First of all, Rob, it's great to have you here. I've seen your vids
on YouTube and you are an historical musician of astonishing depth and
experience. It's great that you're learning minstrel banjo. I look
forward to plenty of interesting interaction with you on this board.
On Sep 12, 5:48 am, RobMac <
luteplay...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> I'm wondering if things are not
> so clear cut there also, and what we have from these two gentlemen are
> ''stylistically acceptable variants''?
I don't have a tutor in front of me right this second, but yes, both
of those examples you gave can be found in the early method books.
> Am I alone in finding the triplet in bars 12 and 16 very difficult?
> Could one do an 'alternate string pull off' on the first string? Bob
> actually gives an alternative bar which is easier.
Yeah, them triplets are a bitch! I've experiemented with pull-offs
and various other methods of playing those phrases. Let your
concience be your guide. Like any other style, you won't regret
woodshedding the material "as given."
Bob Flesher is a hell of a banjo player, one of the all time greats,
and his minstrel style playing and instruction material is easily one
of the most important factors in this micro-genre's popularity. I
might opine that his variations are "his" and the student might be
advised not to overdo them- but that's just an opinion.
>So, I guess the answer is to work from the original publication or
> facsimile.
That's the opinion of a good many of us here. Our resident troll
would disagree (you'll meet him soon enough) but in any case, one must
eventually get away from the tab books if for no other reason that not
nearly all of the material has been tabbed. Besides, reading minstrel
notation is not all that hard- there's not that many notes!
Once again, great to have you here.