I studied piano for several years - enough to allow me to 'plunk a little' - period pieces for some of my Twain shows. I had to give it up, though. My expectations exceeded those of my audiences. I also played 4-string banjo and 6 string guitar in my youth; and I learned that if you play one poorly, you can play the other just as well. 

On Feb 8, 2013, at 3:44 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell wrote:

> Twain strummed a little guitar in his youth, but not banjo. He also plunked 
> a little on the piano most of his life, but not the banjo (his sister Pamela 
> gave piano lessons in Hannibal). Playing the banjo is not like playing 
> guitar and playing one does not mean you can play the other. My Dad had (and 
> still has at age 90) a bluegrass band and was a friend of Earl Scruggs and 
> they exchanged 8-track banjo tapes all the time. I tried learning both 
> guitar and 5-string banjo, soon gave up, and masteed classical piano 
> instead. Scriabin is soooo much easier.
> 
> There's a cut & paste photo of Twain playing a banjo somewhere on the net, 
> but there are cut & paste pictures of all sort of things out there that 
> ain't true. There are also other cut & paste images of Twain online that 
> have caused endless confusion, but is at least one genuine image of Twain at 
> the piano --not actually playing it-- but posing. There was an old Martin 
> guitar being hawked around as Twain's guitar a few years ago, but there was 
> no evidence to support that claim --and some powerful reasons to doubt it. 
> Some years ago "Mark Twain's favorite juke box" was sold at auction in Waco, 
> Texas, said to be the very juke box he always played whenever he visited 
> Waco --which was never. But I digress...
> 
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
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> *************************
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> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Robert E Stewart" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, February 08, 2013 10:04 AM
> Subject: Re: Mark Twain, banjo player?
> 
> 
>> In the Feb. 2, 1863 atricle in  which the name Mark Twain first  appears,
>> the article concludes with the writer playing the piano. I can't speak  to
>> the banjo, but he did claim some musical talent in that writing.
>> 
>> Bob Stewart
>> 
>> In a message dated 2/8/2013 4:36:47 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>> [log in to unmask] writes:
>> 
>> I can't  remember ever hearing that [Sam Clemens] played the banjo.   Just
>> recently a
>> friend lent me his copy of a Mark Twain edition in 1929  which included an
>> article by Cyril Clemens talking about visiting the  Gilles family in our
>> California foothills.  I'd love to hear that it  is TRUE Mark Twain played
>> the banjo.  Can any of you confirm or deny  this story?  It is the bass
>> voice and the banjo playing that has me  interested.
>> 
>> Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine  April  1929
>> Founded by Bret Harte in 1868; and  Mark Twain Number Vol 87 April 1929 
>> No.
>> 4
>> Article by Cyril Clemens: "A  Visit to Mark Twain's Country"
>> .
>> 
>> Arianne  Laidlaw
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----
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>> Internal Virus Database is out of date.
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----
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Alan Kitty
609-219-9339
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www.marktwainslaststand.com