somebanjoguy - Posted - 05/07/2023:  11:00:08

Does anybody have any tips or tab regarding Bela Fleck/Ricky Mier style improvisation? I guess if I really wanted to I could pay his patreon fee, but I'd rather learn as much as possible for free.

stanleytone - Posted - 05/07/2023:  11:27:48

Learn all your major and minor scales. Inside and out . Forwards and backwards both melodically and single string  Thats just for starters.

Edited by - stanleytone on 05/07/2023 11:29:37

KCJones - Posted - 05/07/2023:  12:24:43

Lots of single string chromatic stuff.

Old Hickory - Posted - 05/07/2023:  14:46:53

quote:

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Originally posted by somebanjoguy

Does anybody have any tips or tab regarding Bela Fleck/Ricky Mier style improvisation? I guess if I really wanted to I could pay his patreon fee, but I'd rather learn as much as possible for free.

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Ricky is only able to offer his free lessons thanks to the people who pay the minimal amount he asks for at Patreon. You could join for $5 for one month, download all his tab then cancel. Yes, $5 is more than free. But not a lot more. That's all I'm saying on that.

I guess what I don't understand is if you know enough about Ricky to want free tips on his style, why not just watch his free YouTube videos and listen to him explain it all himself. He's a great teacher. He goes into amazing depth in both his canned/produced lessons and his free-wheeling extemporaneous videos. Many of his produced lessons are whole tunes, but as I've said countless times in other discussions: Every song lesson doesn't just teach you how to play that one song, it gives you banjo vocabulary you can use in an unlimited number of other songs. So when Ricky teaches a tune in one of his lessons, he's showing you all sorts of Ricky stuff you can use in improvising.

As to Bela, at least one of Ricky's lessons teaches a great Bela improv trick called the Bela Scale Technique. You're welcome. It's not really a scale pattern (Tony Trischka gave the technique that name). Sounds melodic without being truly melodic. It's actually rollbased. It's great to use in doses. Wouldn't want to play a whole solo with it. A follow-up Ricky lesson has an etude.  You're welcome.

One way I obtained tabs of Bela Fleck tunes (or people's interpretation of Bela's paying) was to do a quick search of the Hangout tab library for the word "Fleck."  You're welcome. You can also use the search tool in the left navigation column. Enter the word "Fleck" click the dot for "Tab" then click the magnifying glass icon. This is the page that results. I believe it takes you to even more Bela-style tabs that might have used his name in the description but not the title. You're welcome.

Tony Trischka teaches some Bela-esque technique in his school at ArtistWorks.com. There's a sale going on now offering 3 months for $55. Use the code MAY55 at checkout. Oh, wait.

somebanjoguy - Posted - 05/07/2023:  15:11:14

quote:

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Originally posted by Old Hickory

quote:

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Originally posted by somebanjoguy

Does anybody have any tips or tab regarding Bela Fleck/Ricky Mier style improvisation? I guess if I really wanted to I could pay his patreon fee, but I'd rather learn as much as possible for free.

---

Ricky is only able to offer his free lessons thanks to the people who pay the minimal amount he asks for at Patreon. You could join for $5 for one month, download all his tab then cancel. Yes, $5 is more than free. But not a lot more. That's all I'm saying on that.

I guess what I don't understand is if you know enough about Ricky to want free tips on his style, why not just watch his free YouTube videos and listen to him explain it all himself. He's a great teacher. He goes into amazing depth in both his canned/produced lessons and his free-wheeling extemporaneous videos. Many of his produced lessons are whole tunes, but as I've said countless times in other discussions: Every song lesson doesn't just teach you how to play that one song, it gives you banjo vocabulary you can use in an unlimited number of other songs. So when Ricky teaches a tune in one of his lessons, he's showing you all sorts of Ricky stuff you can use in improvising.

As to Bela, at least one of Ricky's lessons teaches a great Bela improv trick called the Bela Scale Technique. You're welcome. It's not really a scale pattern (Tony Trischka gave the technique that name). Sounds melodic without being truly melodic. It's actually rollbased. It's great to use in doses. Wouldn't want to play a whole solo with it. A follow-up Ricky lesson has an etude.  You're welcome.

One way I obtained tabs of Bela Fleck tunes (or people's interpretation of Bela's paying) was to do a quick search of the Hangout tab library for the word "Fleck."  You're welcome. You can also use the search tool in the left navigation column. Enter the word "Fleck" click the dot for "Tab" then click the magnifying glass icon. This is the page that results. I believe it takes you to even more Bela-style tabs that might have used his name in the description but not the title. You're welcome.

Tony Trischka teaches some Bela-esque technique in his school at ArtistWorks.com. There's a sale going on now offering 3 months for $55. Use the code MAY55 at checkout. Oh, wait.

 

 

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I have watched his videos. He's very helpful and a nice guy overall. I have memorized the Bela scale technique. I don't have any way (like, a credit card. I have some cash) of paying for stuff right now, so I was just asking for free stuff. I'm a teenager, once I get my first job I should be able to pay for lessons and stuff like that, but I've been teaching myself for free half a year now (but I just bought some books from a music store.)

Old Hickory - Posted - 05/07/2023:  15:33:58

quote:

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Originally posted by somebanjoguy

I don't have any way (like, a credit card. I have some cash) of paying for stuff right now, so I was just asking for free stuff. I'm a teenager, once I get my first job I should be able to pay for lessons and stuff like that,  . . .

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Well that changes everything! Sorry for my lecture.

Good for you in keeping at it and doing what you can to find learning materials.

I learned the Bela scale technique from Tony T at a banjo camp 9 years ago. One of the most valuable improv tricks I ever learned. I use it every jam.

Bela's virtuosity is far too wide ranging for anyone to give lots of tips or insight. I play almost nothing of his and so I don't even know what's the most important thing to know about his playing. Maybe get used to rolls that use middle finger on 2nd string.

Besides looking at the purportedly Bela tabs at the links in my previous message, the best advice I can offer is to listen to Bela, find bits and pieces you want to learn, then spend time slowing those down, working them out, and writing them down. Eli Gilbert has a free video where he picks some Bela licks at random and works them out on camera while we watch. I can't find it. If I do, I'll come back with a link.

He does have this lesson where he talks about how practice difficult stuff. He uses a cool, relatively new, Bela tune as the example.

Transcribing the playing of others is one of the best ways to learn. I did a lot of it the first few years I was learning. I had less time for that later on.

Edited by - Old Hickory on 05/07/2023 15:36:57

Old Hickory - Posted - 05/10/2023:  09:31:12

 somebanjoguy:

Hi.

Another idea occurred to me just now. Don't know if you've already done this, but here's the result of searching within YouTube for "Bela Fleck banjo lesson" 

The first five or six videos are definitely lessons on Bela tunes or technique. After that, the results become mixed, and include other types of banjo lessons. But keep scrolling because plenty more lesson on Bela Fleck material show up further down in the mixed results.  There's enough to keep you busy for a long time.

Since many of these lessons include on-screen tab, you could always pause videos and write down the tab by hand.

As you scroll through the videos, look especially for the ones from Bennett Sullivan. He used to post free lessons all the time in the past decade. At one point, he was working through Bela's "Drive" album and taught a lot of the songs from that. By 2020, he changed his business approach and stopped posting free lessons. I thought he had taken them down, but they still appear to be there.

Good luck.

Old Hickory - Posted - 05/10/2023:  09:52:25

In the YouTube results is this probable bootleg of Bela Fleck's video produced by Homespun a long time ago. Possibly in the 1980s. Look at how young he is. No tab. But lots of material and insights into his earliest playing. The product has been unavailable for years.

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 05/10/2023:  11:51:06

My advice is to develop your musical ear to ear training and that way when you hear it, you’ll know it and then it’s just a matter of whether you have the technique to play it. Using this method, you’ll be able to play Bellas music or any other fellow’s music.