Legend600 - Posted - 09/14/2014:  07:53:13

I am new to the banjo. I am already tired of the jokes and stigma attached to us pickers.  How does everyone handle it?  Why must people assume we are all dueling banjo inbreeds from the movie deliverance!! It really does get old when I tell someone I play the banjo.  Many ask why I would want to play a banjo.  I tell them because i enjoy the sound and love to learn something new. Is that not enough??

Edited by - Lynne on 09/14/2014 09:59:50

steve davis - Posted - 09/14/2014:  07:57:29

Things will get easier when you build up your "callouses" against criticism.Those kinds of responses will happen all your life.

BlowingRockNC - Posted - 09/14/2014:  08:01:22

Just my two cents, but I think most banjo player jokes are told by banjo players. As for the others, I think it's just in fun, or jealousy, but not contempt or anything negative. For those who have ill will towards banjo players, I'm pleased to know that they don't want to have anything to do with me. Oh, and for those who truly are trying to insult banjo players, I'm sure they just mean the BG players, not the OT players. Just saying.

Edited by - BlowingRockNC on 09/14/2014 08:05:10

Texasbanjo - Posted - 09/14/2014:  08:20:31

Just go ahead and laugh at their jokes -- if they meant it to hurt your feelings, you just showed them it didn't.  If they meant it as a joke, then you showed them you understood it was just a joke.

If we can't laugh at ourselves, what can we laugh at?   Don't take it so personally, it's just people making fun as they've heard others do. It may not be right, but it's human nature and is going to happen from now on, whether you're a banjo picker or something else that people can joke about. 

Miche-banj-elo - Posted - 09/14/2014:  08:44:41

Legend600,
Hang out with younger people ! ;-))
Seriously, I am 57 and for 16 years was in a banjo whose band members grew up with HeeHaw, Deliverance, etc. and made fun of the banjo. We would do gigs, and these 16-30 year old kids would come up excited and loving the banjo. Tell a 20-something that you play banjo and their response is usually, " you mean like Bela Fleck ? Sweet !!"
Later on when I played an electric with synth, it was off the charts how many kids I had come up wanting to know everything about my rig. I could have sold dozens.

The stigma is generational. Whether you like Mumford & Son or not, groups like these kids are rediscovering it's unique sound.
Not everyone plays the banjo and it isn't an easy instrument to learn. In fact it is complex, and most folks with negative comments know that and are jealous.

BJD - Posted - 09/14/2014:  09:08:22

I just roll with it...

Blackjaxe47 - Posted - 09/14/2014:  09:11:51

Although I only recently started playing again after a 20 year layoff, I sure remember the references to the movie Deliverance. Almost every single time I pulled my banjo out where there was a large group of people someone would always ask can you play "Dueling Banjo's" or that song from Deliverance to the point that I absolutely refused to play it.....sick to death of the reference to knuckle dragging inbred hillbillies. In fact I deliberately have almost forgotten the how to play it. Another unfortunately is the "Ballad of Jed Clampett" from the Beverly Hillbillies, another stellar tune that connected banjo players to Hillbilly Rednecks.
You get used to it after a while and just smile and say NOPE never learnt that tune, how about Sally Goodin or Fireball Mail. And I sure agree with "pknight" it is generational, they are interested in this instrument and relate to players like Bela Fleck and Jens Krueger......just SMILE and laugh with those who do not know any better. It gets easier after a while, or at least it has for me. I am 67 and have no intentions of slowing down or quitting again as I did so many years ago, I could kick myself for doing that.

Richard Dress - Posted - 09/14/2014:  09:37:44

Banjo jokes are the result of two different social streams coming together to create an interesting example of bigotry.  There is no difference in making fun of a group because of their color, or mental deficiency, or their social status, or the instrument they play.  If you are big on bigotry, you should STFU about the banjo just like you would STFU making jokes about black people.  If you think a simple joke like that now and then done in fun is harmless then brush it off.  If the comment is from someone who would recoil at a racial joke, then you can laugh at them for being hypocrites and closet bigots.

