Mooooo - Posted - 02/10/2018:  08:55:18

What are you working on now and how do you learn and remember it?



I love to learn new tunes. I learn by ear. If it is a tune by an artist that I really like I tab it out note for note in hopes that I will retain certain licks just as played by the big boys and add them to my reportoire. If it is a tune that I know without a banjo in it already, I try to work up my own version and stick in some licks that I know already and some that I come up with to fit the melody. I tab it out so I can remember what I was thinking.



Right now I'm getting Redbud up to speed, about 75% right now, but it's kind of tricky. It's a nice bouncy tune, but almost no open notes. Luckily it repeats the first half of the tune, but the second half is a bit harder. I'll get there. Good luck on your new tunes and have fun.

Edited by - Mooooo on 08/10/2018 11:50:18

phb - Posted - 02/10/2018:  09:04:03

I'm working on Foggy Mountain Special which is very much like Jazzing which I learned last. Next will be Foggy Mountain Rock to give me more options for playing over a twelve-bar blues progression which is likely to come up in non-bluegrass jams.

I learn by ear using the Transcribe! software and will sometimes tab out to help my memory.

Owen - Posted - 02/10/2018:  09:10:48

quote:

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Originally posted by Mooooo

What are you working on now and how do you learn and remember it?  <snip>



 

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..."Good Night Ladies"  ...since March 2017 using Jack Hatfield's Book One BG Banjo Method, so apparently the 2nd. and 3rd. parts are: slowly and with considerable difficulty.   

warpdrive - Posted - 02/10/2018:  09:17:39

I just worked up "The Way" by Fastball a couple of days ago!

Mooooo - Posted - 02/10/2018:  09:21:28

quote:

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Originally posted by warpdrive

I just worked up "The Way" by Fastball a couple of days ago!

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You've been picking a looong time now Warp. And quite accomplished. I wonder how a guy like you learns and remembers a new tune. My guess is you're so old school that you can remember everything. I am truly interested, if you could let us know, it would be great. Thanks.

* cool tune you are learning

Edited by - Mooooo on 02/10/2018 09:22:01

steve davis - Posted - 02/10/2018:  09:28:54

I'm working up the "Off to California Hornpipe" from a tab in "Back Porch Melodic Banjo".
Once I can play through without looking at the tab I'll have it internalized and begin ornamenting.

miiloo - Posted - 02/10/2018:  09:37:23

Some Travis style Deep River Blues.

Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 02/10/2018:  10:11:48

After the thread of Earl doing, Sing For me on the guitar last week.. It flung a craving on me.. So I picked up the Martin after many, many years and am brushing up my Earl guitar playing.. Several songs, of course, you are my flower, John Henry and various Religious that Earl did not play banjo on.. We have other banjo players, so it will fit in well..

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/10/2018:  10:14:05

Whisky Before Breakfast, capo ll , C position. Melodic with B part way up the neck

Clive Halls - Posted - 02/10/2018:  10:24:58

I’m learning Ashokan Farewell in G from tab which i dowloaded from this site. I play through it many times until my fingers know how to play it.

warpdrive - Posted - 02/10/2018:  10:44:07

Mooooo(mike)

I tell ya, it's the darnedest thing, at going on 58 years old, i seem to be faster and cleaner, and able to figure out most anything i want now, and what puzzles me is just when i think it going to be something that will take me days to figure out, it falls together in just a few minutes!

I think "for me" it really has to do with the fact that i came from a musical family, i had a grandfather and great uncle that preformed and recorded in the thirties, and i was aware of music and how it worked and what to my young mind, it was supposed to sound like at a very young age!
I started piano at 7(never learned to read, just faked it for the teacher, still can't read )
i was chunking mandolin at 8 or 9 and learning guitar and a accomplished rhythm man by the time i took up banjo at 13.

But i tell ya mike, i think really, the truth behind my success of learning and retaining all the tunes and still to this day, a love of "all music of all genre's" is the fact that i was always trying to play what i liked to hear on tv and radio and not what necessarily my dad and his friends and even my grandpa liked, although grandpa rust,he admittedly said he liked big band and dance music growing up!

