There are two ways.

You could track down some random TAB, spend the next three to six months attempting to learn to play it. Eventually you will get it (most of it). But after all that time you will only know that one piece.

Or, you could spend that same amount of time on a course of study. Get the "Mel Bay Banjo Method" by Frank Bradbury. I recommend buying the old two volume set off of ebay for cheap. $5 to $10 each volume.

Forget everything you know. Start on page one. Pay very special attention to the section on alternate fingering when it is introduced-- do not skimp on this.

Now, in that same time you will be able to play ANYTHING within your then current skill level.

Regarding the piece Nola. It is an advanced piece. So spend a year trying to learn it from some tab. Or spend a year with Bradbury and then learn it when you have a clear understanding of position playing and alternate fingering.

Your choice.

Additionally, get yourself to an American Banjo Fraternity rally. If you are lucky Jerron will show up (he has been to several). We have it twice a year. It is the only event to get immersed in this style. We are also a concurrent living tradition from when this music was THE banjo music.

It's classic style banjo. You can find free tutor books and sheet music on the classic banjo ning website.

Obviously, Joel hates Tab. If you already read Tab, then obviously, you can learn any tune that has been tabbed. How quickly you do so it is up to your abilities, no different than notation. Joel just thinks Tab readers are disabled.

Poor us! 

"Nola" and variations of it have been available as Tab for many years. It would take me ~2hrs to convert the Classic banjo notation to Tab and then I could sight read it instantly. Getting it up to speed might take months...but that is my limitation, not the Tab.

That song is Nola and I'd call it melodic type playing. I play it and actually had to use a tab by Bill Keith to get it right. It is a difficult song and not at all one for beginners. There are some 4 fret jumps in there that I can't make because my fingers just won't reach that far.

Thanks guys! I knew you'd come through. So much fun.

I will say, his R&L Paramount Style A is louder than my Huber Vintage flathead. I was flabbergasted by the tone and volume from that thing.

Joel Hooks, Jerron gave strong words of support for your strings and bridges, and expressed disappointment that they're not available. His Paramount has your strings and bridge on it and it's one of the best banjos I've ever heard. Please bring them back, we need you!!

trapdoor2 , incorrect. I think that tab users (for classic and early stroke style banjo) have only convinced themselves they are disabled. It is they who believe they are not smart enough to match a little dot on a line to pressing a spot on the neck and need numbers.

Reading tab for classic banjo one needs to understand:

Key signature.
Time signature.
Note duration.
Repeat signs, bars and volta brackets.
Rests.

Pretty much everything except that a dot on a ledger line below the staff means the open 4th string.

I mean, it is just one more step. A competent tab reader (one who is able to take tab and play it without hearing a recording) might as well take that next step.


That said, it is much easier to just start with notation when learning to play than go back later (ask me how I know).

Bradbury Method, page one and go from there.

Learn once, cry once.

Also, don’t skimp on alternate fingering (ask me how I know about this).

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Originally posted by Texasbanjo

That song is Nola and I'd call it melodic type playing. I play it and actually had to use a tab by Bill Keith to get it right. It is a difficult song and not at all one for beginners. There are some 4 fret jumps in there that I can't make because my fingers just won't reach that far.

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The Bill Keith tab isn't accurate to the Van Eps original. Jerron is very much playing in the vein of the latter.

quote:

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Originally posted by KCJones

Thanks guys! I knew you'd come through. So much fun.

I will say, his R&L Paramount Style A is louder than my Huber Vintage flathead. I was flabbergasted by the tone and volume from that thing.

Joel Hooks, Jerron gave strong words of support for your strings and bridges, and expressed disappointment that they're not available. His Paramount has your strings and bridge on it and it's one of the best banjos I've ever heard. Please bring them back, we need you!!

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I have strings in stock.  True 17s

Stewart sizes will be in about a month I guess.

I stopped importing Aquila, they would be priced out of the market now. I also do not like their wound 4ths.  They are too loose or something.

labella rectified are the way to go.  (BTW, the regular 17s... actually 19s, are now the cheaper smooth, I am the only one with rectified).

Bridges... I got tired of breathing dust.  I was also getting a high volume (5 to 10 a week) of the "I have a good time/ Amazon special, make me sound like---professional." Begenners would buy a bridge for $15 and expect an hour phone call to teach them how to set up their good time.  It was to much.  So now I just ignore them and they have slowed to about one email a week.

My wife suggested I charge $75 an hour consultation fees.

If you make me some of those 2 foot bridges I promise I won't call you asking how to set them up.

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Originally posted by trapdoor2

Obviously, Joel hates Tab. If you already read Tab, then obviously, you can learn any tune that has been tabbed. How quickly you do so it is up to your abilities, no different than notation. Joel just thinks Tab readers are disabled.

