Lesson #143, Sally Goodin' XII

Lesson #142, Sally Goodin' XI

Lesson #141, Sally Goodin' X

Lesson #140, Sally Goodin' IX

Hi All,

Here's a variation that I used for the last section of the upper break. It sort of has a reno/stanley sound to my ears. And with that variation, we are going to end the section on the upper neck portion of Sally Goodin.

In the proceeding videos, we will take a look into playing this tune down the neck.

Up she goes, Down she goes.....

David

Lesson #139, Sally Goodin' VIII

Hey Moosers,

This section is more advanced than intermediate. Please don't ever get discouraged if you can't seem to play things right away. Things will all come together in due time, no pun intended. I make mistakes all the time, and I've been playing for many years. Sometimes playing with rough edges is what makes music real..........its the real deal folks.......no spit and polish , or no cover up studio work. Sort of like life itself ain't it.

Keep it Real!

David

Lesson #138, Sally Goodin' VII

Hi All,

I would like to make mention again of the two finger position we are incorporating into this version. It is showing up a lot, and you can readily see it within the fourth position D chord in this video.

Also mentioned in this video is picking up ideas from other instruments. This version came out of what I heard in my head.....of what a fiddler maybe doing, as opposed to the traditional Scruggs type approach to this tune. Listen to everything.........and use what you like. Its all good.

Continuing on with the scale work in this section of the tune...............remember the first five notes of the G major scale we used? now lets add some lead in notes to that fragment......what are those notes? they are the 5th, 6th, and 7th notes of the G major scale!, leading to the G, or first note of the G major scale on the open 5th string. Pretty cool huh.........we split the scale pretty much in half, only this time we started with the 5th degree of the scale and worked it up from there. Again, experimentation is the key. Play around with different ideas, and the things you come up with will be your own.

Rock On,

David

Lesson #137, Sally Goodin' VI

Howdy Mooses,

In this video, we are going to use some scale work intertwined with the scruggs. Since this tune is mostly played in G..........lets use the G major scale. Actually we are using only a fragment of the G major scale, those being the first five notes.

As I've said before, there are many different ways to finger any particular scale on the five string. In this version, the G scale fragment can be thought of as a Keith/ Thompson approach.

Also in this video, we are using our thumb to fret the fifth string. This will take a little getting used to ( It did for me anyways, when I first started doing it). Your fretting hand will stretch out after awhile, so keep at it............but never over do it! If your fretting hand starts to fatigue, give yourself a good break.

Coffee anyone?

David

Lesson #136, Sally Goodin' V

Hi Everyone,

Lets take a look at the 2-4 slide using the alternating thumb roll. In one section of this version, I simply took that lick/roll, and moved it up the neck for a 7-9 slide, using the same roll. Once you learn a lick, try moving it around on the neck and listen to the different sounds you can achieve using the same roll patterns. You maybe surprised at what you can come up with.

Also in this video, I used a classic Scruggs' type lick. You will hear this lick a lot in many a bluegrass banjo playing.

Have fun,

David

Lesson #135, Sally Goodin' IV

Hi Mooses,

I made a verbal mistake in this video........the two finger position is on the "ninth and tenth frets respectively". I made a mistake and called it on the eighth and ninth.

You will notice a lot of chokes within this version. It will definitely be challenging in a few places within. Be aware of, as in this video, how in one spot we are "holding" the choke............through one roll, before we release it again on a following roll.

Keep it going.....

David

Lesson #134, Sally Goodin' III

Hi Everybody,

Take a good look at the two finger position in this video ( your index and middle fingers of your left hand). This position will be used a lot in the upper portion of this tune. As you look over this position throughout the tune, try to be aware of closed position chords it may be coming from, and also, try to be aware of any scales it may be used in.

Remember that there are only two chords throughout this whole tune, those chords in the key of G............ are G and D. If you look at the tablature, you can see where the chord changes occur. After you have a grip on this tune, try to listen for the chord changes as well. If you happen to have a guitar to accompany you, that will make it easier as well to hear the changes.

Sally On,

David

Lesson #133, Sally Goodin' II

Hey all,

In the introduction, you can see that I used a metronome. A metronome is a time keeper, it is a perfect time keeper, it doesn't lie. You can set your metronome to very slow speeds when you are starting out. You can also perceive the sound however you feel comfortable. If you want to think about that sound as being the sound of a bass (thats what I do), you can think about it that way if you wish.