Banjo was kind of natural for me, "but not SCRUGGS/ and especially not CROWE!
Melodic and chromatic stuff has always just flowed for me, but i knew early on that i was really struggling with Scruggs and Crowe, and i fooled a lot of people, but i could never fool the great pickers that I knew, like my friend Robby Boone(plays jd better than jd!)
I could hear what i was doing wrong, but was always just a note or two off from what was really being done. Luckily for me, the bands i was playing with didn't do the hardcore traditional stuff, we did a full production show, twin fiddles, texas fiddle tunes, clogging, 50's and 60's rock, with just enough bluegrass to get us booked at big festivals, and enough variety, that we could appeal to listeners of every genre. We had no trouble going into a festival booked for 3 days and never repeated any tunes unless requested!
I didn't get serious about learning correct Scruggs until i was almost 40 years old, and to this day, i stay as far away from JD Crowe style as possible, his timing and what he takes off his roll to achieve it, just boggles my mind.

Mike, i hear banjo in just about every genre of music.
I hear hip hop songs that i start doing rolls in my head too!
I was inspired to learn" the way" from listening to Chris Thile a fews week ago on Live From Here!
To be honest with you, i listen to way more pop and blues and funk than i do Bluegrass, not to say that i don't love to play with a good hot traditional Bluegrass band, but it seems that my ability to go outside the box, and just try to play like kevin feels it, has always kind of worked for me, and when i get my life back together again in some time down the road, if the fates will have it, i might get back out again and make 10's of dollars and give it another go, only time will tell!
Thanks for your interest mike!
Warp(kevin)!

Mooooo - Posted - 02/10/2018:  11:02:42

Thank you Warp. Gives us guys who aren't pros inspiration and perhaps a new outlook on where influences can come from. Lots of us listen to music outside the bluegrass genre, I wonder how many try to pick along with that stuff on the banjo. I just wish I could remember stuff like I could when I was a kid.

spini - Posted - 02/10/2018:  11:15:40

Lonesome Road Blues, via tab and play along track.
Long Journey Home is on deck. Same way of learning.

monstertone - Posted - 02/10/2018:  11:45:42

When I was learning, I used to tab stuff longhand, b4 computers. Mostly to make sure everything metered out correctly, but also for posterity, sometimes referring back to it, adding variations & so forth. I now have Tabledit, but I find it to be a royal pita to write tab with all the repetitions (AA BB)(1st & 2nd endings) and other notation like regular music. Plus the one thing that really bothers me is Tabledit insists on numbering the pickup measure as #1.

I first worked out a version of Whiskey (Capo II) out of C positions decades ago. It was kind of half & half including Scruggs, Dillard, & Hickman licks as well as melodic scale runs. More recently I worked out a full melodic version, in the key of D of course, out of standard G tuning. That''s the one I put on Table edit. It took me longer to document it than it did to work it out.

The challenge now is to be able to play more of those key of D fiddle tunes in open G tuning. But some of them are so ingrained after all these years, it's like I have to re program my brain, hands, everything. I'm often inclined to agree with Sonny, BG banjo ain't supposed to sound like that.  

The band I used to play with did a lot of vocal numbers. It was fun to work out breaks & see how close I could come to whoever we were using for reference, & then put my own twist on it. 

Some things I can just hear it and after a few times through, I've got it. Others, like Sweet Georgia Brown & Lime Rock have been kicking around the memory banks for years.       

Edited by - monstertone on 02/10/2018 11:55:21

FlyinEagle - Posted - 02/10/2018:  12:14:49

Specifically, I've been working on a Scruggs version of Soldier's Joy straight from tab and the break in Hartford's version of Lorena, partly from a crappy tab in the archive here, and partly from ear since the tab falls short. Still trying to get Lorena all smooth and sounding right, but it seems to be my 15 month old's favorite song so I'll keep at it till I get it right.

In general I've been working on a lot of up the neck stuff, because it lags behind my down the neck playing. I've gotten a lot more comfortable with it lately though.

I'm remembering the same way I always do, grind it till it sticks. I can memorize words in a matter of minutes, but numbers and music never seem to stick with the same ease that words do. Music is very mathematical, so I don't know if there's a neurological relationship between how your brain processes numbers and music, but it sure feels like there is.

