Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Does anyone recognize this guy

John Paul Jones was an amazing multi instrumentalist studio musician before Led Zeppelin. He plays the mandolin on all the Zep tracks as far as I know.

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Ha. Funny. I didn’t notice that when I grabbed it from the internet. My guess is that he is still playing right-handed but that the photo got reversed (mirror image) somewhere along the line. I assume his bracelet is still on the same hand. It looks like it was taken soon after the OP’s photo. The little girl lost her second boot and the mom got tired of standing.

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The house and trees also flipped

Lindsey Buckingham?? Maybe.

Yes. Good eye. It is Buckingham. Stevie made him shear the mutton chops.

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So many rockers I never knew played banjo! Awesome

@The_Mole @shedrick @Mark_Rocka @Maggie @Woodshed @Archie No doubt… I also know that Peter Tork of The Monkees plays banjo also. He is a very talented folk player. Heres another question, Who tried to audition for the part of Peter(not sure if that would have been the characters name in the show) originally for the show and didn’t make it? He is the same one who told Peter Tork to go for an audition. This may be a fairly easy question

@Dragonslayer from what I read online, that instrument was a real pain to build. The builders were not even sure how stable it would be because of all the stress on the body and necks of the mando. But very interesting looking instrument.

I’d bet that’d be a pain to build :grimacing:

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@Dragonslayer Imagine giving those dimensions to a case builder?.. I bet THAT would be a real pain too. The case builder would be like…“Are you out of your mind?”.john-paul-jones%20playing%20triple%20neck%20mando

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@The_Mole that is definitely an old photo of him.

@seeligdan from what I saw/read online is that Jimmy Page played Mando for Zepplin on “Battle of Evermore”, which is an awesome song. Plant had such an awesome voice and Sandy Denny great back up vocals(This is the only song Led Zeppelin ever recorded with a guest singer and such a tragic story of her adult life she only lived to the age of 31) I saw this online in Wikipedia… The song was written by Jimmy Page at Headley Grange while he was experimenting on the mandolin owned by John Paul Jones. Page explained in 1977 that '“Battle of Evermore” was made up on the spot by Robert [Plant] and myself. I just picked up John Paul Jones’s mandolin, never having played a mandolin before, and just wrote up the chords and the whole thing in one sitting." What talent…“Oh I never played Mandolin before, but it looks interesting I think I’ll give it a try”… geeesh…

I bet the case would weigh more than the instrument. :flushed:

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images

This one is probably too easy.

Hey I used to see him in concert a lot! I’ll add, what kind of banjo is that and for extra credit, who did he buy it from?

The Monkees question is David. Crosby. I’m actually embarrassed that I can remember this stuff and not important stuff. DC didn’t get the job because of bad teeth and tv considerations.

@The_Mole You were close, Here is what I found on Wikipedia… Stephen Stills had auditioned for the new television series about four pop-rock musicians but was turned down because the show’s producers felt his hair and teeth would not photograph well on camera. They asked Stills if he knew of someone with a similar “open, Nordic look,” and Stills suggested Tork audition for the part. Tork got the job and became one of the four members of the Monkees, a fictitious pop band in the mid-1960s, created for a television sitcom written about the fictitious band. Tork was the oldest member of the group.

I remember Mickey Dolenz from The Monkees was a child actor who played Corky in Circus Boy. Now I am really showing my age

@Archie.Lol…WhenI read your other post about Pete Seeger, i was thinking man this guy IS “old”…lol, but then I’m like wait a minute, I’m old… he cant be that much older than me…lol. You maybe be somewhat close to my brothers’ age who is 10 y/o than me.

As far as Jerrys’ banjo, my research says it’s a Weymann and that he and his first wife Sarah sold their wedding presents to buy it. Please correct me if I’m wrong.