The source of this unusual phenomenon derives from the confluence of a misplaced social elitism that looks down on the culture that generates our beloved art and from a different direction a misplaced racism that sees the white male as something to be pulled down.  This all comes together and dumps on the bluegrass banjo player who has traditionally been the 'star' in the hillbilly band.

Rick_S - Posted - 09/14/2014:  10:09:36

I like banjo jokes when they are actually funny, but most of them are not. They're mostly just a statement of presumed agreement that banjos and banjo players are obnoxious or worthless. They're as thoughtless and mean spirited as some racial jokes. Sometimes I will try to be a good sport about them, depending on the social situation.

PS: I  posted this before I read Richard's post above mine. Richard, you said it better than I did.

Edited by - Rick_S on 09/14/2014 10:12:26

lightgauge - Posted - 09/14/2014:  10:27:37

I have always told them a line Steve Martin and maybe others have said. You can't play a sad song on a banjo. I enjoy the happiness it brings me and most others. The next best option is to tell them a funnier one. That usually neutralizes theirs and lightens the whole situation. Life is too short to let such minor things get you down. 

Nooooorm! - Posted - 09/14/2014:  10:29:03

Q. What do you say to a banjo player who is all dressed up in a 3-piece suit?

A. Will the defendant please rise?

Thought a banjo joke would lighten the mood. Just smile and don't let them get under your skin. Most folks I know think playing banjo is cool. May have something to do with where I live-LA (lower Arkansas).

Crusty - Posted - 09/14/2014:  10:44:03

Know what it means when a banjo player is droolin' out of both sides of his/her mouth?

The stage is level.

a g cole - Posted - 09/14/2014:  11:10:50

I started listening to old time and bluegrass music when I was in elementary school.  I really became interested in learning banjo in the late seventies (but didn't do much about it until 2010).  I have been to festivals, fiddlers conventions, jams, etc. mostly in north GA, NC,

TN  & Va.,  the territory many consider the cradle of BG/OT music.  I truly cannot remember anyone ever telling me a banjo joke.  I've read lots of them.  Perhaps I am just forgetful.  On the other hand,  as a lawyer I have been told dozens of lawyer jokes.  This seemed to be a trend in the eighties and nineties.  Of course, most of the lawyer jokes portray lawyers as rogues.  My response to the people telling me these jokes has been that I have been involved in legal matters in 59 of Georgia's 159 counties (having conducted trials or hearings in about 39  counties).  Obviously, I have encountered hundreds of other attorneys along the way.  Despite this, I can truly say the vast majority of them acted very honorably .  I only recall about ten or so who were rogues.  Similarly, I haven't met many banjo pickers who have impressed me as being dumb hicks.  I suppose the upshot of all this is that most of us can tell if the joke teller is trying to be insulting, or just friendly.  I think most of us are capable of framing an appropriate response.

Possom - Posted - 09/14/2014:  11:55:46

When asked can I play DB I reply..."Can't, ain't got but one banjo"

To the jokes just play into them. If it means talking like a hick, or saying you have sex with goats or your cousins when the goats are busy, just play into the joke. Everytime I do that person usually winds up feeling pretty stupid. I even invited my supervisor to a festival after he laughed at the banjo and bluegrass festivals. I told him we had a special goat named Shirley with Blue Eyes picked out just for him. He never joked again

Why I play the banjo? Why do you play what you play? Why do you listen to rock country R&B? Cause you like it and so I like bluegrass and the banjo.

LWC - Posted - 09/14/2014:  12:17:34

Just tell them your sure the rest of the family would love to meet them.

Lew H - Posted - 09/14/2014:  13:06:55

There is a difference between banjo jokes and those toward ethnic or race groups, PMS and similar  things.  We play banjo by choice. People in the other categories  are not there of their own volition, so it's much less fair to make jokes about them.  Many of the jokes are interchangeable with those about violas, accordions, lawyers, and drummers. People in those positions are playing those instruments are also there by choice.  I was taken aback by the first banjo joke I ever hear, but I got over it.  Now I generally think they are funny. I tell them quite a bit.   I really do tune half the time and play out of tune the other half.  You know, those are not banjo jokes; those are true stories!

