"All in the Garden Green" Cello Banjo Gold Tone 4-String CEB-4

http://www.banjocrazy.com/
Hi, my name is Paul Roberts; I'm a multicultural roots musician, multi-instrumentalist and composer. And I'm trying to awaken the world to cello banjos... and sell one (at least) to everybody in the world. Cello banjos are growly beasts that have only very recently returned to us from antiquity. These instruments -- and all Gold Tone musical instruments -- are available through my website: http://www.banjocrazy.com/ where you can also find my phone number to call me, free, within the US.

Im playing a CEB-4 Gold Tone Cello Banjo. The CEB-4 is a 4-string banjo, which is tuned in fifths, like the violin and mandolin family instruments. The 4-string Cello Banjo and Gold Tones many other instruments are available for purchase on my website.

The CEB-4 is an auspicious comeback for an instrument that hasnt been manufactured since the early 1900s. The comeback took place recently when Wayne Rogers (Gold Tone founder/president) got inspired to bring the Cello Banjo back into the world, after hearing Marcy Marxer play an old Gibson in a banjo duet with Cathy Fink on YouTube.

There are several interviews on my site about Gold Tones 4 and 5-string Cello Banjos. Some of those Ive interviewed include Marcy Marxer, Wayne Rogers, Bob Carlin, Cathy Fink and Mike Keyes. This link goes to my articles/interview page: http://www.banjocrazy.com/articles.shtml

Besides the CGAE cello tuning, Ive discovered the Gold Tone CEB-4 also has a beautiful voice tuned GDAE which is how an Irish tenor banjo or octave mandolin is tuned. And unbelievably it will go all the way down to double octave tuning, an octave below Irish tenor! This double octave tuning is a major breakthrough in plucked string instrument capability. To be able to play with such ease, two octaves below a violin, is simply amazing. I cant think of another plucked string instrument can do that.

The CEB-4s rich voice suits many styles of music folk, Celtic, classical, jazz, Renaissance and Early Music. The instruments versatility in pitch ranges opens up a lot of tonal options. I play 4-string Cello Banjos (and Irish-style tenor) using a 2-finger style, thumb and 1st finger, with plastic finger picks. Its a style I saw Gordon Johnston doing. Gordon does a 3-finger style. He anchors his pinkie on the head; I float my hand above the strings, a la classical guitar.




Here are some YouTube videos I did to demonstrate the 3 pitch ranges I have explored with this instrument: GDAE (Irish tenor banjo, octave mandolin), CGAE (cello, mandocello), GDAE (two octaves below mandolin, fiddle).




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxF8gSX4k-A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W0iZq6_LVU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyenyyiRIbU&feature=related

Category:

Music

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• 4-string
• Cello
• Banjo
• Gold
• Tone
• CEB-4
• Irish
• tenor
• banjo
• octave
• mandolin
• mandola
• cittern
• Renaissance
• music
• traditional
• classical
• Paul
• Roberts
• BanjoCrazy.com