steve davis - Posted - 08/15/2018:  14:51:33

I seem to remember the DGUYDJ album cut to be sped up to Bb.

Mooooo - Posted - 08/15/2018:  14:59:42

steve davis said "I seem to remember the DGUYDJ album cut to be sped up to Bb."


I'll let you know when I get a battery for my tuner...it died last week. I just tune to the track by ear. That's how I used to do it back in the pre-electronic tuner days, when I had to slow those albums to 16rpm...we are so lucky today with every song on YouTube at 25% speed without pitch changing if you want it. But I'm definitely not complaining.

Edited by - Mooooo on 08/15/2018 15:01:48

pickin_fool - Posted - 08/15/2018:  15:00:03

""Flint Hill Special" from Earl's book. Learning to use the D-tuners."

if you want a fun tune with D tuners try open D tuning..with your D tuners as tuned for flint hill...then learn..."theres no place like home"..i i think thats its name...be it ever so humble theres no place like home etc etc"..

easy peasy and listeners will think you are a banjo whiz..a seriously fun tune to play

jlsorbit - Posted - 08/15/2018:  17:05:31

quote:

---

Originally posted by pickin_fool

""Flint Hill Special" from Earl's book. Learning to use the D-tuners."

if you want a fun tune with D tuners try open D tuning..with your D tuners as tuned for flint hill...then learn..."theres no place like home"..i i think thats its name...be it ever so humble theres no place like home etc etc"..

easy peasy and listeners will think you are a banjo whiz..a seriously fun tune to play

---

Actually, that was the first tune I learned using the D-tuners. Very cool tune. Guess I'm now classified a banjo whiz ??

pickin_fool - Posted - 08/15/2018:  17:40:07

lol..in some circles you would be...

Rawhide Creek - Posted - 08/15/2018:  22:21:46

quote:

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Originally posted by steve davis

He's simply asking for common courtesy,Russ.

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Still working on your Assistant Moderator merit badge.

Mooooo - Posted - 08/15/2018:  22:46:51

quote:

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Originally posted by Rawhide Creek

quote:

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Originally posted by steve davis

He's simply asking for common courtesy,Russ.

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Still working on your Assistant Moderator merit badge.

quote:

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Originally posted by Mooooo

Guys please keep it on topic. You can start another thread on cataract surgery in the Off-Topic Forum. Or you can send private messages to each other. Please, Thanks.

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Mister Bossy Boots has spoken!

(He’s working on his Assistant Moderator merit badge.)

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The same juvenile quip twice in one topic, less than 8 hours? What are you - 13 Russ? Come on, Steve and I are being polite and you are becoming a bit silly at your age. And now to be even sillier you moved this to my topic in the Off Topic section about Soft Pretzels. I hope others check that out to see how hilarious you are. 

steve davis - Posted - 08/16/2018:  06:21:43

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rawhide Creek

quote:

---

Originally posted by steve davis

He's simply asking for common courtesy,Russ.

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Still working on your Assistant Moderator merit badge.

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Simply stating the obvious,Rawhide.

I call it playing rather than working.

steve davis - Posted - 08/16/2018:  06:35:53

I love picking up any issue of BNL from the old pile and revisiting the tab selections.
They can still set my picking off in new directions.

Arpeggio - Posted - 08/16/2018:  11:58:29

I've been finally working through the Foggy Mountain Banjo album, on Sally Ann right now. Just using Youtube, slowing down to half speed. Also, a couple Sonny tunes with the same method.

Mooooo - Posted - 09/27/2018:  18:30:57

I am working up an arrangement of Little Rock Getaway from this recording: Little Rock Getaway, I always loved this tune.

Owen - Posted - 09/28/2018:  20:18:53

Woo-hoo!!  I'm feeling good.  I can now play through somebody's tabbed version of Long Journey Home, half of the time with my eyes closed.... and only 3 years ago I couldn't even do a recognizable rendition. 

I've long known that learning involved "plateaus," but.....

Edited by - Owen on 09/28/2018 20:22:59

Mooooo - Posted - 09/29/2018:  18:36:27

That's a great song to know Owen, and with your eyes closed....ya big show off. Pretty soon you'll be saying "look, no hands!!!"

