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Clawhammer Song of the Week: “Feast Here Tonight”

Click on the button below to get the PDF download for this tab delivered to you, and get 2 new tunes and tabs sent to you every week!

Click Here To Get The Tab


Recently I shared with you a different, slow and easy take on the classic “Feast Here Tonight,” extolling the virtues of embracing simplicity and resisting the pervasive “more is better” mentality (click here to view that rendition).

Many of you asked for the tab for it, which I’ve included it in today’s post (see below).

Today, it’s back to the classic version in its usual up tempo form, replete with the harmonies and call and response format, this time provided by my ever willing doppelganger.

Both versions are in the key of D, which require two different tunings for the modern steel strung banjo (aDADE) and the lower toned gourd banjo (dADF#A, which is just gDGBD tuned down).

(RELATED: How to choose the right key and tuning for your voice, which is super helpful if you’d like to sing with your banjo, is covered in the “Playing and Singing” module of the Breakthrough Banjo course. Click here to learn more.)

 

And here is the fingerstyle version for this song – I’m essentially using old time 2 finger style for the vocal backup, which works great for playing and singing, mixed with a little Scruggs style for some of the banjo solos (click here if you’d like to view the tab for it, too).

Feast Here Tonight – 3 finger style banjo version


(RELATED: If you’re interested in learning all styles of up-picking in a way that’s aligned with how the grown up brain learns music, then you may enjoy the Breakthrough Banjo course for fingerstyle banjo. Click here to learn more.)


Feast Here Tonight

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3-4

feast here tonight clawhammer banjo tab part 1

feast here tonight clawhammer banjo tab part 2

 

feast here tonight clawhammer banjo tab part 3

Gourd Banjo version – demo

Feast Here Tonight – gourd banjo version 

gDGBD tuning (dADF#A on the gourd), Brainjo level 3

feast here tonight clawhammer banjo tab part 1

feast here tonight clawhammer banjo tab part 2

Notes on the Tab

In this arrangement, I’ve tabbed out the part I play in the banjo “solo,” as well as the vocal backup I play on the banjo while singing.

Notes in parentheses are “skip” notes – to learn more about skips and syncopated skips, check out my video lesson on the subject.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

PRIOR SONG OF THE WEEK EPISODES

  • Episode 1: “Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow”
  • Episode 2: “Gumtree Canoe”
  • Episode 3: “Crawdad Hole”
  • Episode 4: “Oh Susanna”
  • Episode 5: “Freight Train”
  • Episode 6: “Grandfather’s Clock”
  • Episode 7: “Hop High Lulu”
  • Episode 8: “Been All Around This World”
  • Episode 9: “I’ll Fly Away”
  • Episode 10: “Leaving Home”
  • Episode 11: “Poor Orphan Child”
  • Episode 12: “Mr. Tambourine Man”
  • Episode 13: “Swanee River”
  • Episode 14: “Big Sciota”
  • Episode 15: “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms”
  • Episode 16: “Darling Corey”
  • Episode 17: “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
  • Episode 18: “America the Beautiful”
  • Episode 19: “Bury Me Beneath the Willow”
  • Episode 20: “Way Out There”
  • Episode 21: “New Slang”
  • Episode 22: “I Saw the Light”
  • Episode 23: “Amazing Grace”
  • Episode 24: “Blowin’ in the Wind”
  • Episode 25: “Yankee Doodle”
  • Episode 26: “Budapest”
  • Episode 27: “Wildwood Flower”
  • Episode 28: “Paradise”
  • Episode 29: “Mountain Dew”
  • Episode 30: “Blue Tail Fly”
  • Episode 31: “Otto Wood”
  • Episode 32: “Down on the Corner”
  • Episode 33: “City of New Orleans”
  • Episode 34: “Big Rock Candy Mountains”
  • Episode 35: “Come to the Bower”
  • Episode 36: “Old Kentucky Home”
  • Episode 37: “Long Journey Home”
  • Episode 38: “Dixie”
  • Episode 39: “Hard Times”
  • Episode 40: “Corrina Corrina”
  • Episode 41: “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”
  • Episode 42: “Johnson Boys”
  • Episode 43: “Bad Moon Rising”
  • Episode 44: “Reuben’s Train”
  • Episode 45: “Let the Mermaid’s Flirt With Me”
  • Episode 46: “Rocky Top”
  • Episode 47: “Groundhog”
  • Episode 48: “Lazy John”
  • Episode 49: “The Gambler”
  • Episode 50: “8 More Miles To Louisville”
  • Episode 51: “Who’ll Stop the Rain”
  • Episode 52: “Pretty Polly”
  • Episode 53: “You Are My Sunshine”
  • Episode 54: “Old Molly Hare”
  • Episode 55: “The Miller’s Will”
  • Episode 56: “Walking Cane”

Level 2 arrangements and video demos for the Tune (and Song!) of the Week tunes are now available as part of the Breakthrough Banjo course.

