Rob,
Can't tell you how much I appreciate your video lessons. I actually sound like I might be able to play the Banjo now. I try to practice at least a couple of hours a day but I don't have the computer around when I do, so I try to use a tab if available to help me remember where I'm at. I couldn't find any tabs on your version of FMBD and see you've had several requests for it, so I tried to tab it out to help with my own practice, and thought I'd send a copy to you if you'd like to use it for your students or requests. Posted under Tabs. It sounds like I've missed something around the 13th measure but other than that, I think it's pretty accurate to your videos. Please let me know if I've made any mistakes, and so I can get them adjusted. Thanks again for the time and effort you've put into your videos. They're wonderful.
Jeff
PS, I'd love to see your version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" fo banjo if you have one.

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy Chanukah to my Jewish friends.

I still have a bit of work to do with this new Mac, before I learn how to export a 2.0 USB from my audio unit to get a more professional sound. Even an analog in would be good, just anything to bypass the condenser.

As soon as I figure it out, I will put out some more vids.

alibaba.com/product-gs/2141118...ideo.html
maybe that can help, or try Fry's if you have one, they have a lot of adaptors for about
$20, my friend has some kinda preprocessor for sound and video he records live bands to his sony vaio, I will ask him what he is using.

Rob,
Let me join the chorus of thank yous! This was a great find during my Christmas break and now a part of my New Years resolution.
My biggest issues playing banjo by ear is- that's how I learned to play guitar so the middle finger naturally jumps on the high note. I'm trying to teach the old dog (my thumb) a new trick.

~frank

FWIW, Banjo Ben just posted a free FMB lesson on YouTube. The vid opens with a little of his sense of humor, but he plays the song, then slows down every part for you. TABs available.

youtube.com/watch?v=YmMb2TI6-Pg

Enjoy!

Rob

If I were going to learn Foggy Mountain Breakdown from tab, I would use Earl's book. As a matter of fact, once a player gets good, I think Earl's book is about as good as it gets. I only had two books of tab growing up. The Scruggs book and Pete Wernick's book, both of which I got some good stuff out of. I had friends who had the same two books, and never turned into good pickers because they never learned how to internalize the information, and actually relied on the tab.

Tab is fine, if the student knows how to isolate small sections and internalize them, but most students don't. I have seen some guys trying to practice through a tune, reading the tab. This, is the kiss of death.

If you have been playing with tabs for a while, and haven't learned to play well enough to get through a whole piece cleanly, in time, I would stash the tab for a bit, and find a teacher who works by ear. Once you play well by ear, tabs are great.

Thanks for the link Rob,

Banjo Ben has the WORST hillbilly accent I have ever heard, BUT, his trailer park high rise is cool. I'll have to check out what he's doing some day.

Hi All,

Well I learn'nt to play the banjo when I was at college and never really got that good at it, mainly due to the lack of practice...now some 15 years later I am back picking at it and I must say your uTude lessons I wish I had joined the forum earlier.

Thank you so very much for the great production of these lessons and all the time that you have given it.

There are not that many Banjo teaching pep in Edinburgh, Scotland, may be with your help I could change that.

I would also love to play Mark Knoflers "Local Hero" tune, if any one has it in a banjo Tab form.

FMB practice has already started.

Most of my Skype students are from the UK. I have a couple from Scotland, and one is from Edinburgh. You know when someone is from there because they spell it the right way.

Glad the lessons have worked, and hang in there.

More to come soon.

I will be filming a bit for a documentary with my jazz trio at Elderly Instruments this Friday, if anyone is around there. We'll only be there for a few tunes, after 2:00.

It is swing, cello guitar and a girl who sings, so not much in the way of bluegrass, but I will play a few banjoes, mandolins and ukes while I'm there.

I love that place.

forgive my ignorance but what state and city is that in ?

Sorry Stony,

Lansing Michigan.

Thanks for your videos Rob, they have been a great help. You are right about learning from tab, all the notes are there but the small nuances such as timing and accents are hard to pick up. For me anyways. After following your videos and hours and hours of practice I finally feel like I'm getting to be a player

Glad to hear it. Is your weather getting better in the U.K.? I heard it was nasty last week.

If this is what banjohangout is all about, I'm thrilled to be a new member.

I'll consider you.........thrilled! AND welcome DH

Cute kids Aaron.

I am going to be going to see the Quebe Sisters Band this Saturday. They will be in Saline Michigan.

youtube.com/watch?v=voRQ9fm_bRQ

Maybe I'll see some of you up there. I might be hard to spot, because there are a lot of pudgy guys with beards in Michigan. Must be the winter survival mode.

The girls are worth the trip, and Joey plays some mean rhythm too.

come to california, we would be glad to hear you

You look like a California guy Stony. I love California. I was demoing guitars for a small company at the NAMM Show in Anaheim. It was the first time that I had been there. Beautiful.

was that the namm show just last month ? I like the one in the summer cause everyone goes to disney after the show and plays at the Jazz Kitchen in downtown disney(its open mic/guitar/etc). I hang out and play on stage with some pretty famous people...I love to play thats what im all about :).
Do i really look like a "californian" ? lol cause people say i look like anything from a hockey player to a bank robber lol.
they have a house of blues in downtown disney and thats fun to on open nights. the way you play that banjo dude you would be a hit ! if you ever do come let me know and i will come watch you play and if you didnt mind i would do some giybox playing along with ya, cause you rock rob :P

Yeah Rob, weather has been pretty bad in UK lately with quite a lot of snow. Unfortunately we have no mountains to speak of so it's not much use to me as a snowboarder, more of an inconvenience. Hassle getting to work etc. This country seems to come to a standstill after a couple of inches not like South Lake Tahoe and Mammoth in California that I have visited a couple of times, you guys are more prepared for the bad weather.

I just had a Skype student from Edinburgh visit. (He's an airline pilot.)

He and a friend from Canada came to my house twice while visiting for a lesson, and wouldn't you know it, the second day, we got 10 inches of snow.

We went to a Quebe Sisters Band concert while he was here. It was a great time. He had to drive back to Ontario in a snow storm though.

its 85 today lol
if your not afraid of earthquakes,fire storms, mud slides,
taxes, bad home loans,a large police force,drive bys,car chases,
the terminator,polluted oceans,more taxes,gangs,corruption,
paved beaches,snotty actors,traffic,hysteria,

orange county california is a nice place to live :)

Rob,

Thank you so much for these lessons! I went through them in about three or four sittings with some practicing by ear in between. It was fun to find little things that I had started doing incorrectly when I went back to the re-watch the lessons, and when I fixed them, those parts stuck all the better as a result. (For instance, I picked up the habit of leaving out the first string ghost note after the fourth string pull-off, but when I watched the lessons again and realized what I had been doing, I practiced over and over until it was "internalized," as you say.) I really like how you emphasize timing and actually demonstrate practicing in your videos. Well done! You deserve some kind of special recognition for making a significant contribution to the hangout, like a free Banjo Players Union membership or something. What do you say, Eric? Thanks again, Rob.

I have to say, these are some great lessons. I'm a beginning player, and FMB was next on my Murphy Method DVD. I actually saw this and watched it first. I haven't even looked at the DVD version yet. I've got the song down good and clean at B, but man, there's a much bigger differenece between B and C then A and B and C and D. Also, I'm so glad you gave the Quebe Sisters Band some props. I'd never heard of them so I checked out the link. They're awesome! I wish they would come to Merlefest here in NC in March.