CosmicCharlie24 - Posted - 07/02/2017:  09:26:19

Hey All - has anyone ever tabbed out Song To Woody by Bob Dylan in clawhsmmet? I've been making progress with playing and singing and thought this tune would be cool.

dbrooks - Posted - 07/02/2017:  18:53:14

Charlie, "Song to Woody" is in 3/4 time which requires a few changes (but not many) to work well in clawhammer. It is in the key of A, so you can play this in open G tuning with the capo at the 2nd fret to match the recording. This shouldn't be too difficult to work out on your own (a great exercise to open new tunes to you).

Here's a link to a YouTube with the song by Dylan: youtube.com/watch?v=_R49BmdUiWw

Here's a link to a tab site with the chords for guitar that can guide you on the banjo: tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/b/bob...y_tab.htm

David

CosmicCharlie24 - Posted - 07/03/2017:  05:32:06

Thanks David! - before I posted this yesterday I did exactly what you suggested.  I know the tune pretty well and I found the chord structure.  But when I attempt to tab this out I end up just doing a bum ditty through each chord.  I'm still struggling with making it interesting and/or picking out the melody.  I'll give it another go though and thanks!!!

dbrooks - Posted - 07/03/2017:  09:48:47

As a start in 3/4, play a quarter note (bum only) on the first beat of each measure. The first beat should get the most emphasis. I usually avoid following the first beat with pairs of eighth notes (bum ditties) on the 2nd and 3rd beats. If you are just chording initially, try playing bum bum bum-ditty as you sing along. That should give you the rhythm and chords against which you can sing the lyrics. When you are comfortable with that, you can then look for hammer-ons, pull-offs, and passing phrases between chords. These might lead you to adding an eighth note to the 2nd beat and possibly leaving the 3rd beat as a quarter note (bum). There are no fixed rules (beyond giving the first beat the main emphasis).

I enjoy playing waltzes on the banjo. In fact, I just finished teaching a course on that at Kentucky Music Week last week. Great class, talented students. Always a good time.

David