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Information: "Banjo Backup"In 1979 I was editor of the "Bluegrass Breakdown" which is the newsletter for the California Bluegrass Association. I decided to run a series of articles which would talk about rhythm and backup in a bluegrass band, using interviews with top players in the area at the time (occasionally I was able to snag someone from out of the area).This is the second article in the series, this one featuring the banjo. The players I interviewed were Larry Cohea, longtime banjo player for High Country, Robbie Macdonald, who played with Pat Enright in the Phantoms of the Opry (along with Laurie Lewis and Paul Shelasky), as well as several other prominent local bands. I've always enjoyed his articulate and thoughtful musings on bluegrass music, as well as his banjo playing. John Hickman should be no stranger to anyone on this list for his fine banjo playing, including a solo album on rounder and many projects with the likes of Byron Berline. Finally, Rick Shubb, probably most well known for the Shubb capo, he was also Tony Furtato's banjo teacher.
In this second article about bluegrass backup, I asked several banjo players to discuss their thoughts on the subject. I really enjoyed the interviews, and I found their comments very informative. Here is what they had to say:
"First of all, I try to listen to the rhythm of the song. Certain songs will have a unique feel that I will try to emphasize. For example, a song might have a medium tempo with a bouncy feel, or it might be a slow song that you would use a teardrop backup on (playing on two strings, using chord positions like a dobro). I start by trying to get the general rhythm feel, and then modify it as I go along when it feels comfortable. I might listen to a recorded version of the song and get any of the classic licks that go with that particular song, especially in the Flatt and Scruggs songs. I never worry about doing it note for note all the way through, or doing it exactly the same way every time. I just try to get the style. Most all of my backup I get from the 1950's Flatt and Scruggs band. I know all the cliches and use them a lot because I really like them. My main concern is playing in time with good tone. I don't try to make a big statement of my own, but just try to make the band sound good.
"Almost all of my backup is working out of chord *positions*, I guess most banjo pIayers do, like J.D. or Sonny or Earl, Sonny also goes into more of his own style, but he does use a lot of chord position backup, I try to emphasise the color note — the tonic note of the chord you're in if it's a major chord, or the 6th or 7th if it's not. You get the 6th and 7th by fretting the fifth string with your thumb. Another thing I try to do on medium or slow songs is to bring the volume up between the words of the song and lower it when the words are being sung. On faster songs this is harder to do, so I try to play rolls, and try to vary the rolls to make it interesting.
"Sometimes I play a walking backup between chord positions using rolls or vamps by playing a run on one string, and play a chord position of each note (ed. note: the famous run down the neck in Dixie Breakdown would be an example of this idea). Another thing I do is to use the cliche licks, but start them at different times, even on a different chord, and run it through the chord change. Actually, if you just pick up a few of the things to do in the backup out of chord positions, it will go a long way."
"I think the most important thing is to develop the ability to *listen* to the rest of the musicians. You have to develop a *subjective* way of complimenting the other members of the band. By this I mean that what you play is completely dependent upon what the others are playing, and you try to make your combined individual efforts create an overall effect.
"If I had to limit this description to one word, *texture* would be the word I would use. Texture is the layering of tones and rhythms. You need to discern, for example, whether to add a rhythmic or a harmonic effect, and that all depends on what the other musicians are doing. Rolls give you one kind of rhythmic sound — sort of a tumbling, rolling effect, whereas pinches would be more of a percussive sound. Scruggs is a master of managing to play a harmony line behind the lead. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you need to develop an instinct for supplying the needed qualities in the band sound. The band should create a broad range of tones, and texturing is the layering of tones. It's also thinking in terms of *sounds* rather than notes — rolls, long slides, pinches. Slides give a slinky texture — Scruggs used forward and backward slides masterfully for a swoopy or breathless effect, where lots of notes might have made the sound more machine gun like.
"I think it's very important that you don't play melody behind the melody. You can follow the general line of the melody with a counter-melody, using some of the harmony notes. This can apply rhythmically also — listen to the lead rhythm and then supply a counter rhythm or a continuation rhythm. This is texturing by adding sub-layers of rhythmic and harmonic backup.
"Tone quality is important in backup (as it is in lead), but it is one of the most underrated aspects of playing. The banjo is inherently notey, and a common mistake of beginning banjo players is to play too many notes. The thing about the playing of great banjo players like J.D. Crowe, Earl Scruggs, and Sonny Osborne is that they get such fat notes, drawing as much tone as possible out of their instrument. This gives it more of a relaxed quality. I think it's important for lead and backup to achieve a maximum fat tone. With a fat tone, you need fewer notes to fill in to make your playing sound complete. Dynamic slides use the full effect of few notes and lots of tone to achieve this. Picking the strings close to the neck on these slides helps with the sustain.
"Backup is often pieces and fragments (as opposed to lead playing) to avoid cluttering the overall band sound. It's definitely a mistake to put lead thinking into backup. The idea is to fit your notes around the lead — too much will interfere, too little leaves holes. Listen for holes to fill and try not to duplicate the other fills. You really have to develop a bit of humility — each situation is different and you develop this subjective, moment-to-moment complimenting of the other musicians to achieve a compounding effect for the band sound. You sort of build a sound by fitting your notes around or between the other notes. The best advice is to remember that less is required than you might think. Pinches are good — in the right place they augment the rhythm, and they are very emphatic, especially in the pause right after a vocal. If you play a lower volume backup on the vocal and increase it for the breaks, the dynamics creates an exciting transition, a surge.
Once the break is going, back off to let the lead take its course. It's really important to emphasize the transitions, and the beginning and ending of the tune also. When you end, make it clear. Usually you bring the volume up at the end, and you could try to play a different inversion of the final chord than what the others end on in order to make a fuller sound — a more complete final chord.
"I would like to emphasize the point of subjectivity. It all depends upon what's going on around you as you are playing."
"As the banjo player, I try to listen to the other musicians in the group I'm playing with for a "band sound". The best band is the one that has five (or however many) musicians working to produce a whole, rather than "every man for himself" with each one trying to show how much he knows.
"I listen for holes — maybe at the end of a vocal line or in transition from vocal to instrumental break. These are chances to add sound — to enhance the sound. The banjo is bright and percussive by nature so you have to be careful not to overpower what's in front.
"While the fiddle is in the lead if it's mostly playing notes I'll try to chunk. One method is to chord in the same position as the fiddle. For instance, if the fiddle is noting in the second position of that chord, I'll go to the second position of the chord on the banjo, and so on. If it is doing long bow double stops or noting on an up-tempo number I like to roll in the first position. When the mandolin is in the lead I usually resort to simple chunking to fill in what the mandolin would be doing if it were chunking rhythm. Occasionally, if the mandolin is playing slow tremolo or fast tremolo I'll switch to a roll pattern.
"If you're just getting started at working on backup listen to Earl Scruggs. The Mercury period before the dobro is the best, but anything up to about 62 or 63 is good. Earl is the one who wrote the book on back up banjo. J.D. Crowe and Sonny Osborne each have over 50 hours of Earl on tape that they study constantly.
"The two most important aspects of backup (or any aspect of the music) are timing and taste. Get your timing down first. If it's wrong there's little point in playing. Taste comes later, with experience. Three or four notes played just right at the right time can be much more effective and more impressive than a barrage of fireworks.
"Listen to a lot of banjo players: watch them work. Then go back and listen to Scruggs again."
"First we should talk generally about some qualities which are essential in playing music with other people. Sensitivity, patience, restraint, responsiveness, flexibility — qualities which, I'm sorry to say, don't always seem to be associated with banjo playing these days, But a good musician will exercise all of these in relating to other musicians. It's most important to keep listening and add just those facets of your own style which will make the most satisfying overall sound. Relax, don't create a pressure to urgently prove your self, but really get into feeling the pulse of the rhythm and the blend of tones. Don't think too hard about licks and rolls and fingerings and patterns..if you're ready to play with people, those mechanical considerations should be filed away in the back of your brain by now, not up front distracting you from your real job..listening to exactly what's happening now.
"Bluegrass is a style that is easily reduced to formulas and rules. They become the guidelines which define the style, and when you're learning to play they must be thoroughly studied and absorbed. There's no substitute for that phase of learning, it's the foundation you build on.. but it's not the end. Listen to Earl Scruggs about 18 hours a day. The old stuff. But listen deeper than just his notes. Try to imagine how his hands must have felt when he was producing that TONE. Imagine you're hearing Lester Flatt sing "Baby Blue Eyes" for the first time, and you have to decide how it goes on the banjo. No record to listen to, no tablature. Just you and Lester.
Scared? Earl wasn't, even though he was playing a style nobody else played. Do you see what I'm getting at? Scruggs is so much more than his licks. Learn as many of them as you want to, but realize that what you're after is what's behind them.. the integrity of style, the continuity, that powerful, subtle rhythm — what genius! Listen through his hands all the way to his soul, because that's what he's really offering. Then move on, because you can't BE him. But if *you* can be *you* as solidly as he is him, you'll have really learned the lesson.
"Much of playing backup has to do with exploring contrasts in texture. It's important to not get tangled up with the lead, so any time you sense that happening, avoid melody notes, but mainly try to emphasize the rhythmical differences between instruments (including the voice). You can usually play a more complex, forceful line behind a fiddle or voice than behind a mandolin or guitar, because there is greater contrast with the longer sustained notes. Some people feel that an upbeat chop always has to be present in a bluegrass band, and while it's usually carried by the mandolin, should be picked up by either the fiddle or the banjo when the mandolin is doing something else. I think it sounds good for that chop to be there often, but not necessarily always. For example, when the mandolin begins a break I often find it effective to chop chords for the first few measures so there won't be a jarring shift in rhythm, but then phase into a slightly more elaborate backup over the course of the break.
It's most important, of course, to remain supportive and not competitive. Keep paying attention and always be responsive to the lead. That is not to say that backup must be devoid of character, far from it. You don't need to sacrifice your personality to be supportive, just be careful that you are not competing for attention with the lead. But a lead shouLd not be played oblivious to the backup, either. How many times have I said "keep listening" now?
That sounds so obvious that it almost feels stupid to keep saying; it, except that people don't always do it. But any time good musicians get together they will, and they'll discover the subtleties of each other's musical personalities, and blend them to form something new. It's one of the greatest pleasures I know about.
"Every musician is unique, and to back some one up in a rigid, pre-conceived way would be missing the point."