FlyinEagle - Posted - 10/02/2018:  07:33:40

I’ve been on another John Hartford kick lately.

This time, I’ve been working on “Old Time River Man” from the tab Moooo uploaded in that big batch a while back. The tab is very accurate and I’ve been using it to try to really study the way John played…what made his sound. That double thumbing on the 5th string, the rhythmic idiosyncrasies that make his playing sound so easy…until you try to replicate it. I’m a really big fan.

I’ve had my RK-75 tuned down to open e, and it sounds pretty good. That tuning really encourages me to slow my picking down and enjoy the ride. If you pick too fast down the neck, things get kinda muddy. Maybe that’s why he liked the woody tone ring in his Deering (?). Anyway, picking slower has been helping me a bit with my timing and evening out my rolls in general. It’s been a good learning experience.

Mooooo - Posted - 10/02/2018:  12:15:56

That's great Jeff, in addition to the extremely popular classics - Gentle on my Mind and Steam-Powered Aereo Plane, John Hartford has tons of great songs that sound great without any other instruments...maybe just your voice and banjo, like John performed them.

FlyinEagle - Posted - 10/02/2018:  12:34:44

Yeah man, I’m usually a one man band. Working up the nerve to busk down in the city. Maybe next summer.

I haven’t even looked at learning those songs you mentioned, which I guess are his more popular ones. I currently do I Wonder Where You are tonight (from another one of your tabs) and Lorena from a tab by Rick. E is a nice key for me to sing in so these Hartford songs, in his style, work great for me. De-mystifying his style of play has been a hurtle, but I’m starting to get it. There’s no one else quite like the way he played.

I’m interested in learning The Girl I Left Behind me and Gum Tree Canoe if you’re ever in the mood to work out another one, haha…

Mooooo - Posted - 10/02/2018:  12:53:29

quote:

---

Originally posted by FlyinEagle

Yeah man, I’m usually a one man band. Working up the nerve to busk down in the city. Maybe next summer.



I haven’t even looked at learning those songs you mentioned, which I guess are his more popular ones. I currently do I Wonder Where You are tonight (from another one of your tabs) and Lorena from a tab by Rick. E is a nice key for me to sing in so these Hartford songs, in his style, work great for me. De-mystifying his style of play has been a hurtle, but I’m starting to get it. There’s no one else quite like the way he played.



I’m interested in learning The Girl I Left Behind me and Gum Tree Canoe if you’re ever in the mood to work out another one, haha…

---

I already put The Girl I Left Behind Me in the 'Crutch' Archive, I will definitely start on Gum Tree Canoe, it's a great one vor voice and Banjo.

FlyinEagle - Posted - 10/02/2018:  12:56:43

Oh, nice! I missed it.

I'll queue that one up for Friday night.

johnny5000 - Posted - 10/02/2018:  13:33:55

Using Tunefox to learn Ground Speed, Cindy, and a melodic arrangement of Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

Good Buddy - Posted - 10/04/2018:  11:01:59

I am using google chrome's slow speed feature to figure out Vic Jordan's version of El Cumbanchero, and also Alan Munde's version of Hot Burrito Breakdown.

dr4dpet - Posted - 10/05/2018:  07:19:17

Next up in the queue is Down Yonder.

Mooooo - Posted - 10/05/2018:  11:37:44

quote:

---

Originally posted by dr4dpet

Next up in the queue is Down Yonder.

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I'm looking for new versions to learn, whose are you doing?

monstertone - Posted - 10/05/2018:  12:41:34

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mooooo

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.

---

Years ago I had the hots to learn Auld Lang Sine ala Bill Kieth, with the tuners. But how often do you have occasion to play Auld Lang Sine? I once had Lime Rock pretty much all worked out, not quite up to speed, but I was getting there.

Since it modulates between the keys of A, E, & D, Lime Rock is not exactly what you would call a jam session tune.  It doesn't go over well if you are the only one capable of doing anything with it. Had I still lived among the BG community in So Ca, where I had the other musicians who were up to that tune & could play it often, I would have kept working on it. Alas, I never tabbed it out, so now it's gone.

