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Clawhammer Tune of the Week: “Billy In The Lowground”

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

Who is Billy, and what it is the nature of this low ground he inhabits?

Is he hiding out in a ditch? Does he reside in a home at or below sea level? Is he deceased and buried 6 feet under?

Alas, these questions remain unanswered, as there is little known regarding the origins of the title of this old time standard.

What we do know is that Billy In The Lowground (also known as “Billy In the Lowlands,” also known as “Fiddler’s Drunk and the Fun’s All Over” (no joke)) was part of the repertoire of several old time source fiddlers from multiple regional traditions, suggesting a distant common ancestor. We also know that most of them played it in the somewhat less common fiddle tune key of C.

Suffice to say it’s had staying power!

(RELATED: The tab-walkthrough for this tune is now available in the Breakthrough Banjo workshop archives. Click here to learn more about the tab-walkthrough videos).

 


(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.


 “BILLY IN THE LOWGROUND”

gCGCD tuning, Brainjo level 3

Billy in the Lowground clawhammer banjo tab

 

 

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 and Tab of the Week: “The Fox (went out on a chilly night)”

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



There’s a good chance you’ve heard this song before. There’s also a good chance it’s been a while since you last heard it, and that listening will bring back fond memories.

At least, that seems to be the most common reaction to hearing this week’s Song of the Week selection, “The Fox (went out on a chilly night).”

In fact, there’s a chance that a great many of your ancestors would have a similar reaction, as it dates all the way back to the 15th Century, where it started out its life as a poem written in Middle English. The folk process has modified its words over the years to suit our newfangled ways of talking, but the gist of it remains.

It’s older than old-time, but fits right in with our penchant for animal anthropomorphizing (thanks spellcheck!).

I think you’ll agree that it makes for a great banjo song, played here in the key of C out of double C tuning.

“THE FOX (went out on a chilly night)”

gCGCD tuning, Brainjo level 3

Clawhammer banjo tab for "The Fox", part 1

Clawhammer banjo tab for "The Fox", 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”
  • Episode 57: “Feast Here Tonight”
  • Episode 58 “Let Me Fall”
  • Episode 59: “Little Birdie”
  • Episode 60: “Train on the Island”
  • Episode 61: “Handsome Molly”
  • Episode 62: “Willie Moore”
  • Episode 63: “Tom Cat Blues”
  • Episode 64: “Big Eyed Rabbit”
  • Episode 65: “Jimmy Sutton”
  • Episode 66: “What Does the Deep Sea Say?”
  • Episode 67: “Shortnin’ Bread”
  • Episode 68: “Worried Man Blues”
  • Episode 69: “Who Broke the Lock?”
  • Episode 70: “Mole in the Ground”
  • Episode 71: “Fireball Mail”
  • Episode 72: “Nine Pound Hammer”
  • Episode 73: “Wreck of the Number Nine”
  • Episode 74: “Take Em Away”
  • Episode 75: “Man of Constant Sorrow”

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: “Winnie the Pooh Theme”

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

Quite some time ago someone asked if I’d consider including this tune, the theme song for Winnie the Pooh, as a Tune of the Week selection.

At the time, I’m not sure I could recall the melody itself, even though it’s one I’ve known since childhood. So I filed it away for possible future retrieval.

Recently, upon hearing my daughter play it on the piano, the file resurfaced from its resting place in my neuronal crevices.

I grabbed the banjo and, lo and behold, it sounds great! It’s a natural fit for clawhammer and for double C tuning, to boot.

It’s an infectious tune, which comes as no surprise given it was written by perhaps my favorite songwriting team of all time, The Sherman Brothers. And it happens to be very well suited to clawhammer.

It’s also sure to bring smiles of recognition to all ages of faces. So I suggest you learn it, and meet me in the Hundred Acre Wood!


(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.


 “WINNIE THE POOH THEME”

gCGCD tuning, Brainjo level 3

winnie the pooh clawhammer banjo tab

 

 

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 and Tab of the Week: “Man of Constant Sorrow”

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’d venture that this week’s song is the one most remembered from the Coen Brothers’ film tribute to traditional music of the American South, “Oh Brother Where Art Thou.”

