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Fingerstyle Productions





 

Butch Robins Master Class
 

REDLAND BAY BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL 2005
MASTER CLASS WITH BUTCH ROBBINS

Interpreted by Wendy Holman
Fingerstyle

  1. Physical fitness.
    • good posture and balance are needed for control
    • banjos are heavy and you may be standing, supporting your own body weight and the banjo for long periods of time.  Butch uses the services of a chiropractor who also practices western and homeopathic medicine.
  2. Find a mentor/coach.  Ditch the ego.
    • a trained observer can help with feedback, to break bad habits and
    • to work out a strategy plan for progress
  3. Technique
    • reduce to the least number of moving parts, eg, fingering economy
  4. Picks - have two sets of fingerpicks
    • least curved adds resistance - to build muscles
    • most curved for actual playing – least resistance, therefore speed
    • Butch recommends the maximum surface area meets the string and
    • 3 types of stroke are possible: under the string,(hooking action), across the string (normal playing angle) and glancing over the string (classical guitar rest-stroke style).
  5. Turns of the string on tuning pegs.
    • minimum number – 1.5 rounds
    • lock them off
  6. Butch uses cam/stop type Keith tuners.
    • He pre-sets these so that on stage he can quickly down-tune to lowest setting then quickly back up at which point the string should be back in tune – as though they have a ‘memory’.
  7. Earl Scruggs Instruction Book – Get it!  Read it!  Apply it!
  8. Who do you want to follow?
    • Scruggs is a linear melody player – close to the melody
    • Reno is more formulaic – plays out of chords and scales
  9. On J.D. Crowe... “He’s a ‘straight’ banjo player.  Straight players are the timekeepers in the band.”
  10. Make A Joyful Noise! – No disclaimers!
    • ie, “But make sure it’s in time”  “that you’re in tune..”  etc
  11. On interpretation... Butch uses the metaphor of the rendering of a house as an analogy for the different philosophies in approach.
    • a photographic rendering – bog standard, but possibilities of light and shade and angle
    • the architectural ‘to scale’ technical approach.  Everything is measured and perhaps clinical?
    • a painting by an artist – more emotional, artistic.  Butch puts Bill Munro into this category
    • the abstract artist’s approach which is cerebral, intellectually stimulating, eg jazz.
  12. Getting the most value from practice time available.  Use metronome. Approx 1.5 mins for each of these exercises
    • Rolls:
      • IMIT,  M (1st string) I (3rd string) T (5th string) open backward roll,
      • T (4th string) I M  T (5th string) I M syncopated triplets (as a forward roll)
      • The same but in sixteenth notes
    • Closed chords and vamping
    • melodic scales
    • Chord hand – fingering exercise 1,2,3,4,  1,2,3,4,  1,2,3,4,  1,2,3,4,  Set metronome at approx 50-100bpm – this is a slow exercise to begin.
      This is one rep.  Do 6 – 8 reps increasing speed and logging failure speed for each.  Set metronome 20 bpm slower than max speed.
  13. Anchor is your forearm over the armrest. 
    • Picking hand must be free to move about and for bracing to exist or not as expression demands
  14. Find the sweet spot on your banjo. 
    • The place where it responds best for general playing.  The place where string tension and muscle capability work best together.
  15. Melody comes out of scales
  16.  “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.” Cultivate a body metronome. 
    • If necessary begin with foot taps. 
    • Pickers need strong sense of ‘big time’ to be able to emphasise beats and/or to be able to syncopate – ie, to emphasise what is normally a weak beat.
  17. On purism:  Without innovation there is no change, no progress.
  18. Butch describes himself as a “Munro Nazi”
    • He believes Bill Munro to be a true creative artist and worthy of intense study.

Highly recommended album:  Grounded, Centered, Focussed
Butch’s website:                         www.butchrobins.com

Fingerstyle Productions, Nambour, Queensland, Australia.

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