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 09/14/2014:  13:36:27

Just have a sense of humor. The best defense is a good offense - make them yourself before others have a chance to; "And before you ask, yes, I have all my teeth. Somewhere."

Comparing banjo player jokes to racist jokes is, of course, ridiculous.

Rawhide Creek - Posted - 09/14/2014:  16:32:45

Q.  What do you say about a banjo player in a three-piece suit?

A.  "Doesn't he look natural? And these flowers are just lovely!

Edited by - Rawhide Creek on 09/14/2014 16:37:11

Rawhide Creek - Posted - 09/14/2014:  16:40:04

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lew H

There is a difference between banjo jokes and those toward ethnic or race groups . . .

---

As a Jew and a violist, I've pretty much heard them all.  The best ones, of course, have come from (you guessed it) Jews and violists.

Edited by - Rawhide Creek on 09/14/2014 16:41:10

chuckv97 - Posted - 09/14/2014:  17:09:00

Count your blessings. You could have been a tuba or accordion player.

John Gribble - Posted - 09/14/2014:  17:47:06

What is perfect pitch? Tossing the banjo into the dumpster without hitting the sides. 

Most of them are Q & A jokes. If you learn the punch lines, well, you can beat them to the punch. 

I once heard Tony Trischka rattle off one after another after another.... it was fun.

My favorite music instrument joke is about Irish bodhran (hand drum):

How do you play a bodhran? With a penknive. 

dupreejan - Posted - 09/15/2014:  00:49:20

Old Crow Medicine Show has a stage full of banjos. Their youtube videos have 2 and 3 million views each.

dupreejan - Posted - 09/15/2014:  01:19:41

What was that Deliverance banjo joke I forgothttp://youtu.be/KunXmp_yb54 Couple of McCourys come on stage about 30 minutes in for a great Bob Dylan song.

Edited by - dupreejan on 09/15/2014 01:27:37

Johnk - Posted - 09/15/2014:  05:13:49

This is what I just started to do, after hearing the jokes over and over. Thinking that a good defense is a good offense, I printed copies of this:

lakewoodspromise.us/wp-content...Banjo.jpg

...and now when someone starts with banjo jokes, I give them a copy. So far it has worked well to good-naturedly "turn the tables" and change the conversation.

Don Borchelt - Posted - 09/15/2014:  05:23:05

a g cole wrote: "I truly cannot remember anyone ever telling me a banjo joke.  I've read lots of them.  Perhaps I am just forgetful.  On the other hand,  as a lawyer I have been told dozens of lawyer jokes."

I never tire of hearing a good banjo joke, but my complaint is that too many of them are just lawyer jokes repackaged as banjo picker jokes.  Jokes like "how do you tell the difference between a dead skunk and a dead banjo picker in the middle of the road?"

mike gregory - Posted - 09/15/2014:  06:41:51

If they bring up the kid on the porch swing in "Deliverence", you might ask them if they were aware that he was not really playing the banjo.

There was a woman kneeling behind him, her arms down his sleeves, doing clawhammer strokes.

(A woman, because they needed small hands to match the small kid.)

And the sound track had some OTHER person, doing Scruggs rolls.

(Show them a brief example of both, doing the B-C-D, B-C, A-B, G-A note run, which, you may as well add, is just a scale exercise.)

The whole thing was faked.

ALSO: Burt Reynolds didn't REALLY put an arrow into that moonshiner's spine.

THAT was faked, too.

As a favor to them, caution them not to base their perceptions of Reality on cinematic images, lest they pin a tea towel to their shirt shoulders, and leap off a tall building.

Zischkale - Posted - 09/15/2014:  07:09:09

The last interview I had, for a promotion, had some questions about my personal life:

"So, what kind of hobbies you got?"