I also spoke about using the capo and "transposing" in this video. Transposing means to play a piece of music in a different key that what it was written in. Using a capo is one of the easiest ways to transpose in alot of cases in Bluegrass. Lets take a look at the key of G.

The banjo is tuned to G, and that open G is associated with the third string position (barre position). Some very popular keys in Bluegrass are the keys of G, A, Bb, and B. To quickly transpose to these keys we can simple put a capo on any of the desired related frets and away we go. Remember to raise the fifth string as well whenever you use a capo. I would also like to say that we can transpose into any of the twelve keys, but the fingering will begin to change as we get into the first and second string positions.

Keep it going,

David

Lesson #132, Sally Goodin' I

Hi Everyone,

First off , let me say that even though this tune, Sally Goodin, is in the intermediate lessons, it may be considered advanced as I look through it now. I would also like to mention that we had a little technical difficulty when we taped this series, that being that there will be no camera shot of the right picking hand throughout. The good news is that we have fixed the problem for future lessons. The tab will have to be your source for some of the right hand rolls, and you can always ask me in the forums and I will help you out as much as I can.

Hope you enjoy my arrangement of this tune, and I hope it makes you want to get up off your chairs and try your hand.........or foot I should say! at a little buck dancin.

David

Lesson #131, Darlin' Corey IX

Hi Everyone,

If you hear a phrase or lick you like in any song or tune you are working on, try different things with them. Try exploring other portions of the neck with the same fingering, or use different rolls around different licks to come up with interesting sounds that you like hearing in your own playing.

Improvise!

David

Lesson #130, Darlin' Corey VIII

Hi All,

Lets move up the neck for this next version. We are going to use basically the same moves as the first version, the only difference is that we are going to use the fourth/first string position now.

Remember, you can use any of the three basic positions to explore these concepts of the harmonized blues scale.

Work you way around the neck and try to come up with your own version or variations to Darlin Corey.

David

Lesson #129, Darlin' Corey VII

Hi Everyone,

You can use some basic rolls and licks within this version to use as backup as well. Take simple rolls, and play them right through the verses, or to compliment another instrumental break. Most of the time its the simplest rolls that sound best. One of them I used in this video is a simple alt.thumb roll.

Try this song at different tempos/speeds. Its good practice to try different speeds on different tunes and songs just for right hand practice alone.

David

Lesson #128, Darlin' Corey VI

Hi All,

There are only a few things I'd like to mention from this video. One of them being that in this first version, the two finger C chord position is being held almost all the way through this first section. Even at the 4th and 5th frets, its still that C chord second string position.

Also I'd like to mention that you can choke a string in any direction you wish, whether it be towards you or away from you. Try it both ways and use what works best for you.

I'd also like to mention that is good practice to try different rolls, or anything else that differs from the tab in any way that feels, and sounds most comfortable to you. This is the best way to get you own style underway.

Roll away,

David

Lesson #127, Darlin' Corey V

Hi Everyone,

We are using mostly a two finger second string position C chord throughout a lot of this first version down the neck. You can see as well by using the second harmonization of the C blues scale, is what this song starts on.

Even though this is a folk song, you can hear a little bit of that Rock and Roll in it......its all good!

David

Lesson #126, Darlin' Corey IV

Hi All,

In this video I play and sing the song Darlin Corey so you can hear how it goes.

I played three different versions, and tabbed them out as well for you. In the first version, you can see and hear that we are using portions of the C blues scale with a two finger harmonization that came from the previous lesson. I am using the second string position with a two finger C chord to start. Use this two finger chord all the way up the neck with the blues scale, and you can see why portions of this song use the harmonization we went over at the beginning of this series.

Rock On,

David

Lesson #125, Darlin' Corey III

Hi All,

In this video you can hear that we are tuning the fourth string down from the note of D, to the note C. By doing this we are creating what they call drop C tuning. In this video you can see that I use a very handy device, thats an electronic tuner....very useful to find perfect tuning on just about any instrument!

We will use this C tuning in Darlin Corey in the upcoming videos.

Tune er' up,

or should I say down.......

David

Lesson #124, Darlin' Corey II

Hi Everyone,

There are many ways to harmonize a scale, and in this lesson we are going to harmonize the blues scale using all major chords. By playing the fourth/first string position up and down the neck with the blues scale, we are getting a Rock and Roll sound, a powerful sound, and we will relate parts of this lesson to the song Darlin Corey in the next upcoming lessons.

