Yeah. That makes sense. He joked that he never wanted to make a career strictly as a banjo player because there is a sentence no one ever utters, "Oh, look. It's the banjo player's Porsche." So he needed to sneak in by being a comedian/actor/screenwriter/author/playwright. Imagine doing all that to be able to play music.
i love his look of concentration as he narrows down from his more goofy comedic persona to being a person who has legitimately spent hundreds of hours honing his abilities with this instrument.
You're completely off the world at that moment especially when you're improvising. It's the best feeling ever. Getting out a great guitar solo for example seems to be a lost skill almost.
As one who has played the 5-string banjo for over 47 years, I can attest to your sentiment that the banjo is, indeed, THE most bad-ass instrument around... and the mandolin runs a VERY close second!
I've played the banjo for over 45 years, and let me tell you this guy could play. What he's doing here is called frailing. Notice the banjo's open back, and the lack of finger picks. That's how you play the clawhammer or frailing style. I can't frail worth a crap. Steve also plays Scruggs (bluegrass) style very well, with finger picks and the back in place (he put the fingerpicks and back on at 2:25). That's my style. Very few banjo players can do both styles as good as Steve Martin. He could have been a professional banjo player, but as he once said nobody ever says "look at that banjo player in that Porsche". I guess he made the right vocational choice.
And then he came out with a music album and played on NPR tiny desk and late night shows with banjo legends and was AMAZING! In a banjoish sort of way. ( Seriously he was/ is amazing as a musician.)
Yes, he is good, both in the clawhammer style and 3 finger picking. One of the best in the world. I bet that if he could have made money with the banjo, he wouldn't have bothered with stand-up. He is world-class. Few are better. Never liked his acting, but I like his stand-up and his appearances on SNL, but I like his banjo picking best.
He did indeed play with Scruggs n Flats. Was badass when he did too. I play guitar and started with mountain music a million years ago and you are right when u say Steve is an awesome banjo player.
@@kadenwatt2033he may as well have been haha. Actually there are clips of him on the Smothers Brothers show from the 60s and he has brown hair. Looks kind of odd on him. Lol
He really puts soul in his playing. And in 79 the cocaine wasn't too bad either. Just kidding Mr. Martin can really play and you don't need drugs for that. Talent and practice. Peace
I've seen Steve play banjo but never clawhammer style. Most play one style or the other. 3 finger roll, Scruggs style or clawhammer but not both. Talented guy.
I will tell you something,He has brought so much entertainment through the years, he's hot and cold, just like us.What a wonderful teaching person, I am so proud that he is part of my generation.
I saw him in the late 1970s as an opening act for Janis Ian in Los Angeles. He had just begun to zoom in popularity and it was interesting to see him do his set and then many of the audience members leaving, having seen who they really wanted to see.
Did you ever see Harpo Marx play the harp in one of the Marx Brothers' movies? He would stop being "Harpo" and would suddenly become a serious musician...same expression on Steve's face...
Sometimes serious but still mostly silly. Chico could play the hell out of a piano too. The Harpo/Chico combo was usually the best part of the Marx Bros in my opinion. Chicolini and Pinky forever!!!
If someone told he, that guy is just one of the best banjo players, I would believe him. But then he will tell me what this man has achieved in other fields, I'm blown away.
I was not expecting him to be exceptionally good at that. Like, I'm a guitarist, I have some reference for how to play the banjo, and he is legitimately insanely good. Id be really impressed even if I didn't know who he was.
Just because everyone should see Steve Martin play the Banjo at least once in their lives. He's probably the greatest entertainer of all time, if you really consider his entire body of work and it wasn't all him either. Probably why he looked 70 when he was 30 and he was probably born that way. My appreciation for him has grown just watching his stuff of late. The banjo and all of it. It's amazing how all of his acts he would always do something different as well. This is truly awe inspiring to me. With all that can seem wrong with the world all you have to do is replay it to this and you can die happy or sad or rolling laughing or whatever. This breaths so much energy into things that can seem so lacking at times even if they really are.
