[Dixielandjazz] One for Brother Gunter

[Bill Gunter]

Hi all,

Ron Wheeler writes (regarding a Dutch washboard player):

>Seems he lays the instrument flat on his lap and plays it that way.  I 
>would
>assume that that has a definite muting effect on the sound.  Ever seen it
>done this way Bill?

Yes, it's fairly common in Europe. Matter of fact, I call that the "European 
Style" of washboard playing. I don't know if the term is in common usage, 
but there it is.

There are a couple of variations on the European washboard-on-lap technique. 
Gerard Bagot, washboardist with the wonderful "Paris Washboard" quartet from 
France plays with the corrugated surface flat on a table top at which he is 
seated. And then there was a sort of marching band from Germany called 
"Herman's Fire Brigade" in which the musicians wore firemen's uniforms and 
the washboard player had his washboard in a traylike position (parallel to 
the ground) with a strap that went from the outer edges up around his neck . 
. . sort of like those trays the "cigarette girls" in older fashionable 
night clubs (they appeared in old movies a lot) used carry around.

In "American Style" the washboard is usually vertical and is held in place 
with a sort of "guitar strap" - there are two variations on this. (1) the 
washboard is flat against one's chest and the player reached around the 
sides and scrapes the board with thimbles or whatever and (2) the washboard 
is vertical in front of the "musician" but instead of flat against the chest 
it juts straight out at a 90 degree angle and the player scrapes on both 
sides of the board.

This is waaayyy more information that you'll ever need to know so I'll stop 
here before somebody shoots me.

Respectfully submitted,

Bill "knock bang thud biff click boom" Gunter
jazzboard at hotmail.com