You can also use this harmonization using any of the three basic positions, those being the fourth/first string position, the third string position, and the second string position. Just find the root note on whatever position you'd like to use, and away you go.

Rock On,

David

Lesson #123, Darlin' Corey I

Hi Everyone,

In the next few lessons, we are going to discuss C tuning and the song Darlin Corey. Before we actually get into the song though, I'd like to talk a little bit about the Blues scale. I want to relate the blues scale in this lesson to the minor pentatonic scale that we went over previously. The only difference between the minor pentatonic scale and the blues scale is that the blues scale has one more note.

We know that the minor pentatonic scale contains five notes. A blues scale contains six notes. To make a blues scale from the minor pentatonic scale we are just going to place a note between the 3rd and 4th degrees of the minor pentatonic scale.

When we play that note in between the 3rd and 4th degrees, we are creating a chromatic line, since that piece of the scale works its way up and down in half steps.

The scale pattern in this video is also moveable, you can move in up and down the fingerboard and name the blues scale by the note you start it on. Remember as well that you can play any scale however you want on the fingerboard, just find the notes, and see how many different ways you can create patterns.

Another pattern would be to play the scale on one string. Find a G blues scale on the fourth string alone, then in the next lesson, we will harmonize it, and relate it to the song Darlin Cory.

Keep it going Everyone,

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions XVII

Hi Everybody,

Lets finish up the series. I hope you all enjoyed this little mini-series on Take This Hammer and some of the back-up that can go along with it. We will continue to explore an infinite number of possibilities in our playing.....whether that be soloing or back-up. We will continue on a great musical journey.

In my ending comments in this video, I mentioned a few words about discouragement. Don't ever feel discouraged! even though sometimes things may not seem to be sounding right, or you may be having difficultly with some of the things you are trying to play. Everyone goes through it, its part of the process of learning. Sometimes I'll get a little frustrated with my playing....so I'll put the banjo down for a few days......pick it back up.......start to play and hear new things.

Keep it going Everybody,

Have fun,

Study well,

Rock On.

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions XVI

Hi Everybody,

Lets continue to break it on down. There's not a lot more I say about this video other than whats in it. Keep it going everyone, Take your Time......Take it slow......and Take that Hammer in good stride.

Rock it,

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions XV

This lesson has been re-editted and a writeup will be coming shortly!

Rock on.

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions XIV

Hi Everyone,

Lets continue to break this song down. Try to get your notes just as nice and clean as you can. Try to get your rolls just as nice and clean as you can. Try to get your timing and separation just as nice and clean as you can. Try to get your left hand techniques just as nice and clean as you can.

Strive to be Mr. or Mrs. Clean!

Rock On,

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions XIII.5

Hi Everyone,

You can hear in this video the transition from the song itself into the backup patterns discussed previously. You can transition into your backup in many different ways. This is only one possibility out of an infinite number of others. You don't even have to play a transition at all if you don't want too, sometimes silence works the best, especially if you are in a band situation with a full compliment of instruments.

In this video we are also going to take apart Take This Hammer. So I'll let you all get at it if you'd like. You can watch the video........read the Tablature......read the Sheet music......learn it the best way that suits you!

Rock On, and Roll Away

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions XIII

Hi All,

Continuing on with this pattern with the fretted Fifth. We can use this pattern over the D chord(5 chord) as well. We can use this pattern on any chord or any chord progression we want. We can also connect the previous patterns with this pattern as well. We can mix'em up anyway we would like.

Although I will be teaching many more patterns and many other ways to play back-up on the five string, It would be good practice for you to combine these patterns in different ways on your own. Also you can to create your own patterns with the seventh chords, and always remember........If it sounds good........It is good!

Turn On your Back-up Beeper
and let her go

Rock On,

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions XII

Hi Everyone,

Continuing on with the back-up and the seventh chords. We can also use the seventh chord on the C or the Four chord. We can add the seventh in the 4 chord(C) to create a bluesy effect. The sound of the C7 doesn't really want to resolve to the ear, although it will go back to the 1 chord (G). Its really up to you, the player, to decide how you want to interpret the use of these seventh chords, whether it be in your back-up, or in your soloing.

