Classical Banjo

Dan Mooney

Member
Messages
1,920
Location
Portland, Oregon
For those who hear the word Banjo and think it's only for Bluegrass music...

This is Bela Fleck, he plays Bluegrass, Jazz, Fusion, Classical and just about anything else all on the Banjo.

Link
 
Can't watch the video until this evening, but I know already it's going to be good. Bela Fleck is da MAN!
 
had never heard of him before now and after vaughn mentioned he was good i dropped his name on pandora and am enjoy a bunch of his stuff now:) thanks fore the wake call guys
 
Thanks so much for sharing. I LOVE classical guitar and this is also great. I will have to look up more of his music.

How in the heck does a person get both hands/all the fingers working like that??
 
I dig the 'Flecktones' era stuff. All his various projects are great but, "Big Country" has got to be a song that says 'Bela Fleck' to me. It is what I hear in my head whenever I hear his name.

"Big Country" is one of my favorites. On one of my fairly regular playlists, in fact.

I found this live video footage. It's long and I haven't watched it all, but it gives another perspective on the style of music the Flecktones did. Not made for pop music fans, but some top shelf musicianship among all the band members. (Vic Wooten is an amazing bass player.) I really like the Drumitar, too. The guy playing it (who also built it) obviously has some redneck in him, based on the quantity of duct tape used. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88P3Jsy95T8
 
The guys are obviously very talented musicians but I can't stand that style of music. It reminds me of the old beatnik music where it sounds like everyone is playing a different song of random notes at the same time.:rofl:
 
Vaughn, thanks for sharing...that is interesting music that I've never heard before. That Drumitar is a crazy looking instrument. Gonna need to give it all some more listen later tonight....

I'm pretty sure you like it just because of the purple banjo/guitar thing Bella is playing. :D
 
The guys are obviously very talented musicians but I can't stand that style of music...

I can fully understand. Definitely not music for the masses. I can appreciate what it takes to play like that, but I have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to it myself...and even then, I prefer smaller doses of it than some folks do. Still, from an musician's viewpoint, I don't think there any other styles that are more challenging to play.

And Jeff, everyone knows that a purple bantar (or guitanjo, to some) has much better tone than any other color. :D
 
I know what Bob means. Back in the day I used to have cassettes made so I could listen to things that many folks didn't hanker to. I'd label them "Stuff You Don't Hear on the Radio - Vol. 1, 2, 3, etc". :D. The wonderful thing about music is that there is so much of it that there's something for everybody. Why, I've even heard that some people listen to Country Music !?! :rofl:. Just kidding Y'all. There are tons of great songs and musicians in almost any category :thumb:. Thanks to a very diverse upbringing by my old man, I have a taste for a lot of it. Fun stuff!
 
...Why, I've even heard that some people listen to Country Music !?! :rofl:...

Funny you should mention that. These days I've been listening to more country music on the car radio than anything else. After about the millionth listening, even my favorite songs get old to me, so I was burnt out on "classic rock" by about 1992. Some of the newer rock is good, but the radio stations around here don't play much of it. The most interesting/challenging guitar playing I can find on the radio these days is on the county channels. (I generally listen to music to hear the guitars...the lyrics and other instruments are usually secondary.) Plus, a lot of the modern stuff is more like Southern Rock than what I typically think of as "country". Heck, there's even country rap these days. Man, you talk about mixing two poisons and drinking them. :rolleyes: (It's actually not half bad...cowboys don't do the whole "thug life" thing.) :rofl:
 
Well when you guys come up here for our summer meeting you will be treated to my collection of Barbershop quartet CD's :D

Oh no!!!!!
panic.gif
oregonian_scram.gif


Seriously, I wish I could sing good enough to be in a barbershop quartet. Wouldn't want to actually be in the quartet, but I wish I could sing that good. :D
 
Top