Boney's Big Band

[Boney]

I've dabbled only slightly in stringed instruments over the years, and never really got along with them. But recently I came across the Dobro Tenortrope. Besides having a cool name, it looks cool -- kind of like a wooden tenor banjo with a metal face grill. Besides looking cool, it sounds cool too -- kind of a cross between a guitar and a banjo, with that Dobro nasal twang. They're not very common -- so in one of those "If I don't get it before someone else does, I'll probably regret it forever" moments, I bought it. It has 4 strings and a 21.5" scale, and I've tuned it GDAE like an Irish tenor banjo. I got it just two days ago, and it's a lot of fun! I figured out the D Major scale, and started fooling around. It seems easy to pick out tunes -- I occasionally accidentally hit a few notes which reminded me of a tune, then figured out large parts of the rest of it. I decided to learn "Over The Waterfall," the first tune I could play decently on whistle (before I got a concertina). I can get through it slowly with only a few mistakes, so I decided to record it for posterity and practice, not worrying about roughness, slapping a few extra strings here and there, keeping it loose and fun but steady -- here's the (unedited) result:

 

http://concertina.JeffLeff.com/audio/water1.mp3

 

So I wondered how it would sound with concertina, and a few minutes later, I had overdubbed my faithful Geuns-Wakker C/G anglo concertina, while realizing how slow the tempo really was, but it sounded kinda cool and lopey:

 

http://concertina.JeffLeff.com/audio/water2.mp3

 

Well, why not add whistle for old-time's sake, this is a Busman wooden D pennywhistle:

 

http://concertina.JeffLeff.com/audio/water3.mp3

 

At this point I couldn't resist adding bones (buffalo and cow ribs):

 

http://concertina.JeffLeff.com/audio/water4.mp3

 

Make what you will of it, it made me giggle listening back to it, and it was a learning experience (otherwise it wouldn't be in this forum, would it?).

[Henk van Aalten]

Make what you will of it, it made me giggle listening back to it, and it was a learning experience (otherwise it wouldn't be in this forum, would it?).

Jeff I really enjoyed it. That's a great new toy that you've got!!

[klaus guhl]

You can also try GDAD Tuning. I did it on my irish bouzouki and a lot of chords are very easy to play (e.c. Dmaj with one finger) and a lot of fun too.

Edited March 4, 2006 by klaus guhl

[Mark Evans]

I enjoyed that very much Jeff.

 

I'd heard tell of such an abonination as a Dobro/banjo but never had seen one. I have run into mandolin/resonator guitar/banjo spawn though . Your Dobro looks to be in excellent shape and I'd venture to guess, collectable. Please, for the sake of community standards and humanity in general, don't let any bluegrass banjo players near it or buy it off you. They'll put a fifth string peg on the beast and unleach woe and wailing upon the unsuspecting !

 

Fun to hear each instrument and then all together.

Edited March 4, 2006 by Mark Evans

[Henrik Müller]

Great stuff, Jeff, and congratulations with your new thing!

 

- and I thought that I had seen it all, but never this metal-ended banjo - must indeed be rare. Stay with it!

/Henrik

[CaryK]

Totally enjoyed your piece, Jeff. How neat to be a digital one-man band. The concertina really filled out the tune, but I liked the dobro sound being dominant. I'm saving your piece for my son to hear when he gets home from college. He's getting into mixing guitar parts with his own equipment. Keep it up.

[bellowbelle]

Nice!