In this video, I give you another pattern, only this time we are going to fret the fifth string with our thumb to get the 7b seventh within what ever chord we are working on. By using our thumb (sometimes I'll fret the fifth with my index) within this next roll pattern, we can get another cool sounding pattern, coming right from the Stylings of Scruggs.

Roll On

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions XI

Hi Everyone,

Lets play some seventh chords now within the picking patterns we went over. By adding the seventh chords in our backup, we are adding a little color to the canvas. We can play the whole backup using just the major chords, and it sounds good just using them, but adding different chords now and then keeps things interesting.

You can hear for yourself how the D7 sort of wants to naturally proceed to the G chord, or expressing ourselves using the Nashville number system......how the 5 chord wants to go to the 1 chord. Let me say this as well.....although 7th sounds "want" to resolve naturally to the ear towards another chord.....the 7th sounds don't "have" to resolve the way our ear may want it to. This is something we will discuss more in depth in advanced lessons, but I thought I would mention it here because of its relativity. You can sort of listen to what I mean by at one point in this video I go from a D7 to a Dmajor then resolve to G. In another ....D7 to Dmajor to D7 to G.

We can really apply these colors anyway we want, and its really up to the artist to decide when they would like to add these colors....if at all...and also its up to the artist to decide the "shade" of the color. Perhaps dull? perhaps bright? maybe inbetween? Freedom to do what we want creates the most beautiful and the most individual of paintings.

Rock On

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions X

Hi Everyone,

Lets go over another picking pattern. This pattern will contain all eight notes. You can look to the video and to the tablature as well to get this pattern under your fingers. Once you become familiar with this pattern, we can connect it to the other pattern we just went over. We you do connect the two patterns together, you will be playing through two measures. Remember....anytime we have a count of 4 within the time signature of 4/4, we will have gone through 1 measure.

We can also use both of the sliding transitions with both of these picking patterns. After you become familiar with the slides and with these patterns, eventually, you will be able to switch between these patterns at will, sliding up or down the neck in a very natural way. I hope you find these patterns and transitions useful....I know I sure do.....especially when I'm jamming on the Bluegrass. You can use these techniques with many many tunes and songs in Bluegrass. Blue Moon of Kentucky comes to mind immediately.

Rock On Everybody,

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions IX

Hi Everybody,

We can use this picking pattern and its transitions with any 4th string position chord.
We can use any of the twelve 4th string position chords and transition any of them with this sequence of notes.

We can also slide into these 4th position chords by doing the slide on the count of 1. When sliding on the count of 1, we will have to do our sliding quite rapidly to get to the next chord with good timing. A little practice and it will fall into place.

The same holds true with this sliding transition as in the first way we did it. We can use this sliding action on the count of 1 to transition between all twelve of the 4th position chords.

Happy Sliding!

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions VIII

Hi Everybody,

Lets start to discuss a little bit about backup in these next videos. As you already know, if you went through the vamping series.....that was one way....a very important way to play basic backup through the use of the closed chords. What we are going to do now is, take those same chords and play picking patterns with them to create another way to backup up other musicians.

You can look to the tablature as well as the video to learn these picking patterns. I use these patterns a lot in traditional bluegrass. They come from the styling of Scruggs, who is brilliant in his compliment of the others. I can say as well that these patterns can be used in many songs and tunes in bluegrass, not just take this hammer.

There are many ways to transition this pattern from one chord to another. In the first example of this video, we are going to play a slide starting on the count of 4 within the pattern. As we pick the note on the count of 4, we slide the note all the way up to our next chord in the fourth string position. You can hear and see how this is taking place in the video. We can do our transitioning in any direction.. that being sliding up the neck, or sliding down the neck. It may take a little time to get these slides to come together with the pattern, but it will with a little practice.

Roll Away

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions VII

Hi Everyone,

As we move up and down the fingerboard with the seventh chord double stops and triads, we can associate their locations with the three basic chord positions. By this I mean that we are expanding on the three basic positions.......sort of like branches from the core of a tree.....these extensions are branches from the core of the three basic positions. You can look upon these extensions the best way you see them in your own visualizations of the fingerboard....as branching off any of the positions you see fit. I sometimes look at them as the nearest extensions to the nearest position.

The extensions of the double stops, triads and closed position chords are all moveable as well. We can move them up and down the fingerboard to cover all of the twelve notes.

