Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Greetings from Germany

#1

Hello,

I’d like to introduce myself to this great community. I live in Germany/Bavaria. The district i live in is called Franken, therefore my name “Frankenbeutel”, which is a condescending description of the natives there.

About three weeks ago i saw Ben’s “Foggy Mountain breakdown” for guitar on youtube and i fell in love with it. Then i discovered the banjo videos and decided, that a Banjo is a MUST HAVE!!!
I bought a recording king for 300 €, nice sound and good quality for few bucks.

Since 2 weeks i play every single minute of my free hours and i am already capable of playing “duelling banjos”, “foggy mountain” and “buggle call rag”. Now i concentrate on gaining speed, guess this will take a bit of time :confused:

Cya on the forum

Frankenbeutel

#2

frankenbeutel,

welcome to this great website! You will get plenty of input and help here if you have any questions! Have fun pickin’!!

#3

Ahh, our international community is growing still. Welcome aboard and what a dedicated player you are. I wish I could be as such. Congrats and keep it up.

#4

Frankenbeutel, welcome!
My wife and I went to the Oktoberfest in Munich this year for the first time, loved Germany!
Not sure if I would go back to the fest again, but we will definitely be coming back to Germany. We met some wonderful people and couldn’t believe how beautiful the country was, can’t wait to see more of it.
jim

#5

Hey Jim,

that was my first thaught when i saw your picture :slight_smile: Cheers…
Other way round, i’d love to go to the US and visit all these nice music events i read about here in the forum.

Since how many years are u guys playing the banjo? I guess it takes some time to master the pieces in a speed they sound typical bluegrass like?

#7

Hello Ben,

to be honest, i never heard that surname :frowning:

Maybe its origin is northern germany?

#8

Been to Germany myself, good to see someone on here from there.

What exactly does “beutel” mean?

I am sure that “beutel” has no meaning towards music, but for your info, folks in the states that typically play bluegrass the condescending names typically are:

Red Necks, Hill Billies, Hill Jacks, etc.

Bluegrass music is really associated with the lifestyles of folks that live in the following states : Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.----what is referred to as the “Appalachian” region of the U.S …or better known as the “Blueridge Mountain area and foothills”. This area was really influenced by the Scot/Irish and is where the majority ended up as immigrants…hence the fiddle. Kentucky is the “Bluegrass State”, but references an actual name of the grass that grows there, not the music…but that is where the name/genre of music came from.

Welcome aboard.

#9

Don’t leave out HICKERBILLY. My children came up with when thay where 2 and could quit say hillbilly.LOL

#10

Hello,

interessting information, thanks for that!

Franken = the region i live in

beutel = a german synonym for “Sack” which is in english “bag”. Just like “dirtbag” you see?

Frankenbeutel, nice name for a german bluegrass band? :slight_smile:

#11

Nice to have you on the forum!

#12

Frankenbeutel,
I enjoyed your music on your website, nice job!
jim

#13

Frankenbeutel, welcome!
great to see ya here …have fun pickin’ …this site is great …I Love it !!!

Guten Tag lol (no i dont speak German all that well …just remember a little from high school days lol) …

see ya in the forums !

Ron

#14

Thank you very much, you are all very kind. I hope that was correct english

There is so much to learn here, and my time on this earth is limited :wink:
Gotta go to work to make ends meet. Well we all have to, don’t we?

#15

Welcome, and yes, I think Frankenbeutal is a great name for a German grass band!

#16

Yep, nice name for a bluegrass band I agree.

In the U.S “Dirt Bag” when associated with calling someone that outside of in a popular Clint Eastwood movie is a term I see used a lot when referring to fathers that are not taking care of their children…i.e not paying child support or not even acknowledging their children’s existence or just the over-all lack of responsibility of a male gender to his offspring or wife.

We have plenty of “Dirt bags” in our hillbilly tradition…must of been that damn Scot/Irish influence!

Haha!

#17

Am I paranoid, or is it significant that Oldhat talks about dirtbags and hillbillies right after my post??? :laughing:

#18

Hey Mreisz,

is there something that bothers your mind or you want to tell us? :laughing:

#19

:smiley: