dueling banjos
Stringed instrument battle
Dueling banjos describes a style of musical exchange where two instrumentalists trade phrases back and forth, each responding to or trying to outdo the other.
The term comes from the 1972 film *Deliverance*, featuring a scene where a guitarist and banjo player trade increasingly rapid licks.
The phrase now applies to any competitive musical dialogue: The two guitarists got into a dueling banjos thing during the jam session.
It sometimes describes any escalating back-and-forth exchange.
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Burt Reynolds · competitive spirit · call-and-response · folk melodies · southern culture · Southern Gothic · syncopation · Appalachia · open tuning · harmonization · bluegrass · tablature · Southern United States · country music · folk · mandolin · old-time music · string band
dueling banjossolo performance
Unaccompanied artistic presentation
solo · solo act · monologue · single voice · unison
dueling banjosmeditation music
Soothing tracks for mindfulness
ambient music · drone · Gregorian chant · funeral dirge · requiem
dueling banjossymphony orchestra
Large ensemble for classical music
chamber music · philharmonic · Carnegie Hall · opera · elevator music
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