Anymore it's enough of a task just to keep up on half the stuff I used to play. When I get bored, I pull some old chestnut out of the cob webs & try to jazz it up some. 

Edited by - monstertone on 10/05/2018 12:46:35

monstertone - Posted - 10/05/2018:  13:01:15

Another of the lost tunes I used to do is Ben Eldridge's version or Lara's Theme. I'm not sure I had that minor section 100% right, but it sounded so cool.

I too have been listening to a lot of John Hartford's material lately. John was a one man show, writing a lot of his own material & draging those old tunes like Lorena out of obscurity. That long version of Gentle on my Mind, with all those melodic runs, intrigues me. BIg difference between that & the way he played it on the Glen Campbell show.  

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/05/2018:  13:12:20

Working on Jimmy Brown the Newsboy. My voice works best in D, so I’m working it up in C, capo ll. I’m trying to get a lot of Earl’s guitar break in it. (I’ll post it in my videos once it’s up to snuff)

p.s. ,I’d fill you in on my lumbago issues, but I want to keep Mooooo in a good mood....  ;-)

Edited by - chuckv97 on 10/05/2018 13:15:46

Jbo1 - Posted - 10/05/2018:  13:19:40

Opus 59 in G Minor by David Grisman. When I bought my new banjo a couple of years ago it really got me interested in practicing again. And then I found a great jam to attend to those folks really kicked me into learning new songs. Opus 59 is a hybrid of Bill Keith's version on Muleskinner, and Grisman's Quintet version, which is arranged a bit differently. I've found that a lot of the fiddle tunes I've been learning utilize similar left hand positions, so what is learned on one song can apply to several other songs.

YouTube and Banjo Ben have been great helps in working out parts to songs. I don't play someone else's version note for note, but I find it puts me on a track to figure out any problem spots.

Finally, I found it very important to write a list of all the new songs I've been learning, so I can go back and play them every once and while, and not forget, having left them by the wayside.

Banjosephus - Posted - 10/05/2018:  13:38:07

The World is Waiting on the Sunrise
Written in "C" (~1919), which is what Raymond Fairchild did it in the first time I heard it and fell in love with the tune, and I think most players still do.
But I like Reno's version in "G", which I think is easier to accommodate on the banjo for obvious reasons.
And Reno's sounds more like I hear it, going from the tonic to the tonic flat instead of to the relative minor (at the beginning).
I've gotten it down pretty much, so that I can fake a variation or three, just trying to polish and figure out "more better" licks.
Same with Ground Speed Part B, and even one on Part A--put your own twist on 'em.

O.D. - Posted - 10/06/2018:  10:29:47

Im not really working on any particular song or tune.
Mostly trying to play stuff in a variety keys ,mostly using the different chord shapes .
Coming up with my own licks . Listening to a lot of piano and peddle steel and adapt those licks and riffs to the banjo.
Id like to get to the point where Im comfortable playing off the top of my head in any key and as comfortable as in the standard G tuning and key

Everett

Richard Hauser - Posted - 10/06/2018:  13:39:02

I memorized 7 or 8 melodic versions of fiddle tunes. Speed wise, I am about 80% of the way there. I play fiddle, and lots of fiddlers, especially newer ones, play so darn fast. Same thing banjo players.

Creating a melodic version of "Black Mtn Rag". I just started with one of my Scruggs style versions, and started substituting melodic licks for the original Scruggs licks. Some work, some don't. Working like this with melodic licks gives me a better "feel" for where a melodic lick will "fit in".

Right now I am more into creating variations than learning new tunes.
Quite often someone ends up being the only person playing the melody. That is when a person has to have the variations and the ability to improvise.

I memorized a LOT of tunes that I never seem to hear played very often. So now I am trying to make what I do play sound even better.
Divided tunes I play into two different playlists. The "Commonly Played Tunes" directory and the "Seldom Played" directory. I practice playing and working with the "Commonly Played" playlist just about every day. I play the "Seldom Played" playlist tunes once or twice a week. Enough to remember how to play each tune.

dr4dpet - Posted - 10/16/2018:  20:50:31

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mooooo

quote:

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Originally posted by dr4dpet

Next up in the queue is Down Yonder.

