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I’ve mentioned here before that I’m a fan of taking a fiddle tune normally played at high speeds and slowing it down.
For one thing, it’s an essential practice habit.
It’s great for exposing any potential timing errors you might be making.
And it helps you to practice any tricky technical bits without the risk of reinforcing any bad habits whilst trying to maintain a too-fast tempo.
All in all, mistakes are easier to sweep under the rug and ignore when playing fast, and are made conspicuous by playing slow. As the adage goes “in order to play fast, play slow.”
Furthermore, slowing things down and giving the melody time to breathe is also a great way to explore new approaches to playing the melody. Many times different ideas for playing a phrase will only emerge at the slower tempo.
(RELATED: As part of the Ear Laboratory, I’ll be posting a video workshop on how to build an arrangement of “Old Molly Hare” by ear, from scratch, on Friday, April 6. Click the button below if you’d like to register to see it.)
And, as I’ve mentioned before, some tunes also take on an entirely different character at different speeds – like getting two tunes for the price of one.
Such is the case with this week’s rendition of “Old Molly Hare.” As a fiddle tune, it lends itself to being played at breakneck tempos.
But this slowed down version I like equally well. And since we’re already changing things up, I elected to play it here in the key of C rather than it’s typical home in D (though the relative tuning is the same for either).
The “Brainjo” banjo
For those contemplating the various models of the Brainjo banjo, this video was made playing a “Tommy” model of the Brainjo. There’s one banjo left in the batch of Brainjos that’s estimated for completion in early summer (2018) (Click here if you’d like claim it)
Old Molly Hare
gCGCD tuning, Brainjo level 3
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”
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
View the Brainjo Course Catalog