That’s at least in part on account of Dan Tyminski’s outstanding, Grammy-winning vocal and perfectly paired rhythm guitar playing – even if most viewers thought it was George Clooney doing the singing.

The song itself long predates the movie’s year 2000 release (has it really been that long?!) by nearly a decade. “Man of Constant Sorrow” was originally published in 1913 by Dick Burnett, a “partially blind” fiddler from Kentucky.

And while multiple musical luminaries have performed it since, the version played here is most influenced by Tyminski’s standard-setting rendition, including an attempt to replicate his syncopated guitar stylings on the gourd banjo.

“MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW”

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

man of constant sorrow clawhammer banjo part 1

man of constant sorrow clawhammer banjo part 2Notes 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”
  • Episode 57: “Feast Here Tonight”
  • Episode 58 “Let Me Fall”
  • Episode 59: “Little Birdie”
  • Episode 60: “Train on the Island”
  • Episode 61: “Handsome Molly”
  • Episode 62: “Willie Moore”
  • Episode 63: “Tom Cat Blues”
  • Episode 64: “Big Eyed Rabbit”
  • Episode 65: “Jimmy Sutton”
  • Episode 66: “What Does the Deep Sea Say?”
  • Episode 67: “Shortnin’ Bread”
  • Episode 68: “Worried Man Blues”
  • Episode 69: “Who Broke the Lock?”
  • Episode 70: “Mole in the Ground”
  • Episode 71: “Fireball Mail”
  • Episode 72: “Nine Pound Hammer”
  • Episode 73: “Wreck of the Number Nine”
  • Episode 74: “Take Em Away”

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: “Easy Banjo Medley” (Sandy River Belle & Last Chance)

Click on the button below to get book of “Easy But Awesome” banjo tabs, which includes the tabs for the “Easy Banjo Medley”!

CLICK TO GET THE BOOK

 

I spend a lot of time talking about the merits of keeping music simple.

About resisting the urge to overcomplicate, and of appreciating the value of subtraction and empty space.

There’s a substantial body of compelling and elegantly simply traditional banjo tunes, and I strongly encourage newcomers to begin with that material. 

In addition to being technically accessible, simpler material allows you to focus your attention directly on building solid rhythm and timing, a.k.a. the secret sauce for making great music.

Plus, for “simple” arrangements to sound great, the rhythm and timing must be spot on, because there’s nowhere to hide.

Towards that end, I recently put together a compilation of Easy but Awesome songs for clawhammer banjo, all of which are Brainjo level 1 or 2 in their technical complexity.

(Note: Do not be discouraged by the use of the term “easy.” The designation refers to the technical complexity of the arrangement – it still requires focused and dedicated effort to play these well!)

Recently, however, I realized there were two notable omissions from that collection: “Sandy River Belle” and “Last Chance,” the two tunes played in this week’s “Easy Banjo Medley.”

Both of these have appeared as prior Tune of the Week installments, but here the arrangements have been simplified slightly so that they’re Brainjo Level 2 (as you can hear, little (if anything!) is lost with that simplification). 

Both are classic banjo tunes, both are in alternate tunings that showcase the banjo’s unique sound, and both sound incredible when played simply. It’s all about the rhythm.

These two tunes also pair very well together, hence their presentation together. Doing so requires a small alteration from the typical tuning for Last Chance (from fDFCD to fCFCD), but the change doesn’t sacrifice any of its magic.


(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.


 “SANDY RIVER BELLE” (Tune #1)

fCFCD tuning, Brainjo level 2

Sandy River Belle clawhammer banjo tab

 

 

“LAST CHANCE” (Tune #2)

fCFCD tuning, Brainjo level 2

Last Chance clawhammer banjo tab, Brainjo level 2

 

 

 

(NOTE: The Tab-Walkthrough Workshop for this tune will be held on June 18. Click here to learn more about and view a sample of the tab walk-through videos. Click here to learn more, and see the full schedule.)

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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