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 02/10/2018:  14:27:31

here's my list taken from my word processer recent list, wow not one bluegrass song, since Jan. 1:

(I Know) I'm Losing You
Imaginary Lover
Hohner Harmonica Demonstration by Annie Raines
Peter Gunn Theme
Along The Navajo Trail
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin’
Cry Me A River
I Got Rhythm
Send In The Clowns
Take It Easy banjo
Mama Told Me Not to Come
In the Presence of the Lord
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Moondance
Mama Told Me Not to Come
God Gave Rock & Roll To You
Bloody Well Right
Shower The People
Ring Of Fire
I Left My Heart In San Francisco
The Rainbow Connection
Girl Talk
Georgia on My Mind
Fever
Falling In Love Again
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Blue Moon
Deep Purple
Call Me Irresponsible
Ain't Misbehavin’
Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song

Mooooo - Posted - 02/10/2018:  14:54:16

quote:

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Originally posted by mmuussiiccaall

here's my list taken from my word processer recent list, wow not one bluegrass song, since Jan. 1:



...Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song

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That's an impressive list Rick. How did you learn these and how did you memorize them all? Or are you learning all of these at the same time?

Edited by - Mooooo on 02/10/2018 14:56:17

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 02/10/2018:  16:06:27

95% of them are for my band. I'm up to 350 songs total for that band my usual procedure is to download the lyrics from the Internet and then by ear imputing the correct musical parts for our instrumentation which is drums percussion keyboards guitars bass saxophone vocals. Practice wise I probably haven't done that in 20 years .

Doug Knecht - Posted - 02/10/2018:  17:44:18

Right now I'm working on a tune I have played before, but am out of practice. i haven't played it for at least 6 months. Ashley Lewis wrote this song called "Cascade," and we played it at IBMA on this youtube before.  We have a show coming up next weekend and it's on the list.  So it says something about how I forget tunes!  

youtube.com/watch?v=bq22Fd5G-zU

Mooooo - Posted - 02/10/2018:  18:22:08

You guys sound great Doug, good luck next week. Hope it leads to something huge.

pickn5 - Posted - 02/11/2018:  07:08:53

I'm currently learning You Are My Sunshine from a Bill Nesbitt lesson. I printed out the tab and learn a bar at a time, then play the ones learned together along with the slow version of the lesson video to smooth them out. Once the complete tune is learned, I continue to play along with the lesson video versions increasing the speed until I reach the appropriate tempo. Keep picking.

Texican65 - Posted - 02/11/2018:  08:12:38

Working on a few Weissberg arrangements...”Pony Express” currently. Just repetition over and over when I can pick up the banjo. And then thinking about it and moving my left and right hand fingers like I’m actually playing...while I’m at work.

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 02/11/2018:  08:41:12

I've been polishing up "Big Sciota", both melodic and Scruggs style. It's a good tune, though not a top favorite of mine. But a lot of my friends play it, and it's likely to show up at our gig this afternoon at the Port City Brewing Company in Alexandria, VA.

portcitybrewing.com/

Edited by - Ira Gitlin on 02/11/2018 08:41:30

arnie fleischer - Posted - 02/11/2018:  13:39:42

"Cattle in the Cane," "El Cumbanchero," "Kansas City Railroad Blues" and "Cowboys and Indians." The first two have been coming up a lot at one of my jams, the other two I just happen to like.

Ira, please say hello to Big Seymour Oaty for me.

Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 02/11/2018:  14:06:25

(yeegh... That video makes me feel old Doug... I remember Jimmy as the kid carrying the fiddle around, back in the bank basement days. Haven't seen some of them guys in 20 years or more..)

dr4dpet - Posted - 02/11/2018:  20:46:56

Eighth of January  -- repetition

This is called periodically at the Slow Jam I attend on occasion.  Once a semi-regular had a guest with him who had never heard the song, or Battle of New Orleans. Afterwards this tune caused a bit of discomfort for some and humor for the rest of us. As it turns out the visitor was from England.

Edited by - dr4dpet on 02/11/2018 20:57:02

johnny5000 - Posted - 02/12/2018:  08:10:26

I'm working on a bunch of songs for the band I'm in. Wagon Wheel is the main one (yeah, I know, I know. Bluegrassers are sick of Wagon Wheel but we mostly play towards a non-bluegrass crowd who still loves it.)