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I'm looking for new versions to learn, whose are you doing?

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My instructor, Alan O'Bryant, played a version for me. I don't know if it his own arrangement or one created by another player.  He as asked me, in the past to not post the videos I make during lessons.

Mooooo - Posted - 10/16/2018:  21:03:16

quote:

---

Originally posted by dr4dpet

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mooooo

quote:

---

Originally posted by dr4dpet

Next up in the queue is Down Yonder.

---

I'm looking for new versions to learn, whose are you doing?

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My instructor, Alan O'Bryant, played a version for me. I don't know if it his own arrangement or one created by another player.  He as asked me, in the past to not post the videos I make during lessons.

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That's cool, I like to make my own versions with inspiration from the ones on studio recordings, if it was on YouTube I would check it out, but you gotta respect your instructor.

steve davis - Posted - 10/19/2018:  13:25:18

Two Lane Highway which was introduced to me by Windy Ridge's Major"damo",Mama Beth.
The D,Bm,C and G progression and the G,Bm,C and A don't fall immediately off the fingerboard,but it's coming together all the time.

phb - Posted - 11/17/2018:  12:52:52

I have started transcribing "Matterhorn" by the Country Gentlemen. It's always been one of my favourite bluegrass recordings. Wow, what I have figured out so far is really different from the standard 3-finger style repertoire!

Mooooo - Posted - 11/17/2018:  15:06:09

quote:

---

Originally posted by phb

I have started transcribing "Matterhorn" by the Country Gentlemen. It's always been one of my favourite bluegrass recordings. Wow, what I have figured out so far is really different from the standard 3-finger style repertoire!

---

Are you playing with the capo way up on7 and spiked to D? I like the song, but can't bring myself to pick up so high without all those low notes. It makes me want to work up a break down the neck.

phb - Posted - 11/17/2018:  23:19:52

I started with standard tuning all closed positions because the 5th at g seemed to match some of the rolls but now I capo at 8 (!) across all 5 strings. I'm not sure yet whether I'm on the right track. I mind having the 5th in unison with the 1st more than losing the low notes. The open g on the 5th seemed to fit as I found the key to be Eb assuming they were tuned in standard pitch. Eb would be 8th fret barre hence the capo 8 now. The high capo is a bit of a disappointment if this is the secret. I also figured out yesterday that part of the magic of the song comes from the fact that the banjo is silent for all the choruses and the mandolin break. I can do that! :)

phb - Posted - 11/17/2018:  23:23:47

Thinking about the paused banjo during the chorus again: this would easily give enough time to remove the capo for a down the neck break... :)

Mooooo - Posted - 11/18/2018:  00:48:17

That will be cool to take off the capo.

JuanIguana - Posted - 11/20/2018:  05:05:37

Notes: I'm new here... blah blah blah. Curious if anyone else struggles as much as I do with wanting to play banjo parts exactly the way they are played by [insert idolized banjoist] on our favorite recording but never finding a tab that nails it. Not that duplication is the end goal, but a pretty good starting place. I would love some feedback, even if this is beating a beloved, dead horse. I have never seen a tab that provides Earl's exact ending of Cripple Creek per the Foggy Mountain Banjo album version and I don't know why, but I'm curious if my ear is hitting this with a nine pound hammer or not. Thanks for your input. (Tab in tab section)

phb - Posted - 11/20/2018:  12:10:00

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mooooo

Are you playing with the capo way up on7 and spiked to D? I like the song, but can't bring myself to pick up so high without all those low notes. It makes me want to work up a break down the neck.

---

I only now realise that you had already written it: 5th string spiked way up where I have no spikes! This has been my finding for today working on "Matterhorn". It's just not possible with the capo across all strings as I had assumed. My brain turned your "spiked to D" somehow into "spiked to A" because it is the standard spiking for a song in the key of D...

Ouch, now I need a way to spike the 5th up there. I guess I will play it in C because I do have a spike at 10... :)

(I find that when transcribing the part until I have figured out the exact tuning is by far the hardest.)

