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Clawhammer Song and Tab of the Week: “Take Em Away”

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


(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.


Clawhammer banjo is so closely linked to traditional old time music that some consider the two synonymous.

They are not, of course. Clawhammer is a technique for coaxing music from the banjo, and the kind of music that is coaxed is entirely up to the coaxer.

Most who play clawhammer banjo end up learning at least some of that old time repertoire, and many may play exclusively in that sandbox. But the path there, especially in today’s age, is not always direct.

For many, there’s a gateway to old time banjo music. A gateway in the form of music that floats closer to the mainstream, which then leads to less traveled tributaries.

In recent years, several traditionally influenced bands with upfront banjoists have provided such a gateway, with one notable example being Old Crow Medicine Show (OCMS), the authors of today’s Song of the Week.

The banjo is featured prominently in much of their work, and no doubt they’re responsible for bringing many folks into the five string fold.

In their case, it’s even clawhammer banjo in particular that’s featured (rather than the much maligned 6 string banjitar, or guitjo).

In addition to serving as a gateway into the world of old time, however, bands like OCMS can also serve as a gateway for the existing clawhammer banjo player beyond the confines of old time.

Indeed, one of the goals of this song and tune of the weeks series has been to serve as a bidirectional gate, to open the door to all the rich and varied music we can make with this instrument, and hopefully inspire you to make it.

“TAKE EM AWAY”

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3

Take Em Away clawhammer banjo tab part 1

Take Em Away 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”
  • 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”

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: “Nashville 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

I’ve talked before that the division between bluegrass and old time music is more an artifact of history than a clear categorical distinction.

You could say that bluegrass was really just an effort to package traditional southern folk music in a format that optimized the listening experience.

And today’s tune, “written” by Earl Scruggs, is a nice example of that sort of packaging, in this case for a traditional solo banjo tune.

Some of you may hear a resemblance between it and “Sugar Baby/Red Rocking Chair,” and my hunch is that’s not a coincidence. The melodic similarities and “alternate” banjo tuning sure feels like Earl is giving a nod to his banjo roots, with some harmonic and structural modifications to fit the evolving bluegrass sensibility (interesting as well to speculate on his decision to name it after the capital of commercial country music).

Speaking of the alternate tuning, don’t let that deter you. I think you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised at how nice it sounds, and how easily this tune slips under the fingers.

 


(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.


 “NASHVILLE BLUES”

aDFAD tuning, Brainjo level 3-4

Nashville Blues clawhammer banjo tab part 1

Nashville Blues clawhammer banjo tab part 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

Clawhammer Song and Tab of the Week: “Wreck of the Number Nine”

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


With today’s installment of the Song of the Week, we have yet another example of a song with an upbeat tempo and major key set against lyrics that tell of a tragic tale.

This juxtaposition of a mood elevating setting put to heartbreaking words isn’t something you hear much in modern music.

And yet, it doesn’t seem to dull the emotional impact. If anything, it may even heighten it, as I find it a struggle to make it through a full rendition of “Wreck of the Number Nine,” a song about an engineer’s romance cut short by a train accident, without my voice cracking a bit.

 

On a completely unrelated note, while it seems to me a coincidence that the only two songs in this Song of the Week series with the number nine in their title have occurred on consecutive weeks, something tells me that’s probably not the case. Such is the nature of the subconscious.

(NOTE: I’ll be teaching a Playing & Singing Tutorial for this song for Breakthrough Banjo on June 25. Click here for the schedule of upcoming workshops.)

“WRECK OF THE NUMBER NINE”

gCGCD tuning, Brainjo level 3

Wreck of the number nine clawhammer banjo tab part 1

 

 

 

 

 

Wreck of the number nine clawhammer banjo tab 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”

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

Episode 35: Should You Learn Multiple Banjo Styles?

by Josh Turknett, MD

About the Laws of Brainjo Series

Written in partnership with the Banjo Hangout, the “Immutable Laws of Brainjo” is a monthly series on how to apply the science of learning and neuroplasticity to practice banjo more effectively – these are also the principles that serve as the foundation for the Brainjo Method for music instruction.