"I'm learning banjo"

(Look of severe disbelief) "Why?"

CEParagon124 - Posted - 09/15/2014:  07:15:28

Banjo player jokes can be funny. Most I've heard were told by other band members of their own banjo player.

I find all the above negative references to "hick red neck hillbillies" more offensive. I'm actually descended from and currently related to those folks. My wife has cousins that actually look like the boy on the porch in Deliverance. Same eyes.

And where would American banjo music be without those wonderful old players that fit the description of "Hill-Billy"?

Charlie Noyes

Rawhide Creek - Posted - 09/15/2014:  07:17:20

quote:

---

Originally posted by mike gregory

If they bring up the kid on the porch swing in "Deliverance", you might ask them if they were aware that he was not really playing the banjo.

There was a woman kneeling behind him, her arms down his sleeves, doing clawhammer strokes.

(A woman, because they needed small hands to match the small kid.)

And the sound track had some OTHER person, doing Scruggs rolls.

(Show them a brief example of both, doing the B-C-D, B-C, A-B, G-A note run, which, you may as well add, is just a scale exercise.)

The whole thing was faked.

ALSO: Burt Reynolds didn't REALLY put an arrow into that moonshiner's spine.

THAT was faked, too.

---

Ronny Cox's guitar part was dubbed too--much to his disappoinment; he is an able guitarist and was not only willing but actually wanted to play the music.

My favorite banjo "joke" is something Mark Twain said/wrote:  "A gentleman is a man who can play the banjo--but doesn't."

Edited by - Rawhide Creek on 09/15/2014 07:21:29

mrbook - Posted - 09/15/2014:  07:19:42

I brought my banjo into a club where our band was playing one night, and a guy sitting at one of the tables said, "I guess that's not your Porsche outside." I replied, "That's just mean," and went out to get the rest of my gear. People that don't appreciate the banjo won't come to hear your music, so don't worry about it. If I tell a banjo joke on stage I find that people laugh if I am the banjo player; if I am playing another instrument they seem to think I'm making fun of the banjo player.

Many people these days spend a lot of time watching other people do things on TV. When people at work ask what I'll be watching that night, I say, "Nothing - I'm going out to play my banjo." They never know what to say.

gregsquared - Posted - 09/15/2014:  08:47:30

quote:

---

Originally posted by lightgauge

I have always told them a line Steve Martin and maybe others have said. You can't play a sad song on a banjo. >snip<  

---

Attention Mike Gregory:  Get "Nantucket Maid" onto YouTube!  (Nan & I are standing by if you don't want to go solo.) 

--Greg. 

Oblake - Posted - 09/15/2014:  08:50:18

Stand tall and proud!!!!!!!!!!!

Jim Yates - Posted - 09/15/2014:  10:57:19

I rarely hear a new banjoke these days (nor a bagpipe, viola, accordion or bodhran joke, though many of them are the same joke).  I've heard most of 'em from fellow banjo players or at least musicians.  Very few of them have been told in a mean spirited way.  Even requests for "Deliverance" are usually made by folks who know only one banjo tune by name (the wrong name), so they figure they'll request it. "No, we don't play that one, but here's one you might like with a lot of the same notes."

My favourite banjo joke:

Q - What's that weird little tuning peg part way down the neck? (How many times have you been asked that?)

A - Well, when folks used to have to make their own banjos, they'd shoot a groundhog and use his skin for the hide.  Then they'd make the strings from his guts and there's just enough guts in the average groundhog to make four and a half strings.

Edited by - Jim Yates on 09/15/2014 11:03:15

Rawhide Creek - Posted - 09/15/2014:  11:10:11

Possibly my favorite viola joke (which could probably be adapted for banjo, if it hasn't already been):

The symphony is doing a children's concert at a local elementary school.  At the intermission, children are invited down into the orchestra to meet the musicians, see the instruments, and even to hold them.

