the old one again. And the new one. They were different. I liked them both. Last edited on Wed Sep 27th, 2006 04:06 pm by Philj200 ____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27th, 2006 04:59 pm |
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17th Post |
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Richard Hefner Administrator 
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Hey Phil, I agree with you on a lot of the old music like that. An example is the "Anthology of American Folk Music" edited by Harry Smith, 84 songs on Folkways. It's great for learning some of the old tunes that are now in the public domain but I usually go a little nuts when I try to listen to any of the 6 CDs. Those people were for the most part just plain old people living in the mountains and sharing their songs and carrying on a tradition... not really professionals at all, and they weren't meant to be. I know what you mean about people trying to record them just like they were done on those field recordings. Unless somebody knew those particular recordings really well most people would just think you don't know how to play. On the other hand, there were a lot of people who could tear it up way back when. How about Roy Smeck in the 1920s? Or Django Reinhardt in the 1930s? And don't forget Earl Scruggs in the 1940s. None of those guys had the benefit of all of the modern equipment and practice tools we have now, but there's still nobody really doing it better. I think with all our technology and uppity learning nowadays we sometimes think we somehow have an edge on the oldtimers. I had to laugh the other day when I was snooping around a MySpace banjo forum and somebody who was trying to learn the banjo asked the question: Well duh... none of us stoopid banjo players thought about that before. Now that it's been discovered by a brand new banjo player maybe we'll all start using that technique. On a personal note, back in the early 1970s I had been playing guitar for about a year, complete with a whole stack of tablature books (whatever was available back then) and my wife and I were visiting her sister out in the middle of nowhere in Virginia. It was miles to the nearest small town. Her sister said something like, "Oh, that's great you're playing the guitar. Maybe you can get with our neighbor and play some. He's really good." I remember thinking to myself, "How good could this guy be? Here we are in the middle of nowhere. There's not a music store for probably a hundred miles and this rube's probably never been out of the county." I remember thinking that with my stack of tablature books I could probably give him a few pointers, but we never did make it over there so I didn't get a chance to show him up. Too bad, because I'm pretty sure he didn't even know what tablature was. Oh, I found out later the neighbor's name was Ralph Stanley, and til this day I'm glad I didn't go over there and make an idiot out of myself. 
____________________ Richard Hefner MP3 Page: http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/richardhefner Running Blog: http://old-runner.com |
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27th, 2006 06:59 pm |
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18th Post |
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banjo brad Super Moderator
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Richard said: "but I usually go a little nuts when I try to listen to any of the 6 CDs. Those people were for the most part just plain old people living in the mountains and sharing their songs and carrying on a tradition... not really professionals at all, and they weren't meant to be." Richard- Do you mean that these are field recordings? I haven't heard any of the anthology, but the boxed set I saw (I think it was the same one), gave me the impression that it was not original artists. Guess I was wrong, and now I have to look for the set. I tend to agree with you about the "go a little nuts," remark, but I suspect my definition of the term would be about 180 degrees from yours. I love to listen to these folk! The mere passion they have for their music transcends vocal inadequecies and old, cheap instruments. I like pops and hisses in these records, I really enjoy listening for the living sounds going on behind the player - sometimes you hear the screen door slam, the wife making remarks to someone about what she is cooking, or even about the music. I have heard words being sung in the far background to instrumentals. The "In Sacred Trust" CD is an excellent example of the way I think of folk/traditional/old-time music. While I can't fault anybody (well, maybe a little) for wanting clean, antiseptic takes, I will still prefer my music acoustic and natural. I thank the groups of the commercial folk-scare era for bringing me into the music, but find I spend less and less time listening to their records (PP&M, KT, Joan Baez), and more on the field recordings now getting released by the Library of Congress and the Field Recorders Collective. Here is where the Old music is coming back into the public consciousness, and, hopefully, will be revived asanother generation hears it. [rant off] Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27th, 2006 07:49 pm |
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19th Post |
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Philj200 Approved
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Had a friend who was a devotee of Celtic music... he listened , he studied, he sang, he was quite good...and so full of hilself that when he got going the urge to strangle him was heavy in the air. Once at the old Folklore Center Izzy Young ran on MacDougal Street he got into a red-in-the-face, spittle exchanging eye flare with this little red-haired bebrogued guy. It was over some silliness: Whether the song Bonnie Bunch of Roses was a Scot's song or Jacobean. BFD in my book. I love the song. But it exists for me now. Not in the early 1800's. But my friend had a head of steam up and so did the other guy. So we let them get some exercise. Then after a while I picked up an LP (LP's in those days) and stood behind the little gent, holding it up. There was this guys picture on the cover with some brothers...some Clancy Brothers. Don't teach a dog to suck eggs. Don't argue Celtic tradition with Tommy Machem. ---- Ralph Stanley!?! That would have been a time to clinch mountain your backstep. Last edited on Wed Sep 27th, 2006 08:10 pm by Philj200 ____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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| Posted: Thu Sep 28th, 2006 01:35 am |
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20th Post |
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banjo brad Super Moderator
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"So we let them get some exercise. Then after a while I picked up an LP (LP's in those days) and stood behind the little gent, holding it up. There was this guys picture on the cover with some brothers...some Clancy Brothers. Don't teach a dog to suck eggs. Don't argue Celtic tradition with Tommy Machem." Don't make fun of Superman's cape and Never spit into the wind! I love it! Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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