Poor us! 

"Nola" and variations of it have been available as Tab for many years. It would take me ~2hrs to convert the Classic banjo notation to Tab and then I could sight read it instantly. Getting it up to speed might take months...but that is my limitation, not the Tab.

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Marc, your tab is informed by your experience of playing in this style. It incorporates choices that deliver efficient playability.

The snare lurking in the woods in relation to tab is inexperience and poor grasp of alternative fingering. Move away from basic tunes where a player can 'fudge' and get away with less than optimal, many more demanding tunes can be rendered virtually unplayable by less competent tab that visually dictates awkward and inefficient fingering. Source notation means that players are working with the note first and can choose where it is best found in relationship to that tune.

In OT/clawhammer where tab is the norm, alternative fingering isn't really a major factor.

quote:

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Originally posted by csacwp

quote:

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Originally posted by Texasbanjo

That song is Nola and I'd call it melodic type playing. I play it and actually had to use a tab by Bill Keith to get it right. It is a difficult song and not at all one for beginners. There are some 4 fret jumps in there that I can't make because my fingers just won't reach that far.

---

The Bill Keith tab isn't accurate to the Van Eps original. Jerron is very much playing in the vein of the latter.

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I disagree.   Bill's tab is almost note for note what I just heard on the video.  Have you actually played the tab by Bill Keith?  

Understand it doesn't matter.   The video was great and I enjoyed it.  He played it much better than I ever did.

There is a story floating around about the piece "Nola." There is no way to prove it as far as I know. But it is plausible.

The story is that Felix Arndt wrote the piece (unnamed) for Fred Van Eps, whom he was playing piano for at the time. As the story goes, it was originally composed for Van Eps to play on banjo.

Van Eps did not do anything with it, so Arndt named it for his wife and got it published arranged as a piano novelty piece.

I've heard several forms of this story over the years from different sources. One came second hand from Paul Cadwell (friend and student of Van Eps) via Eli Kaufman. Cadwell claimed to have run into Nola at a party and asked her about the piece, which she confirmed the story.

Van Eps did record it in 1951. Hear it below:


 

This might work better:
archive.org/details/78_bolero_...ia8005695

The Bill Keith version makes different melodic choices in some of the passages. They're just variations. None of them are perfect, the banjo does not have the compass (range) of a piano so some passages have to be altered to fit. The original piano piece is in D, G and F. Most banjo versions are in G and Bb and C but Walter Bauer's is in C,Eb and F.

Variations between performers is normal. I'm sure Felix Arndt never played it the same way twice. Same for FVE.

If you're playing solo from Tab, you'll never need to know that it changes key. 
 

I like to believe there was other banjo music around besides ''THE '' banjo music--and it did not have to be always a lower form of emotion --teachers are not always the best players or vice versa imo -- woodshed music has birthed many new sounds also

That said---- I have great respect for good talent in any form--but aside from an understandable marketing scheme-- I shy away from bragging--personal problem I have --probably (likely}inherent jealousy on my part

quote:

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Originally posted by Texasbanjo

quote:

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Originally posted by csacwp

quote:

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Originally posted by Texasbanjo

That song is Nola and I'd call it melodic type playing. I play it and actually had to use a tab by Bill Keith to get it right. It is a difficult song and not at all one for beginners. There are some 4 fret jumps in there that I can't make because my fingers just won't reach that far.

---

The Bill Keith tab isn't accurate to the Van Eps original. Jerron is very much playing in the vein of the latter.

---

I disagree.   Bill's tab is almost note for note what I just heard on the video.  Have you actually played the tab by Bill Keith?  

Understand it doesn't matter.   The video was great and I enjoyed it.  He played it much better than I ever did.

 

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Yes, I have worked through the Keith tab. It has some different note choices, and the fingerings are strange in some places. It was definitely the work of a bluegrasser and not a classic style banjoist.

I just checked Jerron out --never heard of him before (thanks KC)--most impressive musician i have seen for my taste--- in decades--
his taste and choice of music takes his over the top with what must be incredible learning ability --
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerron_%...22_Paxton

I agree Tractor1 , I've said it before but Jerron Paxton is one of my favorite contemporary banjoists. Certainly in the top 5. Any festival he's at, he's my #1 to go see. I do not think there are many players that can outplay him. And not just banjo proficiency, he's also an amazing singer and showman. And guitar too. And just a great guy. Top notch all around.

Wikipedia on marches said sometimes ''they modulate to a flat''--I assumed the complete piece would stay all designated sharp or flat -----not switch --Then i thought it would make sense-- if they were in C
They had several terms I had never seen

Yeh KC  I was thinking that these classic players missed the 30's and the blues--he cured that problem

He is getting even greater tone on Maple Leaf Rag --and has a great stage presence