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- Jim Bottorff's
Banjo Page
- Website History
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- Overview:
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- This website has evolved from 1994
as something for my own use, to the present, where it is used
by banjo players, banjo bands, teachers, performers and musicians
of all types throughout the world. The goal of the site is to
promote the banjo with instruction items, play-along songs, and
examples of various Banjo
Styles.
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- The Beginning:
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- In 1994 I began researching various
music software programs for the purpose of providing myself with
music accompaniment while playing the banjo. I began to
use midi files and the html website format. The website
format allowed for indexing song titles and linking the titles
to a midi file arrangements. In this way, I had quick and easy
access to my songs for playing along with on my banjo. The
song sound files were recorded onto cassette tapes, which I used
for my own play-along practice and for teaching students. Nothing
was put on the Internet at that time.
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- By 1995 my cassette tapes had been
distributed to a few people in the Oakland
Banjo Band, including Gary Neuman,
an established San Francisco Bay Area musician. Gary suggested
that I start a webpage so others could play-along with the music.
In 1996 I started the first webpage with an obscure address
that was difficult to work with. Eventually in 1998 jbott.com
was started.
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- The Songs:
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- At first, the webpage songs were
selected for students, a banjo band performance, or a verse I
was trying to learn. I started including requests from other
banjo players for tunes they liked, including the Wineland Banjo Band
members. At banjo shows and jam sessions, I would keep
track of songs that were being played. Ralph Martin (American
Banjo Museum Hall of Fame) suggested I add "Hit
Parade" songs to my website, like
the ones he used for the Southern California Banjo Band recordings.
The list of songs became large and my music library was small.
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- I used the Shakey's
Pizza Parlor songsheet and the Marin Banjo Club
songbook as starters. All of the songs from both groups
are on this website.
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- Thanks to the Internet, eBay and
antique stores, I have been able to build up a large sheet music
library. Whenever possible, I use the original sheet music
for making my song arrangements. The next choice is to
use good fake books or arrangements from some of my banjo friends.
Last resort is to transcribe the song by ear from a recording,
and then have it reviewed by some music scholars I know.
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- The Present:
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- The current jbott.com website has two parts: (1) The
HomePage aka The Songs Page and (2) The Beginners
Page. These two pages provide
links to songs, instruction materials, sound clips, videos, pdf
files, etc. Some of the linked pages contain tablature
or special notation for Plectrum, 5-String, or Tenor banjos.
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- An "Update Log" showing recent additions and
changes can be accessed at the top of The
HomePage.
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- A recent addition to the The HomePage
is the Performer Links page,
which links performer sound clips and videos with the play-along
song pages. Select a performer name from the Performer
Names Index to see the song titles they are linked with.
The performers have been sellected to show various Banjo
Styles and music arrangements.
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- A Website Search page has also
been added, accessible from The HomePage.
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- Happy Picking and Strumming,
- Jim Bottorff
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