First piece of music I ever fell in love with, on the first record my parents ever bought for me (Comedy Is Not Pretty). Wasn't until way later, after I had already developed a similar love for Simple Gifts that I realized the two were the same.
EX-CUUUUUUUSE- ME!!!!!! I can't remember any time I watched one of his stand up routines where I could still breathe normally (from laughing)....truly my favorite comedian ever.
always thought how impressive it was that one minute he's so random and funny and then could just click into the silent concentration of playing an instrument like the banjo. pretty cool!
The first and only time we ever met was much like this moment. An arrow was going straight through your head. I sat in the audience mesmerized. What a talented, very strange young man. Oh, we were just kids then. Remember? Thank you for your life.
I was in high school when he was on tour with this show. I went to see it with a guy I was dating. Steve was amazing. The crowd was amazing. I'm still thrilled I got to see him.
I recall his first album from, I think, 1978. A classmate had it and we listened to it at his house. The guy was funny without being filthy. Shorty after I "discovered" him, he started making appearances on SNL. What a nut he was. And that he has evolved into this brilliant, but still occasionally funny, musician is a gift to the world. His banjo playing is probably nearly as good as anyone who has command of this five string instrument.
Amazing!! I've known for a while that he plays. This video is about the only time I've seen him with a straight face with him concentrating on playing!! It's really cool we can see him play in a bunch of youtube posts. Sure wish I had seen him at Red Rocks Amphitheater in the King Tut era - the show must have been a once in a life time show for sure! Elvis and the Beatles played at Red Rocks too but before my time. Neat!
Steve Martin's grand plan was do be a rich and famous comedian so he could play banjo full time. And it worked.
ABSOLUTELY !!!
Yeah. That makes sense. He joked that he never wanted to make a career strictly as a banjo player because there is a sentence no one ever utters, "Oh, look. It's the banjo player's Porsche."
So he needed to sneak in by being a comedian/actor/screenwriter/author/playwright.
Imagine doing all that to be able to play music.
@@orbison "Ohhh, I'm picking out a thermos for YOUUUU..."
LOVE HIM!!!!!!!!
Yes it did!!
Not enough people realize the beauty of this instrument.
Bazouki is better. Used often in Irish musics too. And has 8 strings. Best number.
Great comment
@@goofe.washington953 Thanks
Respecting it more. It sounds joyful and this man can play from the heart.
Everyone does in NORTH CAROLINA HOME OF EARL SCRUGGS, AND DON RENO!!!!
i love his look of concentration as he narrows down from his more goofy comedic persona to being a person who has legitimately spent hundreds of hours honing his abilities with this instrument.
If you play any instrument then you know what it’s like to be in the zone, for lack of a better phrase.
You're completely off the world at that moment especially when you're improvising. It's the best feeling ever. Getting out a great guitar solo for example seems to be a lost skill almost.
You can't be more connected to music than that. And I also make electronic music. Nothing beats the real thing.
Thousands of hours.
Steve Martin, keeping it classy since the ‘70’s.
He’s playing it finger-style, no pick! That’s awesome! 😎
Frailing or clawhammer style like the old timers did
Drop-thumb is another term for this technique. Grandpa Jones, String Bean, and Doc Watson played this style.
Looks like we've been wrong about Steve Martin all along... He is a professional banjo player that is also a world-renowned comedian.
Writer, dramatic actor, dancer, singer, etc.
The banjo is the most badass instrument and nobody can convince me otherwise.
It has the most soul in the right hands, but it's hard to coax feelings out of it.
bass guitar
As one who has played the 5-string banjo for over 47 years, I can attest to your sentiment that the banjo is, indeed, THE most bad-ass instrument around... and the mandolin runs a VERY close second!
It's very cool. Lots of history behind it too!
Nuh uh!
Oh man I just ended your whole career with that takedown
You can see it in his eyes that music was his true passion.
He did this during a STADIUM stand up routine.
sixpakshaker88 I was just thinking that. He was on top of his game
I saw him in a live indoor arena with 19,000 other fans he was amazing. I will never forget the amazing dime trick, his best magic ever!
@Cindi Thomas He played stadiums at least the size of basketball arenas. So it was in front of 10s of thousands of fans.
At the height of disco, no less.
That’s the only way they’d allow it
Holy crap. He's playing a medley of Loch Lomond (Scottish traditional) and Simple Gifts (old Shaker hymn).
Thanks I recognized It's a Gift to Be Simple but never heard the other one
The banjo. Simultaneously the happiest and most melancholy of instruments. Steve, always be with us with your smile and banjo at your side.
I've played the banjo for over 45 years, and let me tell you this guy could play. What he's doing here is called frailing. Notice the banjo's open back, and the lack of finger picks. That's how you play the clawhammer or frailing style. I can't frail worth a crap. Steve also plays Scruggs (bluegrass) style very well, with finger picks and the back in place (he put the fingerpicks and back on at 2:25). That's my style. Very few banjo players can do both styles as good as Steve Martin. He could have been a professional banjo player, but as he once said nobody ever says "look at that banjo player in that Porsche". I guess he made the right vocational choice.
And then he came out with a music album and played on NPR tiny desk and late night shows with banjo legends and was AMAZING! In a banjoish sort of way. ( Seriously he was/ is amazing as a musician.)
Yes, he is good, both in the clawhammer style and 3 finger picking. One of the best in the world.
I bet that if he could have made money with the banjo, he wouldn't have bothered with stand-up. He is world-class. Few are better. Never liked his acting, but I like his stand-up and his appearances on SNL, but I like his banjo picking best.
He did indeed play with Scruggs n Flats. Was badass when he did too. I play guitar and started with mountain music a million years ago and you are right when u say Steve is an awesome banjo player.
Watch his new show, “murder in the building”. He is very “un-Steve” and shows off some serious acting chops in the subtle moments.
One of the best comments ever. I did start playing banjo about a year ago and practice in the back of my Tesla while my son is at his drum lesson.
He’s 34 here... wow, looks the same now over 40 years later, respect
when you reach max level, you just stop leveling! haha
I for one believe Steve Martin was born with white-gray hair lol
@@kadenwatt2033he may as well have been haha. Actually there are clips of him on the Smothers Brothers show from the 60s and he has brown hair. Looks kind of odd on him. Lol
this video is super low quality, though, if you recorded him now on these cameras, with this level of compression, i'm sure look the same
Can't believe this clip is 41 years old.
😮😮😮!
And Steve Martin looked the same age ever since.
This guy is so multi-talented! I've always loved him.
He really puts soul in his playing. And in 79 the cocaine wasn't too bad either. Just kidding Mr. Martin can really play and you don't need drugs for that. Talent and practice. Peace
Saw him live opening for Johnny Cash and others. Too young too get it then, before he was known. What a talent
Hot Japan Rock Bands Yes wow
Hot Japan Rock Bands Yes when was that?
@@RataStueyere’s him with Johnny cash in 1978 ua-cam.com/video/N1obYtC52hE/v-deo.html
The guy has 5 Grammy Awards, 1 Emmy Award, and 1 Academy Award, among others.
Plus numerous awards for his music
The only one to have won both music and comedy Grammys
What a wild and crazy guy... 🕺
I don't know if I love him more being funny or playing the banjo.
You don’t have to chose!
You can tell this is his true passion. Brings him joy it seems. Good on ya Martin!
The musician who was funny. One of my idols.
Man, myth, legend.
He’s not dead
@@triplerushhd4799 Correct, not dead. Who said he was dead?
I've seen Steve play banjo but never clawhammer style. Most play one style or the other. 3 finger roll, Scruggs style or clawhammer but not both. Talented guy.
Anyone who can play both styles knows what the hell they're doing.
One of my favorite entertainers of all time. What a guy.
His playing touches and heals the heart. He's amazing.
True all around talent
I will tell you something,He has brought so much entertainment through the years, he's hot and cold, just like us.What a wonderful teaching person, I am so proud that he is part of my generation.
I saw him in the late 1970s as an opening act for Janis Ian in Los Angeles. He had just begun to zoom in popularity and it was interesting to see him do his set and then many of the audience members leaving, having seen who they really wanted to see.
Did you ever see Harpo Marx play the harp in one of the Marx Brothers' movies? He would stop being "Harpo" and would suddenly become a serious musician...same expression on Steve's face...
I thought the exact same thing watching this. Both Steve and Harpo were self taught also.
Yes thanks for the good reminder :)
Sometimes serious but still mostly silly. Chico could play the hell out of a piano too. The Harpo/Chico combo was usually the best part of the Marx Bros in my opinion. Chicolini and Pinky forever!!!
I noticed that expression too!
@@s.willis8426 one of the best, although, I think a little Rufus T. Firefly thrown in made it so much better too
If someone told he, that guy is just one of the best banjo players, I would believe him. But then he will tell me what this man has achieved in other fields, I'm blown away.
There are stars in the sky... and some fell to earth... you Mr. Martin are one of those beautiful souls... peace be with you.🤗😁
This concert changed my 14 year old life. My humor, a lot about what I found funny. Unreal - genius.
I saw him in 1978 at Indianapolis convention center, I’ll miss him
As far as I am aware, he's not dead .
That’s IMPROVISATION to the MAX. Love ❤️ and ALOHA
Crazy wild guy
"You're a wizard, Steve."
I was not expecting him to be exceptionally good at that.
Like, I'm a guitarist, I have some reference for how to play the banjo, and he is legitimately insanely good. Id be really impressed even if I didn't know who he was.
Watch Steve play banjo on David Letterman with Earl Scruggs. They do Foggy Mountain Breakdown. Steve is a world class banjo.
Steve, You ALWAYS make me smile!
Steve should be declared a living National Treasure.
It was cool that the audience did not start clapping along while he played that first tune.
Legend! The only celebrity I would cry to meet. I love you man 🧡
I chatted with him as we waited to cross the street in Paris in 1982..he was so nice and told me a few jokes!😊
@@MamaShmoi What a great memory to. treasure!
Just because everyone should see Steve Martin play the Banjo at least once in their lives. He's probably the greatest entertainer of all time, if you really consider his entire body of work and it wasn't all him either. Probably why he looked 70 when he was 30 and he was probably born that way. My appreciation for him has grown just watching his stuff of late. The banjo and all of it. It's amazing how all of his acts he would always do something different as well. This is truly awe inspiring to me. With all that can seem wrong with the world all you have to do is replay it to this and you can die happy or sad or rolling laughing or whatever. This breaths so much energy into things that can seem so lacking at times even if they really are.
First piece of music I ever fell in love with, on the first record my parents ever bought for me (Comedy Is Not Pretty). Wasn't until way later, after I had already developed a similar love for Simple Gifts that I realized the two were the same.
He really shreds on that banjo!
Improvising.. He's gifted.
Luv his Banjo playin❣🎶🎵🎶❤
EX-CUUUUUUUSE- ME!!!!!! I can't remember any time I watched one of his stand up routines where I could still breathe normally (from laughing)....truly my favorite comedian ever.
Do you remember....." Grandpaaaaa bought a rubber ".....
always thought how impressive it was that one minute he's so random and funny and then could just click into the silent concentration of playing an instrument like the banjo. pretty cool!
The first and only time we ever met was much like this moment. An arrow was going straight through your head. I sat in the audience mesmerized. What a talented, very strange young man. Oh, we were just kids then. Remember? Thank you for your life.