I will be discussing many more things about chords in future lessons. We will keep expanding on things we have gone over previousl. We will continue to Rock and Roll on the Banjo!

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions VI

Hi Everyone,

Lets continue to work on the sound of the seventh chord up the fingerboard of the banjo. Again...all we are doing is finding the 3rd and flatted 7th degree of a major scale to form a seventh chord double stop. In this series, we are working on a G7 chord, but we can apply this formula to all of the twelve major scales to form all of the seventh chords.

What we are doing is finding the closest notes of the 3rd and 7b along the fingerboard. When we find one, we just move up to the next, and so on all the way up or down the fingerboard.

We can also make our triads (three note chords) along the fingerboard as well , adding the 1 or the 5. We can of course also add them all together to create our full or closed position 7th chords.

Rock On,

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions V

Hi Everyone,

Lets look into the seventh chord even further, but first, let me say that a chord inversion is playing the notes of chords in different ways. By different ways I mean in different spots on the fingerboard. If we look at the twelve notes in music, and look at the banjos' fingerboard, we will see that we can hit any of the twelve notes at different locations on the fingerboard. This is important as we look at chord inversions and a deeper look at the seventh chord.

While using the four note seventh chord (1 3 5 7b) in the fourth, third and second string positions, we can get the sound of the four notes by playing patterns with the "three" fingers of our right hand. Although we are not using a pinch or vamp lets say....we can still get the full sound using patterns over the four note chords.

1 3 5 7b they are the degrees of the major scale that outline the seventh chord....we can also get the sound of the seventh chord using two notes from the four....those notes are the 3 and the 7b. We can find the 3rd and flatted 7th all along the fingerboard of the banjo to create two note chords ( double stops) to get the sound of the seventh chord without even using the 1 (root) or the 5.

Rock On

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions IV

Hi Everyone,

1-3-5 3-5-1 5-1-3
1-3-5-7b 3-7b-1-5 5-1-3-7b

The top numbers are our triads in fourth, second, and the third string positions.
The next set of numbers are our 4 note seventh chords associated with the triads.
We can play the combination of numbers anyway we want to get our triads and our seventh chords.

Remember as well that the third string position triad (barre position) at the twelveth fret ........ 5-1-3 ......is the same as the open string triad..........5-1-3

We are working on four note seventh chords at the moment, seventh chords that contain all of the four notes of the 1-3-5-7b
We can get the "color" or "sound" of the seventh chord in different ways, and I'll start to discuss this is the following lessons.

Rock On the Banjo,

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions III

Hi Everyone,

To flat (b) a note on the banjo, all we have to do is go back 1/2 step or one fret. To sharp (#) a note on the banjo , all we have to do is go ahead 1/2 step or one fret. Remember we are going to number the major scale......do is 1, re is2, me is3, fa is 4, so is5, la is 6, ti is 7, and back to do is 8, or the octave.

Lets look at our first chord extentsions....the seventh chord. The formula for a seventh chord is this.....the 1 the 3 the 5 and the flatted 7 (7b). Going back to previous lessons, we know a major triad is the 1,3,5. Now we are extending the triad to create our 7th chords. 1,3,5,7b

Looking at the fourth string postion on the banjo, we can add the 7b to the triad on the first string fretted behind the third fret.....that is our 7b (an F note). Remember as well that since we have two D strings on the banjo ( the fourth and first strings), anytime we fret one of them, we can also fret the other one, or "FLIP" fretting to get the same note, just an octave higher in pitch. That is very important to remember as we continue to look at the seventh chords throughout the banjos fingerboard.

Rock On All,

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions II

Hi Everyone,

First let me tell you the chords to Take this Hammer. The key is G......
the chords are........G-D-G-C-G-D-G (1_5_1_4_1_5_1)

Lets Look at what is called the Nashville number system for a moment. Look at the chords to Take this Hammer above. Notice the numbers directly beneath the chords. The Nashville number system is as simple as this........If a song or tune is in the key of G.....we use the major scale starting with G.....then we number the scale as well.....do re me fa so la ti do...........1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. the 1 is the G chord......the 5 is the D chord........and the 4 is the C chord .......its that simple.

Lets take another example....say we want to play this song in the key of C#.........no problem.... play a C# major scale and name and number the notes.......the 1 is a C# chord...the 5 is a G# chord....and the 4 is an F# chord. You can use this system on all the twelve notes and the major scales associated with them. I'll be discussing this in future lessons, but I thought I'd mention it here as well because of its relationship to this video.


