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This month's TOTW is "The Golden Ticket". An old-timey tune written by Eric Merrill and published on his 2004 album: "The Western Star". It's a great CD with a mix of Irish and Old-Time tunes. The album also contains another great OT Tune, "Hell and Grace". He plays it in the key of "F", but most fiddlers around here play it in "A".
Eric is a Seattle area fiddler, but has lived in Ireland and Boston before attending Yale law school. You can find more information HERE.
Here's a link to the TUNE. The lively banjo accompaniment is provided by John Herrmann.
"The Golden Ticket" has had a resurgence in the Pacific Northwest since Rayna Gellert released it on this YouTube Video. As you watch her play, you can see how much she enjoys the tune and Kieran Kane's Guitar playing.
The tune has a wide presence online, including several instructional videos:
Banjo: Brad Kolodner
Fiddle: Chris Haigh
Mando: Joe K.Walsh
Guitar: Morgan Harris
I've recorded a slow version and uploaded a tab to accompany this post.
Looking forward to other comments and banjo versions.
Edited by - banjukebox on 07/24/2026 07:03:04
I LOVE this tune and made a video of it a while ago that I thought I'd share again:
https://youtube.com/shorts/GOyogxtZUDI?si=EtYT3vjXrTLXA65c
I play this (and all my G tunes) in gDGDE tuning - that's especially nice for this tune as I had to go so far up the neck in the B part; I'd have to climb 2 more frets to find those notes in open G.
This is one of those G tunes that a low-bass 6 string would be great for - I used to have one but got a bit sick of the tuning issues. I kind of enjoy playing Golden Ticket in D on a 5 string to keep from having to jump to the high octave.
This is a beautiful tune and played beautifully by all parties above. However I have noticed some beautiful fiddle tunes that are written in recent years are challenging to play on the banjo up to jam speed any time the fiddler lays into that low G string. The banjo then has to jump through some hoops to adjust for not having those low G string notes – go to a chord, or jump way high up the neck, and probably other tricks I am not aware of. A couple examples of other tunes in this category are Henry King's Reel and Little Pine Siskin. Sometimes going up the banjo neck to get the low notes on the fiddle works (Possum Up A Gum Stump) but other times it sounds clunky. I couldn't make out what John Herman was doing with his banjo with at least two fiddles and a guitar in the background. I am curious as to how he tackled it. Anyway as an average to mediocre banjo jam player it would take me a long time to be able to play such tunes anything close to jam speed with that much real estate up the neck. I meet my limitations. How do some of you solve this challenge besides being talented, fabulous players? banjered
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