Plays with such ease!!
you gotta love Steve Martin, man!
Obsequious purple and clairvoyant. He’s a comic genius.
Isn't this just amazing!
Actual quote from Steve Martin. " I didn't care if I got rich, as long as I got to play my banjo
i sadly missed him here in fargo damn i wanted to see him, i love his banjo playing
The story of how Navin Johnson learned to pick the banjo was cut from The Jerk...
gotta adore this man, so incredibly talented
Agreed!🪕
I was in high school when he was on tour with this show. I went to see it with a guy I was dating.
Steve was amazing. The crowd was amazing. I'm still thrilled I got to see him.
Read that as 'I was high in school' my bad lol
The single most talented entertainer out there. He has honed his every craft. When someone says "I just don't 'get' him, it tells me everything.
I saw Steve play on tv with Earl Scruggs and about 3 others, and he had no problems being just as good!
Lee in Plainvillle!
He is absolutely 100% comparable to Earl Scruggs (although there never can be another Earl). Steve Martin is one of the three best banjo pickers ever.
Yeah, they even won a Grammy together for an all star version of Foggy Mountain Breakdown
I recall his first album from, I think, 1978. A classmate had it and we listened to it at his house. The guy was funny without being filthy. Shorty after I "discovered" him, he started making appearances on SNL. What a nut he was. And that he has evolved into this brilliant, but still occasionally funny, musician is a gift to the world. His banjo playing is probably nearly as good as anyone who has command of this five string instrument.
Such a talent ! He has a magic act too !
He really draws the music out of it. It's beautiful.
Amazing
Love Steve Martin, so multi talented and all around funny.
So funny! We love you Steve
Damn boy! Tore it up! Love the banjo and Steve Martin!
I love how he plays.
Look up Claw hammer banjo
That’s the Democrat style. Three finger Scrugg roll is conservative 😉
@@Bluelightcheaphotel now as a liberal Scruggs style player I take offense! 😂
I had no idea he could play, so cool
Check out steep canyon rangers with steve
How could put so much talent in one human?
What an absolute legend 🤘🫡
The talent of this man...
I've always felt a relation to this guy. Either from him always being in the movies or that he seems like such an honestly good person.
KickAss music!
this guy is a legend.
Amazing!! I've known for a while that he plays. This video is about the only time I've seen him with a straight face with him concentrating on playing!! It's really cool we can see him play in a bunch of youtube posts. Sure wish I had seen him at Red Rocks Amphitheater in the King Tut era - the show must have been a once in a life time show for sure! Elvis and the Beatles played at Red Rocks too but before my time. Neat!
That was amazing
Could listen all day long.
Great!!!
I’m here from Steve’s video on twitter. Simply amazing
I have to say the banjo is my favourite instrument. If I could play it, I would.
Saw him on the Let’s Get Small tour in St. Paul & obviously, he played this number 🪕
Good ol Steve... in my top 10 comedian list... but just multi talented.
Awesome!!!!!!
I adore Steve Martin💙🇺🇸
I love the first part of this. I watch at least once a day. Love watching the fingering! Amazing!
Saw him in 1979 at the UNI-Dome, Cedar Falls, Iowa.
He is my favorite comedian of all time
Terrific Performance!
Missed you back there..
Asheville, nc resident. (I wonder if he still lives there) I love this man.
What an absolute genius.
I had this on video and lost it. Thanks for uploading.
Steve Martin ...Cool Banjo guy ..peace.
So classic~! The man is a genius~!!
I can literally listen to this 100×'s over
Almost as fantastic an instrument as the bagpipes 🤓
Huge react . That laddie is a master of his craft …☀️🤗👍
Saw him play in westbury NY....awesome show,. He did some humor played banjo then the professionals played. great show
Tremendous!
What a great video.
He, Richard Pryor and Cheech and Chong got me interested in comedy.
This guy is soooooooooo talented.
that song king tut was so popular back then