When 'Not' to Lay the Thumb to the Five

I hear a lot of banjos players that play as hard as they can, I'm sure it's so they can be heard over everyone else... louder is better! I call it “Layin’ the thumb to the five.” I mean it's what lured a lot of us to the banjo in the first place, the power, the energy…

I remember the first time I saw JD play live, it was in 77' at the Down Home in Johnson City, TN.. I watched as he went to play some backup, he slid his right hand right up to the end of the fret board and lightened his touch.. this beautiful tone came out... that was it, a whole other sound coming out of the banjo... the thing is, you can play whole tunes from that position... playing as lightly and softly up the neck can result in a beautiful sound. I wrote a tune for my new cd 'Bang Bang' which demonstrates this technique... the tuning is gcgbd, it's a very simple tune and fun to play... Enjoy!

I wrote this in remembrance of my friend Vassar Clements... I got to play in a band with him the last 3 years of his life... Vassilie was written in pearl on the fingerboard of his fiddle... it was a combination of his name and his wife Millie... Rob Ickes played this with me...

You can hear Vassillie's Lullaby

About the Author

Tim Carter's been playing music for as long as he can remember. As a highly respected instrumentalist as well as accomplished engineer, Carter has seen both sides of the board and is a better musician for it. With one listen of his playing, there is never any doubt of his exceptional ability to convey a song to the listener both lyrically and musically and on his debut BANG BANG!, these qualities move front and center. 'Bang Bang' which features friends, Tim O'Brien, Alison Brown, Rob Ickes, Jim Hurst, Tim Stafford, Casey Driessen and Matt Flinner

Tim played with Vassar Clements for 3 yrs, up until his passing. I also am a recording engineer, recording some GRAMMY winning and GRAMMY nominated records for folks like Alison Brown, Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky and Phill Aaberg... and he loves the banjo.

Influenced very early on by the strains of Appalachian bluegrass and folk music that surrounded him as a child growing up in North Carolina, Tim became obsessed with the banjo and spent many hours learning the different styles of great players. 'I started listening to bluegrass quite a bit when I was 15 years old and the banjo seemed to be shouting my name', he recalls. 'I listened to a lot of british blues rockers for soul and feel'.

Tim also played in various bluegrass-folk bands while in college in Banner Elk, N.C.

Learn more about Tim at: http://MySpace.com/timcarter57