Mooooo - Posted - 11/20/2018:  12:21:35

quote:

---

Originally posted by phb

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mooooo

Are you playing with the capo way up on7 and spiked to D? I like the song, but can't bring myself to pick up so high without all those low notes. It makes me want to work up a break down the neck.

---

I only now realise that you had already written it: 5th string spiked way up where I have no spikes! This has been my finding for today working on "Matterhorn". It's just not possible with the capo across all strings as I had assumed. My brain turned your "spiked to D" somehow into "spiked to A" because it is the standard spiking for a song in the key of D...

Ouch, now I need a way to spike the 5th up there. I guess I will play it in C because I do have a spike at 10... :)

(I find that when transcribing the part until I have figured out the exact tuning is by far the hardest.)

 

---

Spike to C and play in C would be good. Spike to B and pick in B is best for me unless I want to tune up a half step, since I only have spikes on A and B. As appealing it is for me to try to tab it out as played, I think I am going to work up a break of my own based on the melody. It's a great song, and if you can find guys who can sing harmony, it would be great to perform for friends, at a jam etc...I am sure lots of people pick it capo'd up just like Bill Emerson does.

Mooooo - Posted - 11/20/2018:  12:31:28

quote:

---

Originally posted by JuanIguana

Notes: I'm new here... blah blah blah. Curious if anyone else struggles as much as I do with wanting to play banjo parts exactly the way they are played by [insert idolized banjoist] on our favorite recording but never finding a tab that nails it. Not that duplication is the end goal, but a pretty good starting place. I would love some feedback, even if this is beating a beloved, dead horse. I have never seen a tab that provides Earl's exact ending of Cripple Creek per the Foggy Mountain Banjo album version and I don't know why, but I'm curious if my ear is hitting this with a nine pound hammer or not. Thanks for your input. (Tab in tab section)

---

When I tab a song, I strive to tab things out just as picked  on the classic LPs. From time to time I will open up a tab that I have worked up and pick along with it and try to update my tabs whenever I find I have made a mistake.  After I make my tabs, I practice it until I memorize it and can play through it without looking, then I start changing up the licks and approach to the melody to make it sound like me. Often, I don't tab anything out or figure songs out note for note as played by one of the greats. I just pick the melody, surround it in rolls and top it with licks.

Mooooo - Posted - 11/20/2018:  13:05:26

JuanIguana, welcome to the hangout by the way.

gospelman97 - Posted - 11/20/2018:  13:06:05

I'm working on this wonderful arrangement of the "Banks of the Ohio." I've been working on it off and on for over a year. I will probably never get it exactly like Seth Rhinehart plays it, but I love the chords he plays on the up the neck breaks. Maybe I can get someone to tab it out. I'll keep working on it though!

steve davis - Posted - 11/20/2018:  13:15:28

Lee's Reel

yeoldbanjoguy - Posted - 11/20/2018:  13:55:00

Great job Bryan! Sounds really good

Bruce

gospelman97 - Posted - 11/20/2018:  14:17:16

quote:

---

Originally posted by yeoldbanjoguy

Great job Bryan! Sounds really good



Bruce

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Yes it does. Unfortunately that’s not me. The video is what I’m trying to emulate. One day I hope!

yeoldbanjoguy - Posted - 11/20/2018:  15:17:08

Aw rats! Well keep at it. You’ll get there I’m sure.

Bruce

steve davis - Posted - 12/30/2018:  14:05:38

Working up Bye Bye Blues paid off.We had a ball with it at last week's Tuesday night jam.The piano and a guitar player were all over that thing.
Then somebody kicked off Alley Cat and I was glad I had learned that one long ago.One of Dad's faves.

Mooooo - Posted - 12/31/2018:  11:16:49

I was working on Home Sweet Home from the Scruggs Book a few days back. I listened to Warpdrive pick it in his thread down in the Other Banjo Related forum along with a medley of every tune on the Foggy Mountain Banjo LP, and realized how differently I have been playing it since learning it originally from the Scruggs book many moons ago. I just wanted to get back to my roots, I guess. Now I'm skimming through that book (my only tab book) and re-familiarizing myself with how Earl picked them.