Looking at the single string major scale pattern in this video, we can call it a "moveable" pattern. Its moveable because all we have to do is name the note starting on the fourth string........then we have the major scale of the note we started with. We can use this pattern for all the twelve notes to create all of the twelve major scales.

Roll Away,

David

Miniseries #004, Take this Hammer + 7th Chords and Backup Discussions I

Hi Everyone,

We are going to go over another song using the Scruggs style in the up coming lessons. The name of the song is called "Take this Hammer". Along with discussing the solo of this song, we are also going to continue our discussions on theory and begin to talk about some back-up techniques in this song. The discussions on chord theory is related to chord extensions that we are going to use in the back-up. These first extensions will be on the Seventh Chord. All we will be doing is "extending" or "expanding" on the Major Triads we have already gone over.

Back-up, or backing up other musicians is a very important part of playing music with others. Like I've said before......if you plan on jamming with others, you will be playing back-up banjo most of the time. In playing with others, we always want to try to make the soloist sound as good as he or she can be. We are going to start with some basic picking/backup patterns in the Scruggs style in this series to begin one way to compliment other musicians.

If you have any questions along the way in this series, please don't hestitate to ask, and I'll do my best to answer them for you.

Rock On Everyone,

David

Miniseries #003, Worried Man Blues V

Hi Everyone,

Lets finish up this song now in this segment. Again let me say something about that D chord and solo within. We are using two fretted notes out of that second string position to play our solo within that D chord. I am using different notes within the D major scale to add a different color to that section.

The roll pattern within this D chord section is a little tricky, so it may take you a little time to get this section down, but just take your time and you will have it down in good time.

David

Miniseries #003, Worried Man Blues IV

Hi Everyone,

We are continuing on with the Worried Man Blues. There isn't a lot more I can say about this song, except to take your time and try to get that right hand and left hand in time and in conjunction with each other.

You can also take notice in this song that we are breaking up the rolls with quarter notes in places in this song, so as not to have the rolls and patterns sound monotonous.

I can say this about the song as well, that if you listened to me singing the song in the beginning of this series, I was singing the melody of the song. If you listen to the way the banjo sounds throughout , you can hear me play the melody within this version.

Just like a singer can interpret the melody of any given song, the banjoist can interpret the melody within his or her soloing. Its important to try to bring out the melody notes of any song or tune you are playing, especially in Traditional Bluegrass. I'm going to be delving into this subject very soon In the beginning Banjo Lessons right after I teach a few other things related to combining right and left hand techniques and also Vamping for backup.

When we go on to explore other kinds of Music, such as the Blues, NewGrass, Jazz and Rock, we can take many liberties on the melodies and stretch them as far as ones' mind can reach.

Enjoy the Worried Man Blues all,

David

Miniseries #003, Worried Man Blues III

Hi Everyone,

We are going to get into taking this song apart in this video. Let me start off by talking about the lead in notes. The Pinch and then the thumb picking the fourth string in the first part of this video are lead in notes. These lead in notes can be left out of this song once you begin to play this song over the guitar track. You can leave them in , or leave them out, just be aware of the timing coming in and out of your soloing using the lead in notes or if you desire to leave them out.

For those of you who would like to use tablature, I have tabbed out this song for you as well. Remember, you don't have to be able to read tab to become proficient on the Banjo, I am just giving you another resource for those of you who would like to learn from tab as well. You will also notice that the sheet music is available above the Tablature as well. I want to have the sheet music there as well in case you have difficultly in the timings of things I am going to present to you.

Don't be concerned with the first measure of lead in notes in the sheet music.(the measures are numbered in red ) because that first measure involves rests. I will discuss rests used in sheet music in the near future. Its quite simple, it just goes back to ryhthm and counting series involving the beat associated with the four notes we went over.

You will see in the sheet music that the whole song consists of quarter notes and eight notes. If you look at the sheet music you will see that each measure has four beats associated with it, because............ we are using that all important 4/4 time.

