OK... so I'm stretching the point here, but I'm just passing time until the epic battle of the Keyboard Godesses between Marcia and Elena... :rolleyes:

There aren't any other appearances of a banjo on a Fall song, are there? :unsure:

There's a uke on Peel Nazis, which is pretty similar (& better than the 2 above)

mmm - its bonkers - really really funny..... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Best banjo player not shown in your choice it's little "Stewy" from the cartoon series "Family Guy". B)

didn't doc watson play banjo too?

cheers!
marco

DAVE DAY :applaud: :applaud:
of the Monks.

Hey no one beats Una Baines. Shes the Hip Priestess on the Keyboard as far as IM concerned, with Julia Nagle coming a close second... Elena next... Then probably Ivoynne Pawlet...

:)
thank you middle class rebel!
you've reminded me of some delighting excerpts from dave thompson's "A User's Guide To THE FALL" (pp. 17&18):
[...]
In early May, The Fall were invited to make their own live debut at the MMC, sandwiched between a Socialist brass band and a performer who created symphonies from taped bird calls. They accepted - and then started to worry.
Despite some nine months of preparation, The Fall were by no means ready to play a live show, even in the presence of friends and like-minded bystanders. Baines was still waiting for the bank to process the loan application that would pay for her keyboard, while the band itself was still without a drummer. But they were not going to spurn the offer. While Baines opted to remain in the audience for the occasion, a drum-playing insurance salesman named Dave was recruited through an ad, and rudely introduced to the fledging group's repertoire.
But the muting confines of the band's practice space - usually somebody's flat - prepared neither Dave nor the rest of the band for what happened when The Fall hit the stage for the first time. While Bramah, Friel and Dave stuck more or less to whatever passed as the scripted arrangements, Smith let rip with a logorrhoeac howling that Baines later confessed 'scared me. I don't know what the fuck he was doing. I've never heard him do that before!'.
The audience, too, was taken aback. However many people were in the room - and they weren't many - most of them were musicians (many were members, past and present, of The Buzzcocks) and all were well-acquainted with the far musical limits of the MMC's remit. But even they were stunned by the verbal dervish into which Smith transformed himself. [...]
[...]
Baines' keyboard finally arrived just days before an equipment review in one of the music papers declared her chosen model, the aptly-named Snoopy Piano, to be the very worst instrument available on the market. [...]
[...]

i've typed too much now: my toes ache.
gonna listen to BLUE ORCHIDS' "The Sleeper"


ciao!
marco

Ive got A Darker Bloom ans From Severe to Serene but I dont have Greatest Hit or Sleeper. Whats on Sleeper? Anything exciting? Amazon dont have any track listings for it, helpfully... I think Una Baines keyboards are the best thing about the Blue Orchids, just listen to The Flood or Disney Boys. Brilliant. The Peel Session version of Bad Education is wonderful. Bramahs voice is quite good and his guitar playing can be genius at times, but the later stuff (Thirst?) without Baines sounds a little dull, like a Mancunian Del Amitri. Una was really hot in her youth. Dunno what she looks like now. The pics of her Ive seen of yesteryear... Has anyone noticed the similarity of appearence betwwen Elena and the actress Chloe Annette?

how did u get her eyes so golden adam yer perv :lol:

banjo = dave day... very true :D

So what's the difference between a ukelele and a banjo?

I need enlightenment on this.

i like THE SLEEPER...
...there are a "thank to" marcia schofield in the sleeve notes & a nice
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
sung by a woman's voice in the 'out of sight' track...
...the 'thirst' & 'sleepy town' tracks remind me of some fallfandave's tunes...
... :wub: ... -_- ...
... :beer: ... :zzzz: ...

:whistle:


ciao!
marco

A ukele is an ethnic instrument from Hawaii. Dont know where the bangos from but its also larger (longer fret board) than a ukele...

a banjo has a much dryer sound...percussive really.....the ukelele sounds more string-like ...like a rough sounding classical guitar.... sounds a bit toy like

`
a.k.a. Hi Tiddley Hi Ti Island :P

Banjo has steel strings, usually 5, round body, skinned like a drum. I believe was a creation of slaves in America. Watch the start of Deliverance.
Uke looks like a kids guitar, 4 gut/nylon strings. watcj Joe Brown at end of George Harrison wank epic concert.
Both are "strung" in the violin style which is an upside down guitar style. I know nothing of music theory. laugh quietly to yourselves.
to ad confusion, George Formby, another great lancastrian, played a "banjolelele" or something like that. My old school mate watty's dad owned a signed, authentic Formby banjolele. We used to play "smoke on the water" on it. Looks like a kids banjo. watch any of those crap films.
The older I get the more I think "I should buy a ukelele"

The banjo was imported by African slaves to the US. It originated as a gourd instrument. Yes, generally 5 strings, though there are 4 string (tenor and plectrum) banjos, and even 6 string banjos that are tuned like a guitar.

