Len I assume you haven't been able to follow my link? I'm playing a cello banjo - four strings tuned like a cello, at the same pitch. Bela Fleck is very good, but I'm not a fan of his baroque playing, and it is nothing like my approach. My banjo playing has two paths, if you like: historical and experimental. Historical: I treat the instrument just as I do a lute or early guitar: find the early sources, play instruments from the period or close copies, read the tutor books for techniques used, etc, etc. Experimental: This is where the Bach cello suites come in. I use a modern instrument, with a plectrum. But it is tuned like a cello, so I can experience what playing Bach's cello music is like in the tuning he used. It's not an attempt to recreate anything. That said, I do think the instrument sounds not a million miles away from a plucked viol, a theorbo and a clavichord - a combination of all three perhaps. My main banjo site is [1]http://www.ClassicBanjoRM.com - but I am slowly moving that stuff over to my main website: [2]http://RobMacKillop.net All carried out with a sense of fun, humour and wonder :-) Rob
-- References 1. http://www.ClassicBanjoRM.com/ 2. http://RobMacKillop.net/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