Click here for a current list of all the clawhammer songs and tunes currently available inside of The Vault

Learn More About Breakthrough Banjo

 

About the Author
Josh Turknett is founder and lead brain hacker at Brainjo Productions
 

View the Brainjo Course Catalog

brainjo larger musical mind

When less is more

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

-Mark Twain

Yesterday morning as I was starting the day with my morning cup, I grabbed the banjo and this song spilled out:

 

For those of you who know the song, this rendition is considerably slower in pace than the up tempo original. There’s nothing too fancy going in with the picking of it.

And I really like it.

It seems to be a universal human tendency to see increasing complexity as a marker of increasing quality. We’re wired to think we can naturally make something better by adding more to it.

This seems especially true in the world of banjo, where the desire to play faster is perhaps the most common lament, and where increasing technical expertise is the predominant yardstick of progress.

Yet, the longer I play music, and the more revolutions I take around the sun, the more I find quality in subtraction.

In taking things away. In leaving out a note. In letting things breathe. In omitting needless words.

And, on the flip side, how often adding more makes things feel smaller.

So if you who think you can’t play good music, or be a bonafide banjo player, or delight friends and family until you’ve reached some imagined minimum standard of picking proficiency, think again. That has little to do with it.

Take your time. Savor what you can already do, worry less about what you can’t.

No matter where you’re at on your musical journey, more than likely you’re already capable of making greater music than you realize.

You could spend an entire lifetime just mining the riches hidden inside the simple.

(RELATED: A central mission of the Breakthrough Banjo course is to demonstrate and provide you with great music you can make at any point in your learning journey. Click here to learn more.)


2 finger version

I also recorded a version in 2 finger style (taught in the Breakthrough Banjo course for fingerstyle), which you can hear below:

Clawhammer Tune of the Week: “East Tennessee Blues”

Click on the button below to get the PDF download for this tab delivered to you, and get 2 new tunes and tabs sent to you every week!

Click Here To Get The Tab

 

This week’s tune was introduced to me by my friend and former Sedentary Rambler bandmate, Jim Sims (thanks Jim!). I’d initially worked it out as a fingerpicked arrangement, which was how I used to play it when we performed.

Why was that? Because, as you may be able to hear, rhythmically it’s a departure from what you might consider to be the prototypical clawhammer sound.

But recently I decided to try working out a down picked version (the one you hear in the video), and quite liked it.

Yet, if you listen, or especially if you play it, you’ll note that it doesn’t sound or play quite like your typical clawhammer banjo tune.

Specifically, you may note an extra little pause after some of the downbeat strikes – one that makes it “swing” a little, and not a maneuver commonly employed by clawhammerists these days.

You may also note there’s a relative lack of fifth string droning. But the fifth string is used to play some of the melody notes, providing an efficient fingering solution in those instances.

Incidentally, both of these maneuvers would’ve been familiar to downpicking banjoists in the 19th century, as they were routine elements of minstrel banjo.

So what style is it? Well, it isn’t Round Peak. Is it “melodic” banjo? Is it a “minstrel” banjo tune?

Who knows? Who cares!

It doesn’t fit neatly into any rigid stylistic classification system, which is precisely the point (though it would serve as a good entry tune for those wanting to dig into the world of minstrel banjo – it’s even in “minstrel” tuning!).

Turns out the same is true of the fingerstyle version as well, which you can hear below:

 

Neither the down or up-picked versions here fit neatly into a single “style” description.

And that’s because both of these arrangements were created by starting with the sound, or the end result I wanted to achieve, and then working backwards to figure out how to use the techniques of either clawhammer or fingerstyle banjo to get that sound.

In either case, had I constrained myself to a particular “style” of picking from the start, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve the result I wanted. In fact, I might’ve never tried to play this tune in the first place.

This is another example of how these boundaries that exist in our imagination (i.e. banjo “styles”) can impose unnecessary limits if they make their way into the learning process, and another great illustration of why it’s so important not to conflate the two, not to confuse technique – the motor and cognitive skills needed for banjo playing – with the style in which a particular tune is played (a reflection of a consistent way in which the techniques are assembled to achieve a particular aesthetic).