For a while my focus on learning songs for the band took time away from practicing & learning traditional bluegrass, but lately I've been trying to get back to it again. I've been working on Sally Goodin and Sally Ann, and they're almost starting to sound decent.

I also recently got a book on two-finger index-lead banjo, so I've been working on a few songs in that style - Cripple Creek, Cluck Old Hen, Scarborough Fair.

doryman - Posted - 02/12/2018:  08:57:17

I'm working on "Doin' my time," which, long ago, was one of the first bluegrass songs I ever heard and was probably the song that got me to thinking about playing a banjo, although I didn't act on that though for quite some time. The Scruggs lead wasn't hard for me because the it's basically the same lick I use for the version of Cripple Creek I learned many years ago. What I'm trying to figure out now is what to play when I'm singing. I come from a clawhammer background and it's still difficult for me to sing and play bluegrass at the same time.

Mooooo - Posted - 02/12/2018:  09:48:50

quote:

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Originally posted by johnny5000

I'm working on a bunch of songs for the band I'm in. Wagon Wheel is the main one (yeah, I know, I know. Bluegrassers are sick of Wagon Wheel but we mostly play towards a non-bluegrass crowd who still loves it.)

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Nothing wrong with Wagon Wheel, especially if you're getting paid to play it. Play whatever people what to hear and don't worry about music snobs or purists. Even Flatt and Scruggs played songs someone was sick of.

johnny5000 - Posted - 02/12/2018:  10:21:26

quote:

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Originally posted by Mooooo

 

Nothing wrong with Wagon Wheel, especially if you're getting paid to play it. Play whatever people what to hear and don't worry about music snobs or purists. Even Flatt and Scruggs played songs someone was sick of.

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I agree with you 100%. I still like Wagon Wheel just fine. And it's fun to play. And it's fun to get paid to play it :)



 

RB-1 - Posted - 02/12/2018:  14:07:12

Haven't been well this year so far, first a cold, then flu took over the baton, but it's fizzling out now....

Before I'd been working on some stuff.

Made a new tune for the mandolin, still polishing the rough edges.

Banjo, off and on project is 'Polka on the banjo' I love the Martha White version over the recording.

Just as challenging, but entirely different is 'Tico, tico'. three part tune, Am/C/A. I'd got it down on mandolin already, so that triggered me in trying to figure it out on banjo. Slowly but surely coming together as well.... Capo 2

conic - Posted - 02/12/2018:  15:35:31

I have been trying to learn Brunos Half a Turn since Christmas from his youtube video.

youtube.com/watch?v=QKwy_4H-SvI

At the same time In am learning to use tabledit and tabbing this out which once complete i will ask for brunos approval and that its correct before adding to the archive, I have cracked the down the neck part and am working up the neck but the detune part will have to wait till i get four detuners. from this i am learning a lot about timing, rolls and using index finger on string 4 oh and tabledit is getting easier now i am up to 32 measures

Mooooo - Posted - 02/12/2018:  15:43:11

Bruno does a great job on that one, I like his work with the tuners too. They make that an expensive tune to play. Anyway, get well Bruno.

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/12/2018:  16:05:39

Get well soon, Bruno. Your man Kramer yesterday should give you a lift.

danielburdett - Posted - 02/14/2018:  10:42:02

Isotope 709 by Danny Barnes has been what I’m working on. I can play it clean all the way through, now I’m working on getting it up to speed. My daughter just got a Little Martin guitar, so messing around on that has taken up a good bit of my time so far this year. My goal is to learn 6 new songs this year... I’m hoping to get the bulk of those out of the way sooner than later cause we’re going to have another little one joining us in June, which will drastically decrease the amount of playing on my end...