Look at the second measure, the one with the red number 2 above it. The first note in that second measure is a quarter note. Remember the series on ryhthm and counting. That quarter note has one beat associated with it. (that is the count of 1 as your foot hits the floor). Now look at the next two notes, those next two notes are eight notes. The flags on these two notes are tied together in sheet music to make them look nicer on paper. So... the first eight note has 1/2 associated with it as well the second eight note. 1/2 plus 1/2 = 1. One beat associated with playing those two eight notes one after the other.( this is the count of 2 and) when our foot comes off the floor. The next two eight notes ( 3 and) is when your foot hits the floor again. Again those two eight notes played one after another has a count of 1. Then the last two notes in the measure are eight notes as well (4 and) when your foot comes off the floor again. So we can count this measure as follows.........1 2and 3and 4and...

If you get in trouble with the timing on this song, just look at the measure you are dealing with and count to 4 with your foot and consider the beats associated with the 1/4 and 1/8th notes.

Rock On,

David

Miniseries #003, Worried Man Blues II

Hi All,

Here is the version of Worried Man Blues on the Banjo. Now the first thing I would like to say about this video is.....after I reviewed this video.... concerning the D chord in this song, what I meant to say is that we are using two FRETTED notes out of the second string position for the D chord. I am using SEVERAL different notes to play through the melody section when playing through the chord change of D.

Using just those two fretted notes out of the second string position along with the open second, first and fifth strings gave that section a different Color within the solo. I'm going to be explaining why these different techniques sound like they do. It involves the Scales that different chords are built from. The second string (the open B string) is the seventh degree of the D major scale, but don't worry about that right now, just concentrate on the song itself.

Also in this video, you can see why this C chord played closest to the nut (also coming out of the second string position) is what it is. It looks a little different in the video because we are using different fingers of our left hand to make the formation more comfortable and versatile. You will see what I mean about it being more versatile when we start to work around that C chord in the future.

I would like to mention a few other things before you start on the Worried Man Blues as well. Once you become familiar and comfortable playing this song, I would like you to pick this song with different forces of the right hand. When I say forces, I mean play it harder and then play the song softly. Playing songs harder and softly will start to bring out finesse in your right hand. It will also help to bring out different accents (definition) when we start to explore advanced concepts of accenting melody notes and using these forces to bring out expressions on the Banjo.

What I say "expressions", I mean the different feelings you can create in your music. I'll give you an example and I'll use Ralph Stanely as this example. When you listen to Ralph, his singing and playing, In my opinion, is one of purest sounds you will hear in Traditional Bluegrass Music. His singing and playing is coming from deep inside. It is a very straight ahead sound, but that sound is filled with soul and great expression.

We will get into bringing out your own expressions on the Banjo as We get into advanced concepts on the Banjo in future lessons. Good Luck with Worried Man Blues everyone, and play well.

Rock On,

David

Miniseries #003, Worried Man Blues I

Hi Everyone,

This next song we are going to work on is called The Worried Man Blues, an old traditional folk song that we are going to adapt to the Banjo in the style of Earl Scruggs. Although this will be my arrangement of this song, it is still based on the styling of Mr. Scruggs.

I wanted to sing this song for you and play the quitar as well so you can hear what the song sounds like and also for you to better hear the chord changes within this song. Sometimes its easier to listen to the chord changes on guitar than banjo because of the fullness of the chords that the ryhthm guitar produces. It very important for you to start LISTENING to how these three different chords sound as the changes occur. Your ears are your most important appendages in music. The three chords we are using in this song are. G which is the key chord of the song, then C, then back to G, then to D, and back again to G.

I played this song at two different tempos (speeds) so you can start off slowly then build up your speed on the Banjo.

When I begin recording again within the next day, I am going to explain the very important technique called " Vamping ". It is a technique used in playing backup so you can chord along and practice your full chord changes while playing with other people. You will be able to practice your Vamping along with many of the tunes and songs that are going to be offered on this site. I know Jeff Wisor, our fiddle instructor taped many fiddle tunes that you will be able to practice your vamping, along with many other possibities on the Moose.

Go slowly Everyone, and keep your Ears wide open to the changes.

David

Christmas Special: Frosty the Snowman!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Here is a great holiday song that everyone is familiar with. Although there are many things within this song that we haven't covered yet in our lessons, I thought it would be a great song for the holidays. If you go through the tab, just remember that this arrangement is in C tuning. Just tune the 4th string down to the note of C.

You'll probably see some chords that you may not be familiar with as well within this version, but don't worry about them for right now, just enjoy the melody! We'll cover all these things in upcoming lessons.

All the best in the upcoming New Year!

David