Banjo lesson — "Bully For All," Irish Jig from Frank B. Converse's Banjo Method (1865)

Описание: "Bully For All" played as written in Frank B. Converse's "New and Complete Method for the Banjo With or Without a Master" published 1865. Irish Jigs, entirely absent from the earliest collections of banjo music (Elias Howe's Complete Preceptor for the Banjo (1851), Briggs' Banjo Instructor (1855), and Phil Rice's Banjo Method (1858) make their first appearance in Buckley's 1860 Banjo Method and are prominently featured in Converse's 1865 Banjo Method, no doubt reflecting the influx of Irish immigrants which took place in the preceding decades and during Mr. Lincoln's War.

My arrangement differs from Converse's only in right hand technique. Whereas Converse's contains extensive melodic runs played by exclusively by the thumb (which I find produces a very stiff sounding melody), I adhere to an alternating index/thumb (or thumb/index) pattern as closely as possible throughout the piece. My long time mentor, Joe Ayers, distilled this approach from the early banjo methods. While many describe this as "Ayers Style," Mr. Ayers argues that it is in fact the original "banjo style" in its purest form having been passed down from African sources. In this style of playing, which facilitates the playing of complex and ornate melodies, the outside of the index fingernail and the pad of the thumb can almost be thought of as alternate sides of a pick. There is no up-picking involved.