richardrabkin says:
10/29/2014 6:57:43 AM

Quite true. There are plenty of people playing it, but not much help learning about it.

I have never found a whole book devoted to two-finger INDEX lead tablature. There are some excellent examples on Chip Arnold's own website:

mountainbanjos.wordpress.com/t...ger-tabs/

and there are some on Chip Arnold's personal area on this site. Some of his tabs are in his photo area, if I remember, correctly. They are difficult to find, but very good arrangements and nicely written out (not TablEdit ).

If you are interested in two-finger THUMB lead playing there is a website devoted to it with tab developed by Sean Barth. The arrangements are rather basic. It comes up in a Google search. I think he calls it two finger "banger".

Hope this helps.

Richard

laertes22 says:
11/12/2014 11:14:46 AM

The Mike Seeger DVDs cover some 2 finger styles and come with the tab.

Also check out Aaron Keim (akeim here on BHO). He does a lot of 2 finger Old Time and Folk stuff. Some free videos on youtube, as well and some free tab and some tab books you can purchase. You can find him on youtube or at his Quiet American website (also the name of his/his wife's music group, I believe).
-Genford

bart_brush says:
5/20/2015 4:58:41 PM

I suggest using the thumb lead style to learn to work out tunes by ear, because thumb lead is so much simpler than 3-finger or clawhammer.

Step #1: Learn to play the G scale in standard G tuning, using thumb only.
Step #2: Practice playing pinches, diddies, and adiddies using thumb and index on the outside strings, after each thumbed note. Respectively, that would be bum--pinch, bum--did-dy (T-TI), and bum-a-did-dy (TITI).
Step #3: Figure out where the melody notes are on the banjo of a song you know, using thumb only--no pinches or diddies. "Know" means you know it well enough to sing accurately from memory with no accompaniment. Suggestions: Will the Circle Be Unbroken, This Land is Your Land, Wild Bill Jones (Dock Boggs), Handsome Molly, Go Tell Aunt Rodie, Skip to My Lou, Amelia Earhart, Jessie James, Long Black Veil, I'll Fly Away. Or tune the 2nd string up to C for Mt. Minor tuning and try Pretty Polly or Shady Grove.
Step #4: Fill in the longer spaces between melody notes with pinches and diddies.

Forum Post: (untitled)
Linked by brownsdream 1 year ago

Forum Post: (untitled)
Linked by brownsdream 2 years ago

Tablature: Cacklin' Hen
Linked by Frank vink 2 years ago

Forum Post: (untitled)
Linked by brownsdream 3 years ago

Forum Post: (untitled)
Linked by brownsdream 3 years ago