The ukulele is a Hawaiian islands derivation of a Portuguese instrument called the braguinha. The islanders saw Portuguese sailors playing them and the term "ukulele" means "jumping flea"-- presumably the islanders thought the fingers of the sailors looked like fleas jumping on a fretboard. Ukuleles now are played with nylon strings.

Neither instrument has an "upside-down, violin-style" tuning...I am not sure what that even IS, but both the the 5-string (bluegrass) banjo and standard ukulele have what is called "re-entrant" tuning, where the first string (generally the lowest in pitch) is higher than the one below it.

I know this trivial trivia just because I went though a period of getting into old pre- war country and blues music and took up these instruments along with mandolin for several years. The ukulele I still play. Don't laugh or we're going outside.

I'll be getting my first guitar in about 5 years here pretty soon. Anyolne wanna start a long distance band?

Hey Fallfans-- you SHOULD buy a ukulele! They are a blast, cheap and easy to transport. If you play guitar or another stringed instrument, it's a breeze.

Funnily enough, I'd never heard a single Blue Orchids tune, but I bought a 12" of these 2 tracks at a charity shop yesterday.

Not bad - I quite like the 80's indie-dub variations at the end of Thirst (I presume these are extended versions). Also, nice inept Fall-esque keys in Sleepy Town.

Trouble is, I find the 80's papery drums quite unexciting - they should have got Karl Burns in! Then again, in that case they may as well have had MES on vocals... ;)

re tuning, a guitar goes E-A-D-G-B-E, I understood the strings on a banjo /uke/mandolin/violin went E-B-G-D, but I know nothing about these things, I just picked up a mandolin once & leapt to a few assumtions.
Maybe I will buy one- and a book!
Thanks.

fallfans,

mandolins are tuned GDAE like violins.

ukes generally GCEA (with the G higher in pitch than the C and E strings)

banjo usually GDGBD (with the 1st G higher than the D string-- this is more or less the equivalent of an open G chord from a guitar.)

There are a zillion variations on all of them.

If you ever lean towards a ukulele or banjo uke (louder than satan), look me up. I can send you a bunch of chord diagrams and songs and crap.

One cool thing about uke-- you find tablature for guitar for a certain song, you play the equivalent chord on the uke. No transposing!

...that me be the ONLY cool thing about uke to most people, but they are a blast. Lots of modern pop songs sound cool on 'em as well as tin pan alley and hawaiian stuff.

And I LIKE George Formby, dammit!

:nahnah:

Fantastic! if I had thought about it, a bit, I could have worked the mandolin tuning... maybe.
I watched the "goodbye george harrison" show, pompous nonesnse on the whole, but, as I have stated before, i like the Beatles, anyway, the best 2 bits were Sir Paul with his take on "something" & Joe Brown's understated I"ll see you in my dreams tonight"... which was the saving grace... both Uke songs
what do you like about George Formby then? I used to live in the Isle of Man, who take him as an adopted son.... sums the place up really.
thanks Mr Bat.

Re: G. Formby.... I never thought to list why I like him. For one, he seems to personify British showbiz of the era, bringing to light the UK equivalent of Tin Pan Alley tunes and that.

By all accounts, he was terribly henpecked by a domineering wife, but his music is very cheerful. His father, incidentally, was also a reknowned performer ealier on.

Formby was an ace-- I mean ACE banjo-uke strummer. There is a slew of "Formby strume" that many uke players endeavour to learn.

Just a host of great tunes. Yes, most seem cheesy in the light of modernism, but he was a hell of an entertainer. Plus I just have a bias for things that come from your side of the Atlantic.

Was he Manx? I didn't know....

Now, you let me know if you need some uke tips!

I always thought Peter tork from the monkees was a top banjo player. I have a live cd of the monkees from 1967 in which peter plays a banjo piece called "cripple creek" and its fllipin great! Anyway errr thats enough! :blink: