Hi all,
I have been playing scruggs style for a few years and really enjoy it, one issue I have is findind it hard to play when I'm in a mellow mood, or when I want to wind down. The banjo, especially three finger pick banjo is, well, usually upbeat, fast, and happy. When I want to slow down, I find myself playing songs like country roads, and gentle on my mind. I would like to broaden my list of slower, mellow songs without learning other methods of playing such as clawhammer. Here is one example of a song I intend on learning:
youtu.be/NKaUrcI-AMU
Can anyone suggest similar songs, for a mellower mood, when I don't feel like playing so...happy?
Edited by - HurlingSquirrel on 01/31/2023 13:34:40
Slower, sad and/or maybe gospel songs, for instance?
Amazing Grace
Banks of the Ohio
Beautiful Star of Bethlehem
Bed By the Window
Bluebirds are Singing
Bringing Mary Home
Brown Mountain Light
Bury Me Beneath the Willows
Daisy a Day (one of my favorite mellow songs)
Dreaming of a Little Cabin
Fields Have Turned Brown
Gathering Flowers from the Hillside
Gathering Flowers
Great Speckled Bird
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
I Haven't Seen Mary in Years
In the Pines
Just A Closer Walk (my all time favorite)
Precious Memories
Purple Robe (another favorite)
Rosewood Casket
Sing Me Back Home
Sweethearts in Heaven
Teardrops Falling in the Snow (a tearjerker)
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Wild Mountain Flowers
That should get you busy for a while
Blue Skies, Misty, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Caravan, Midnight in Moscow
Paradise by John Prine
Mr. Bojangles by Jerry Jeff Walker
both 3/4
Also Wayfaring Stranger.
There are several mellow tunes in Alan Munde's Great American Banjo Songbook.
Shameless plugs for 3 that I do - CFM tab is in Tony T's fiddle tunes for banjo book ,, O Danny Boy/Londonderry Air is in a Mel Bay/Neil Griffin book ,, Mexicali Rose is in the Great American Banjo Songbook by Alan Munde & Beth Mead
Edited by - chuckv97 on 01/31/2023 14:58:36
Tony Ellis has several tunes that will interest you. Here he is at the Library of Congress One of my favorites is Father's Pride Another is Kate, Bride of Matt Or My Mamma Loves Me. Modal pieces like Trail of Tears Then there is Old Friends. I could go on... If you learn by tab, these tunes and more are all in his book.
Edited by - thisoldman on 01/31/2023 15:44:56
Thank you for your answers, very helpful!
Somerset and the first part of Bigfoot both by Bela Fleck
Blackbird, Lennon-McCartney, as recorded on banjo by Gene Bretecher. Great version
Drawing Down The Moon, Alison Brown
Road To Corossol, Alison Brown
Maidens Prayer, Sonny Osborne version with Wade Ray
Maria Elena, as recorded by Vic Jordan on Banjo Nashville
IF, David Gates tune, as recorded by Vic Jordan on Banjo Nashville
Not a song, but learn how to play all the M7 chords. Their mood is romantic which AIN'T NO PART OF BLUEGRASS!
Hint: Just move the roots on the upper strings down one fret
Star of the County Down - Bob Black
youtu.be/GpqT1d-wsNo?t=537
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