Mooooo - Posted - 02/14/2018:  11:06:44

danielburdett what instrument is the new baby gonna play?

jfkeebler - Posted - 02/14/2018:  11:11:08

Blackberry Blossom!

danielburdett - Posted - 02/14/2018:  11:35:38

Mooooo I don’t know yet... I need a good bass player, so maybe that..,

RB4picker - Posted - 02/14/2018:  13:35:07

Well, I'm learning an instrumental called GOLD RUSH.
Seems to be popular at jams and festivals.
I'm using tab from a Janet Davis book.
Not a very long song before it repeats but kinda' tricky left and right hand work.
I go over it and over it until I can internalize it and then start practicing speed and timing more intently.
David

arnie fleischer - Posted - 02/14/2018:  16:20:24

David, "The Gold Rush" is one of Bill Monroe's greatest tunes. But so many people, especially at jams, play it way too fast. Monroe recorded it at about 114-116 bpm, and at that tempo it has a wonderful, lilting quality that completely disappears when played much faster.

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/14/2018:  19:57:00

I agree with Arnie. Even Vic Jordan , who was the banjo player on the Kenny Baker recording said in an interview (BNL ,I think it was) that Gold Rush shouldn’t be played fast. That bouncy D chord in the B part needs that lilt.

Buxton - Posted - 02/14/2018:  20:47:02

quote:

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Originally posted by FlyinEagle

the break in Hartford's version of Lorena, partly from a crappy tab in the archive here, and partly from ear since the tab falls short.

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I tabbed out all 4 breaks in guitar pro and I believe it's very accurate (though who knows). It's definitely different from some of the other Lorena tabs I looked at prior to tackling the song! banjohangout.org/tab/browse.as...p;v=22790

Guitar pro tabs will open in tabledit.

FlyinEagle - Posted - 02/15/2018:  04:02:45

quote:

---

Originally posted by Buxton

quote:

---

Originally posted by FlyinEagle

the break in Hartford's version of Lorena, partly from a crappy tab in the archive here, and partly from ear since the tab falls short.

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I tabbed out all 4 breaks in guitar pro and I believe it's very accurate (though who knows). It's definitely different from some of the other Lorena tabs I looked at prior to tackling the song! banjohangout.org/tab/browse.as...p;v=22790

Guitar pro tabs will open in tabledit.

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Nice!

Very cool, thank you. I'm going to mess around with this over the weekend. I love singing this tune so if I can get the break flowing I'll be set.

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 02/15/2018:  05:58:17

quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

I agree with Arnie. Even Vic Jordan , who was the banjo player on the Kenny Baker recording said in an interview (BNL ,I think it was) that Gold Rush shouldn’t be played fast. That bouncy D chord in the B part needs that lilt.

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It was Byron Berline playing fiddle on the original recording. But I do remember Vic Jordan saying that about the tune, and I heartily agree.

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/15/2018:  06:10:54

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ira Gitlin

quote:

---

Originally posted by chuckv97

I agree with Arnie. Even Vic Jordan , who was the banjo player on the Kenny Baker recording said in an interview (BNL ,I think it was) that Gold Rush shouldn’t be played fast. That bouncy D chord in the B part needs that lilt.

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It was Byron Berline playing fiddle on the original recording. But I do remember Vic Jordan saying that about the tune, and I heartily agree.

 

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Yes, Ira. I believe Byron helped write the tune. I was referring to the “Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe” album - I think Vic played on “Gold Rush” .

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 02/15/2018:  06:48:39

Though I'm sure Baker must have played it many times, I don't see the tune on the track list for that album.

amazon.com/Kenny-Baker-Plays-B...0000012EK

ChuckCharles - Posted - 02/15/2018:  07:29:11

Banish misfortune, maid behind the bar, fishers hornpipe, cooley's reel, and Morissons jig :)

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/15/2018:  08:31:07

quote:

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Originally posted by Ira Gitlin

Though I'm sure Baker must have played it many times, I don't see the tune on the track list for that album.



amazon.com/Kenny-Baker-Plays-B...0000012EK

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Aah,, sorry, my mistake.

steve davis - Posted - 02/15/2018:  13:00:19

Me and the Windy Ridge Band are submitting our selections for the 2018 National Veterans Creative Arts Festival on the 27th of this month at the Togus VA theater.
I'm choosing Dusty Miller,Shenandoah Breakdown and Little Rock Getaway.

I'll play them every day 'til then and they should be in good,presentable shape.
Haven't had much playing time lately,but the rust is cleaning up OK.