Start with the sound, the end in mind, then work out the details. And let others worry about how to label it!

(RELATED: If you want to learn more about the hazards of confusing style and technique, click here to read “Banjo Essentials: How To Pick the Banjo in any Style“ at fingerstylebanjo.com)

 


(NOTE: For those considering acquiring a Brainjo banjo, the banjo played in this video is a “Hobart” model. Click here if you’d like to learn more, or claim one in the next batch.)


 East Tennesse Blues

gCGBD tuning, Brainjo level 3-4

east tennessee blues clawhammer banjo tab part 1

east tennessee blues clawhammer banjo tab part 2

Notes on the Tab

Notes in parentheses are “skip” notes. To learn more about these, check out my video lesson on the subject.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

[RELATED: Level 2 arrangements and video demos for the Tune (and Song!) of the Week tunes are now available as part of the Breakthrough Banjo course. Learn more about it here.

Click here for a current list of all the clawhammer songs and tunes currently available inside of The Vault

 

Learn More About Breakthrough Banjo

 

About the Author
Josh Turknett is founder and lead brain hacker at Brainjo Productions
 

View the Brainjo Course Catalog

 

Clawhammer Song of the Week: “Walking Cane”

Click on the button below to get the PDF download for this tab delivered to you, and get 2 new tunes and tabs sent to you every week!

Click Here To Get The Tab


I must confess to knowing little of the history of this week’s song until very recently, despite the fact that I’ve known it for a bit.

A little background research revealed a fascinating backstory.

“Walking Cane” was written by Jimmy Bland, an African American musician and songwriter.

And a minstrel performer. Not just any old minstrel performer, mind you, but one often referred to as “The World’s Greatest Minstrel Man.”

And not just any old songwriter either, but the author of over 600 works (including “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” and “Golden Slippers”).

I’d encourage to check out Bland’s biography on Wikipedia – though, if you’re like me, it’ll probably leave you wanting much more!

Prior to this research, I had no idea that the song was this old. It sounds like it could’ve easily been written in this decade, not two centuries ago.

Not entirely sure what the magic sauce is that makes a tune timeless, but this one surely has it.


The “Brainjo” banjo 

For those contemplating the various models of the Brainjo banjo, this video was made playing a “Hobart” model of the Brainjo. Click here if you’d like to claim it.


 

And here is the fingerstyle version for this song, which gives things a mellower feel (click here if you’d like to view the tab for it, too).

Walking Cane – 3 finger style banjo version


(RELATED: If you’re interested in learning all styles of up-picking in a way that’s aligned with how the grown up brain learns music, then you may enjoy the Breakthrough Banjo course for fingerstyle banjo. Click here to learn more.)


Walking Cane

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 3

Walking Cane clawhammer banjo tab part 1

 

Walking Cane clawhammer banjo tab part 2

 

Notes on the Tab

In this arrangement, I’ve tabbed out the part I play in the banjo “solo,” as well as the vocal backup I play on the banjo while singing.

Notes in parentheses are “skip” notes – to learn more about skips and syncopated skips, check out my video lesson on the subject.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

PRIOR SONG OF THE WEEK EPISODES

  • Episode 1: “Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow”
  • Episode 2: “Gumtree Canoe”
  • Episode 3: “Crawdad Hole”
  • Episode 4: “Oh Susanna”
  • Episode 5: “Freight Train”
  • Episode 6: “Grandfather’s Clock”
  • Episode 7: “Hop High Lulu”
  • Episode 8: “Been All Around This World”
  • Episode 9: “I’ll Fly Away”
  • Episode 10: “Leaving Home”
  • Episode 11: “Poor Orphan Child”
  • Episode 12: “Mr. Tambourine Man”
  • Episode 13: “Swanee River”
  • Episode 14: “Big Sciota”
  • Episode 15: “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms”
  • Episode 16: “Darling Corey”
  • Episode 17: “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
  • Episode 18: “America the Beautiful”
  • Episode 19: “Bury Me Beneath the Willow”
  • Episode 20: “Way Out There”
  • Episode 21: “New Slang”
  • Episode 22: “I Saw the Light”
  • Episode 23: “Amazing Grace”
  • Episode 24: “Blowin’ in the Wind”
  • Episode 25: “Yankee Doodle”
  • Episode 26: “Budapest”
  • Episode 27: “Wildwood Flower”
  • Episode 28: “Paradise”
  • Episode 29: “Mountain Dew”
  • Episode 30: “Blue Tail Fly”
  • Episode 31: “Otto Wood”
  • Episode 32: “Down on the Corner”
  • Episode 33: “City of New Orleans”
  • Episode 34: “Big Rock Candy Mountains”
  • Episode 35: “Come to the Bower”
  • Episode 36: “Old Kentucky Home”
  • Episode 37: “Long Journey Home”
  • Episode 38: “Dixie”
  • Episode 39: “Hard Times”
  • Episode 40: “Corrina Corrina”
  • Episode 41: “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”
  • Episode 42: “Johnson Boys”
  • Episode 43: “Bad Moon Rising”
  • Episode 44: “Reuben’s Train”
  • Episode 45: “Let the Mermaid’s Flirt With Me”
  • Episode 46: “Rocky Top”
  • Episode 47: “Groundhog”
  • Episode 48: “Lazy John”
  • Episode 49: “The Gambler”
  • Episode 50: “8 More Miles To Louisville”
  • Episode 51: “Who’ll Stop the Rain”
  • Episode 52: “Pretty Polly”
  • Episode 53: “You Are My Sunshine”
  • Episode 54: “Old Molly Hare”
  • Episode 55: “The Miller’s Will”

Level 2 arrangements and video demos for the Tune (and Song!) of the Week tunes are now available as part of the Breakthrough Banjo course.

Click here for a current list of all the clawhammer songs and tunes currently available inside of The Vault

Learn More About Breakthrough Banjo

 

About the Author
Josh Turknett is founder and lead brain hacker at Brainjo Productions
 

View the Brainjo Course Catalog

brainjo larger musical mind

Clawhammer Tune of the Week: “Miss McLeod’s Reel” (redux)

Click on the button below to get the PDF download for this tab delivered to you, and get 2 new tunes and tabs sent to you every week!

Click Here To Get The Tab


 

Recently, while filming some new course content for Brainjo’s “Fiddle for All” course, Adam Hurt played a delightful arrangement of Miss McLeod’s Reel on the fiddle (see below).

(RELATED: If you’ve caught the fiddle bug and want to learn to play in a way that’s aligned with how the adult brain learns music, click here to check out the “Fiddle for All” course from Brainjo.)

It’s a tune I’ve played on the banjo before. In fact, it’s even been a featured Tune of the Week tune before.

Adam’s version, however, had some variations that differed a bit from the way I’d previously played it.

This is not uncommon. It’s rare for any two fiddlers to play the same fiddle tune in exactly the same way, and for the banjo player looking to play along, that typically means adapting what you’d typically do to some degree.

There are many ways you can go about that adaptation, from focusing mainly on providing a solid rhythmic backbone with suggestions of the melody, to a full on “melodic” banjo version in which you attempt to double the fiddle note for note, mirroring all of its melodic and rhythmic embellishments.

(RELATED: Strategies for playing with a fiddler is covered extensively in a dedicated module inside the Breakthrough Banjo course. Click here to learn more about the course.)

 

So, because I enjoyed Adams’ version so much, for this week’s installment of the Tune of the Week I decided to tackle it on the banjo using the “melodic” approach.

Doing this usually takes a bit of “woodshedding,” both in figuring out the optimal way of grabbing all those notes on the banjo using the techniques of clawhammer banjo, and in doing so in a way that retains the pulsating rhythm of clawhammer. Many times, there are usually some trickier technical elements required to pull this off.

But it’s a challenge I particularly enjoy, and you can learn a lot just by going through this process.

In fact, because I think this process of re-creating a fiddler’s version of a tune on the banjo is such a valuable learning exercise, I’ll be going step by step through the process of creating this particular arrangement by ear, from scratch, in this month’s installment of the Ear Laboratory in the Breakthrough Banjo course.

Below is a video of Adam’s rendition that this week’s arrangement is based on – the first time through with him playing solo, and in the second time through I join in.


(NOTE: For those considering acquiring a Brainjo banjo, the open back played in this video is a “Hobart” model. Click here if you’d like to learn more, or claim one in the next batch.)


Miss McLeod’s Reel

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 4

Notes on the Tab

Notes in parentheses are “skip” notes. To learn more about these, check out my video lesson on the subject.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

[RELATED: Level 2 arrangements and video demos for the Tune (and Song!) of the Week tunes are now available as part of the Breakthrough Banjo course. Learn more about it here.

Click here for a current list of all the clawhammer songs and tunes currently available inside of The Vault

 

Learn More About Breakthrough Banjo

 

About the Author
Josh Turknett is founder and lead brain hacker at Brainjo Productions
 

View the Brainjo Course Catalog

 

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