Things are going well until a teacher notices that one violist has grabbed a child by the neck and is shaking her.  The teacher runs over, pulls the two apart, and says, "What's going on here?"

The upset violist replies, "My instrument's out of tune because this kid turned one of the pegs."

"Why don't you just tune your instrument again?" asks the teacher.

"Because she won't tell me which peg!"

ScratchJohnson - Posted - 09/15/2014:  12:03:42

I think most banjo jokes come from banjo players or people that enjoy bluegrass. If you whip out a banjo among younger folks you'll just get a "You know 'I Will Wait' from Mumford and Sons?".

Jim Yates - Posted - 09/15/2014:  12:17:07

quote:

---

Originally posted by RawhideCreek

Possibly my favorite viola joke (which could probably be adapted for banjo, if it hasn't already been):

The symphony is doing a children's concert at a local elementary school.  At the intermission, children are invited down into the orchestra to meet the musicians, see the instruments, and even to hold them.

Things are going well until a teacher notices that one violist has grabbed a child by the neck and is shaking her.  The teacher runs over, pulls the two apart, and says, "What's going on here?"

The upset violist replies, "My instrument's out of tune because this kid turned one of the pegs."

"Why don't you just tune your instrument again?" asks the teacher.

"Because she won't tell me which peg!"

---

Q - How do you make a violin sound like a viola?

A - Stand in the back and don't play very well.

jabplan - Posted - 09/15/2014:  12:26:32

When i started to learn, i had some friends ask what i have been up to and i told them i am learning to play banjo. The jokes started and some started giving me grief. But 2 of my friends stood up and let them know that they to tryed the banjo but quit after 6 months because it was to hard. So now all i hear is when are you going to play for us. I have always refused, not sure about my ability. But on Oct 3rd my wife  and i are hosting a pig r oast and picking party at our cabin in the woods. It was a local party and a lot of my friends from that area play, I was told by them and my wife that i would least join in and play some back up. I am nervous but i will survive. Jim

Rawhide Creek - Posted - 09/15/2014:  12:35:40

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jim Yates

quote:

---

Originally posted by RawhideCreek

Possibly my favorite viola joke (which could probably be adapted for banjo, if it hasn't already been):

The symphony is doing a children's concert at a local elementary school.  At the intermission, children are invited down into the orchestra to meet the musicians, see the instruments, and even to hold them.

Things are going well until a teacher notices that one violist has grabbed a child by the neck and is shaking her.  The teacher runs over, pulls the two apart, and says, "What's going on here?"

The upset violist replies, "My instrument's out of tune because this kid turned one of the pegs."

"Why don't you just tune your instrument again?" asks the teacher.

"Because she won't tell me which peg!"

---

Q - How do you make a violin sound like a viola?

A - Stand in the back and don't play very well.

---

Q.  What's the difference between a violin and a viola?

A.  A viola burns longer.

Jim Yates - Posted - 09/15/2014:  12:44:41

quote:

---

Originally posted by RawhideCreek

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jim Yates

quote:

---

Originally posted by RawhideCreek

Possibly my favorite viola joke (which could probably be adapted for banjo, if it hasn't already been):

The symphony is doing a children's concert at a local elementary school.  At the intermission, children are invited down into the orchestra to meet the musicians, see the instruments, and even to hold them.

Things are going well until a teacher notices that one violist has grabbed a child by the neck and is shaking her.  The teacher runs over, pulls the two apart, and says, "What's going on here?"

The upset violist replies, "My instrument's out of tune because this kid turned one of the pegs."

"Why don't you just tune your instrument again?" asks the teacher.

"Because she won't tell me which peg!"

---

Q - How do you make a violin sound like a viola?

A - Stand in the back and don't play very well.

---

Q.  What's the difference between a violin and a viola?

A.  A viola burns longer.

---

Ah yes, I heard it as a concertina and an accordion.

Jim Yates - Posted - 09/15/2014:  12:49:40

An accordion/banjo duo were hired to play a New Year's Eve gig at an old folks home.  At the end of the night, the owner said, "They seemed to like you guys.  Can we book you for next New Year's Eve?"

