Banjo tone needed

Tplesko

Inspired
Hi all, I am interested in trying to get close to this banjo (I think it's a banjo) at the chorus of Country Girls (Luke Bryan). Any ideas on how to get close (I understand the III cannot easily and perfectly emulate a banjo with such a sharp attack and release). Thank you in advance,

 
One trick I've seen is to lightly mute the strings with felt or foam. Kills the sustain sort of like palm muting and adds that plunky kind of percussive quality.
 
banjoJoke-300x202.jpg
 
I guess you knew you'd get whacked asking about banjo tones. This is a fun song we used to play in the band, but I never worked on the banjo tones. I'll bet you could come up with some kind of envelope filter to mimic the quick plucking/fast decay attack, or maybe someone else already has. I'd like to have a preset like this as well.
 
One time I accidentally left a banjo in the back of my convertible while I was shopping for a couple hours. When I came back to the car, there were two banjos in the back.
 
A few years ago, I played in our show in different songs live on stage Banjo, Glockenspiel, the sound of a starting car a gunshot and a dying breathe.
No kidding. I realized those sounds with one of my Godin Guitars with Synth Access, a Roland VG-99 Ana Roland Fantom XR. We did a lot of such gimmicks in our programs at this time.
If you are interested in details about „how to“ let me know.
With a „normal“ guitar and AXE-FX III i suppose you have a very hard challenge to realize your wish convincingly.
Certainly buying a Banjo and learning to play is the cheapest method but maybe not the fastest.😉
 
Apart form all the funny "answers" in this thread, here is how you do it:

Google Banjo Impulse Response. You'll get, by a little sleuthing, a number of IRs you can download and load into an IR player or a Cab.
Use a piezo guitar if at all possible to get a more acoustic vibe.
You'll need to palm mute lightly to emulate the fast decay of the banjo. The IR will shape the sound and give you a bit of the honk of the nano tone.
The harder part is to play it like a banjo. Between all the above, you can make a convincing banjo sound. I have used the above technique successfully in concert. It sounds "like" a banjo. But it ain't one!
 
Luckily most of these bro country "banjo" parts are just 6 strings banjo in standard tuning with a pick. I just use a banjo fellas! The IR idea is the best way to fake it. Just avoid the low E and A strings and DON'T STRUM, PLUCK OR PICK.
Very rarely do these modern country songs use fingerpicks and 5 string banjo.
 
Back
Top Bottom