[Dixielandjazz] Guitar vs. Banjo

[Scott Anthony]

I didn't mean to start a big controversy, but a guitar neck married to a 
banjo "bottom" (better known as a body) is still a banjo, not a guitar. As 
such, it inherently has greater volume. If you could make a guitar top as 
thin as a banjo head, you'd probably have an instrument equally as loud - 
however, it wouldn't last very long - it would cave in as soon as you tuned 
it up.

The reason guitars could not be picked up in early recording is they were 
NOT LOUD ENOUGH. Banjos are LOUD, especially tenor banjos because they are 
high pitched.

As for Condon, did he not have at least a mic in front of him? If so, I 
would consider his guitar to be "amplified" if not what is now considered to 
be an "electric" guitar with a pickup.

All I can say is that banjos are louder and with less sustain than guitars, 
whether 4 or 6-string. The use of either depends on what kind of sound is 
desired. Before amplification, whether with or without a mic, you could 
always hear a banjo more than a guitar.

Scott Anthony




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 12:01 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Guitar vs. Banjo


> As to why Freddie almost never (I think he soloed once or twice) took a
> solo, best to let him tell us. See the below interview published in
> Downbeat. (snipped).
>
> As to hearing Condon's guitar, I have him on Mosaic CDs where you can 
> easily
> hear his guitar. Plus, be assured that when one saw Condon live, at his
> joint on 3rd Street in the Village, one could always hear his guitar. Even
> when Davison and Brunies were competing to see who could blow louder, 
> before
> Brunies moved to Chicago. (Very loud band then)
>
> Just as one could hear the "changes" and "altered chords" of Freddie Green
> as he anchored the Basie rhythm section and comped behind the soloists.
>
> The why lots of banjo on earlier recordings? Simply because early 
> recording
> technology could not pick up the sound of an um-amplified guitar very 
> well.
> So those early guitarists, pre -recording years switched to banjo. Check 
> out
> Johnny St Cyr's axe, with that "Guitar Neck" married to a banjo bottom.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
> Freddie Green - Guitar Who Welds The Band
>
> Periodical: Down Beat Date: July 14, 1954
>
> "You know what I call Freddie Green?" volunteered Count Basie. "He's a
> tie-up man, because he's not only very steady for the rhythm section, but 
> he
> actually holds the band together." Basie's tribute to his long term
> guitarist has been echoed for years by musicians of all jazz styles,
> musicians who appreciate how important Freddie has been for 17 years to 
> the
> most rhythmically vital big band in jazz history.
>
> Yet in terms of general publicity, the last of the great unamplifieds has
> been taken for granted so long that rarely have any of Green's experienced
> views been published on the nature of jazz rhythm and the function of the
> rhythm guitar. In all these years, for example, Freddie has never recorded 
> a
> real solo for the Basie band. "I like to listen to guitar solos, " he
> explains, "but when I first came into the band, I was told that the band 
> was
> built around the rhythm section and that rhythm was the important thing 
> for
> us to concentrate on, so that was it.
>
> "Now I've played rhythm so long it's just the same as playing solos as far
> as I'm concerned. The rhythm guitar, I've found, is very important, though 
> I
> didn't think that way in the beginning. For one thing, it kind of smooths
> the beat out. The rhythm of a performance has what I call a 'rhythm wave',
> and the rhythm guitar can help keep that wave smooth and accurate.
>
> "As for whether I play altered chords or otherwise experiment 
> harmonically,
> it depends. If I feel the other half of the rhythm section is getting out 
> of
> the groove, I have to keep playing the basic rhythm to bring the waves 
> back
> even again. Or if the drummer takes a break, there's a tendency for the
> rhythm section to get out of the groove when he comes back in, so I have 
> to
> keep the beat going.
>
> "In general, being a rhythm guitarist, I have to concentrate on that beat
> from beginning to end, listening for how smooth it is. If the band is 
> moving
> exceptionally smoothly, then I can play whatever comes to mind, but that
> doesn't happen too often. Almost all the time I'm concentrating on the
> rhythm wave.
>
> "And Basie's piano certainly contributes to making the rhythm smooth. He
> contributes the missing things. I feel very comfortable working with him
> because he always seems to know the right thing to play for rhythm. Count 
> is
> also just about the best piano player I know for pushing a band and 
> comping
> for soloists. I mean the way he makes different preparations for each
> soloist, and the way, at the end of one of his solos, he prepares an
> entrance for the next man. He leaves the way open."
>
>
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