"Sure," said the banjo player. "Can we leave our gear here?"

Rawhide Creek - Posted - 09/15/2014:  12:52:02

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jim Yates

An accordion/banjo duo were hired to play a New Year's Eve gig at an old folks home.  At the end of the night, the owner said, "They seemed to like you guys.  Can we book you for next New Year's Eve?"

"Sure," said the banjo player. "Can we leave our gear here?"

---

Love it!

bart_brush - Posted - 09/15/2014:  13:48:19

I was at a Ralph Stanley concert in the 70s, and between numbers someone yelled out "Play Foggy Mt. Breakdown!" Ralph paused, looking into the audience, then said in a deliberate and measured voice, as if trying to explain the obvious (it seemed to me): "We don't do......the Foggy Mt. Breakdown."

gatordome - Posted - 09/15/2014:  14:06:20

If someone tells a stale banjo joke, I reply with a better one.  You won't feel stigmatized if you learn to laugh at yourself.

Regarding "Dueling Banjos" and other requests, I started playing clawhammer style about the time Deliverance came out.  Every time I pulled out my banjo, someone would request that tune.  I would just flip a dime at them and tell them to go find a juke box (tunes were cheaper back then).

I also play old time fiddle.  To this day, people request "Orange Blossom Special", or "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". To the former, I reply that I can make the fiddle sound like a train and go "ding ding", but I don't play anything less than 100 years old.  To the latter, I just say that I don't play rock and roll.

You'll just have to learn to parry and thrust until your hide thickens enough to repel the comments of the ignorant.

brokestring3 - Posted - 09/15/2014:  16:58:13

Some folks like to pick on banjo pickers because they can't pick a banjo. Envy I guess.

 

stevebaughman - Posted - 09/15/2014:  18:22:22

I am a lawyer and a banjo player.  Imagine how I feel. 

:-)

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 09/15/2014:  18:37:47

quote:

---

Originally posted by bart_brush

I was at a Ralph Stanley concert in the 70s, and between numbers someone yelled out "Play Foggy Mt. Breakdown!" Ralph paused, looking into the audience, then said in a deliberate and measured voice, as if trying to explain the obvious (it seemed to me): "We don't do......the Foggy Mt. Breakdown."

---

I feel your pain. The last time I saw him, the couple to my immediate left were apparently under the impression that they had come to see Bill Monroe. Every time he asked for a request, they started hollering "Uncle Pen!" and "In the Pines!" Eventually this became too much for me and when they started again, I called out, "Angel Band!" It was a satisfying feeling when Ralph said, "Angel Band, you got it."

archtop717 - Posted - 09/15/2014:  21:20:30

I think a lot of these jokes are funny.  Why let it bother you, it means nothing, so don't let it get to you.  My wife tells Banjo jokes on stage ( she is our Bass player). The audience laughs but also applauds my breaks.  They entertain the audience. 

Explorer - Posted - 09/15/2014:  21:35:06

I don't know if it's been meant as a joke, but some of hte meanest stuff I've heard where folks are going after the banjo has been from banjo players who just don't approve of what someone else is doing with the banjo, or don't like the variety of banjo which is being played.

It's a bit shocking, but I guess you can find jerks anywhere, and choice of instrument doesn't guarantee that someone will be a nice person.

Nielen - Posted - 09/15/2014:  22:17:39

I don't generally hear musicians take a side-swipe at banjo-players - it's mostly non-musos who do that. And also, youngsters don't seem to mind it. Many of them think it's quite cool, courtesy of the Mumfords, I guess, like someone above also pointed-out.

I just laugh along and add my own "We banjo players are too dumb to catch onto jokes, 'coz we only got one synapse. I mean between the lot of us (it's hell out there when one of us has gotta go, I tell you!)"

I like the one about the level stage. Also the twisted peg story - will keep that one in case I run into a classical snob-type one day.