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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

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

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