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jonc - Posted - 12/31/2025: 17:29:37
Just thought I'd post this, I have re-worked this into a full-length version and I plan to incorporate it into a Jimmy Webb Medley (Wichita Lineman, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, and MacArthur Park). And I'm trying to do it as true to the originals as I can, no skipping the hard parts or intros like I've done before.
I bought the Jimmy Webb Songbook and it has full piano versions of many of his best. This is like a piano reduction but done in the banjo way, I think I've used every trick in my book on it.
The whole medley will also be difficult to master simply because of it's length. That's a lot of memorization and I tend to daydream and lose concentration and make mistakes. This practice run is not too bad, there are flubs but nothing too awful so at least you can get an idea of what I hope it will be like. The good news is I've been playing these tunes so long I have a lot of it down.
Hopefully by this time next year I'll have the whole medley polished and smooth but this is what I did tonight.
localhost - Posted - 12/31/2025: 18:18:31
Fantastic. Very enjoyable tune and equally enjoyable to watch you make it work on the banjo.
And a good reminder to everyone to bring your cakes in before it rains!
Will Frady - Posted - 12/31/2025: 18:32:07
Yes get that medley down and post it, that’ll be awesome. Sounding good brother.
jonc - Posted - 12/31/2025: 20:09:30
thanks for the encouragement. I've been thinkng of posting practice sessions since I'm not sure I will ever be able to get through the 14-15 minute piece without a mistake. As you can see I have found a convenient place to put a camera, in the medicine cabinet. It can stay in there all the time and all I have to do to record is open the cabinet door and switch it on. And the acoustics there are pretty favorable. So I try to record my practices and watch them. If I get a good take I can post it as a progress report.
I recently posted Wichita Lineman and since then I've added Glen Campbell's bass VI solo which is half a chorus of low melody and then back to vocal range. And I grabbed the fadeout ending on the recording that's not in the Webb songbook.
This medley will be the only thing I will try to keep up with, I forget about most tunes after I record them. I have to play them so much to get them smooth that I get sick of them and don't really want to play them again. But those Jimmy Webb tunes are ones I never get sick of.
I could grid it all out with a click track and record it like I do with multi-track stuff, piece together sections until I have a perfect take, but I want to do it on video to show how I'm doing it. Someday I might do a version with more instruments, and mixing and editing, but for right now my thing is to see what can be done with banjo alone.
Anyway thanks for watching and for the encouragement.
jonc - Posted - 01/10/2026: 11:20:55
Posting a follow-up, I tried several different tempos and I think this one works about the best:
MacArthur Park Practice Run Jan 8 2026
and I hope to maintain this kind of energy and feel as I play it more, and be able to do it without mistakes.
I worked pretty hard on the fast instrumental section right before the last chorus, and I pretty much have it down, so from here on out the challenge is to do the whole medley and work on memorization and interpretation. Thanks for listening.
Tractor1 - Posted - 01/10/2026: 12:59:01
On your vid you were speaking of getting lost in the mix--Sometimes for me I like to just play very non busy organ/synth tones to help bring out the chords in the lead--not that it works for others--
your new version is killer
Edited by - Tractor1 on 01/10/2026 13:01:56
jonc - Posted - 01/10/2026: 14:19:12
I may do that someday. I used to have Band in the Box and it let me quickly make those kinds of backups, but I no longer have the program since Windows 10 came along. I'd have either play it on a keyboard or key it in to a notation program and I'd hate to think how long that would take me.
Another option is to brush electric guitar chords softly in the background or maybe a bass part. Then I'd want to add percussion, etc. But I have to get this down first. Thanks.
jonc - Posted - 01/17/2026: 09:12:47
quote:
Originally posted by Will Frady
Yes get that medley down and post it, that’ll be awesome. Sounding good brother.
ok, I got my first decent run-through of the full medley,which is attached.
I'm going to keep them all in a separate playlist here. If you'd like to check my progress, please do. I'm not going to post anymore practice runs on this thread, but will add them to the playlist. Thanks again.
Will Frady - Posted - 01/17/2026: 09:32:58
To play for 13 minutes without stopping is pretty insane . Hats off to you Sir ! Thank you I enjoyed very much .