(RELATED: The Brainjo Method forms the basis for the Breakthrough Banjo course. Click here to learn more about the course.)

Should bluegrass banjo players learn clawhammer?

Should clawhammer players learn old time fingerpicking?

Should Scruggs style pickers learn melodic style?

These sorts of questions are bandied about all the time inside banjo forums.

Not surprisingly, you’ll find the range of responses and opinions run the full gamut.

The argument against the proposition usually takes the same form – that learning another style takes time away from learning your primary, or initial style, thereby slowing the learning process and limiting your ultimate results. According to the naysayers, the opportunity cost isn’t worth it.

As you may know, because I’ve touched on it in prior episodes, I strongly disagree with that line of reasoning. I’d argue that the only reason we even have this discussion at all is because the conventional learning process ends up making playing in different styles FAR more challenging than it should be.

But, that’s not the point I want to make here.

Instead, I’m going to present an argument for learning new styles that you may have never considered, but really should. Because the benefits of breaking out of your comfort zone may be far greater than you realize.

As you’ll soon discover, it could literally save your life.

(RELATED: For more about how the learning path determines your ability to learn multiple styles, click here to read “How To Pick The Banjo In Any Style”)

 

Maintaining Order in the Chaos

With time, everything trends towards disorder. It’s a law of the universe (the 2nd law of thermodynamics, to be precise).

Just maintaining a tidy bedroom takes daily effort.

And this battle against disorder is waged every second inside our bodies and brains, too. With time and use, things break down. Without repair and recovery mechanisms working constantly, we’d fall apart in the blink of an eye.

In the end, as remarkable a self righting machine as our body is, disorder still eventually wins out. Over time, things stop working as well as they used to, then they stop working altogether.

That’s the aging process in a nutshell.

But, if you’re like most people, you’d like that process of decline and decay to go as slowly as possible. You’d like to maintain your body and brain in its best working condition as long as possible. And you’d like as many spins around the sun as you can manage.

So now, after that bleak opening, let me raise your spirits with some good news. Because it turns out there’s quite a bit we can do to slow that decline and boost the disorder-fighting forces inside us.

 

Learning To Reverse Time

Recently on the Intelligence Unshackled podcast (a podcast about how we can all get the most out of our brain), I interviewed neuroscientist Dr. Michael Merzenich.intelligence unshackled podcast

 

Dr. Merzenich, an inspiration of mine, has been referred to as the “Pioneer of Plasticity,” having conducted much of the research that overturned the long held notion that the brain was fixed in structure after childhood. In a number of experiments, he clearly showed that the brain was capable of making major structural alterations throughout its lifespan.

And thank goodness this is true! Because it’s our brains ability to change itself that allows us to learn the banjo, or anything else, at any age.

But what his research has also shown is that learning new things, and the changes in the brain that occur to support it, has astonishing benefits for the health of our brain.

In one of the most remarkable studies on this subject, Merzenich and his colleagues were able to demonstrate reversal of more than 20 different established neurophysiological markers of brain aging through training alone (in this case in the domain of auditory perception). One month of training to develop particular listening skills was able to undo what had previously thought to be inevitable and irreversible consequences of getting old.

Learning new things reversed aging, restoring the brain to a more youthful state. No magic potions, pills, or fountains required.

And the research supporting this phenomenon continues to grow. Based on the body of evidence, Merzenich believes that learning new things is the single best strategy both for keeping the brain in peak condition, and protecting against dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease (I happen to agree, and getting people to take full advantage of this property of their brain is a core mission of Brainjo).

 

Rethinking Learning New Styles

With this research in mind, let’s revisit our opening question. Should we learn new styles, or new ways of picking the banjo? How about new instruments?

As I mentioned, the central argument given by the naysayers that it’s not worth the opportunity cost of the time you won’t be spending developing your original style.

But that argument assumes that we’re optimizing for is mastery. It assumes that our goal is to get as good as we can possibly get.

This of course is not limited to just banjo players. From tennis to breakdancing to basket weaving, I’d venture that mastery is considered to be the primary objective for anyone developing a particular skill, whether explicitly acknowledged or not.

But what if, instead, our main goal is to improve the health and function of the brain?

What if, instead, our main goal is to strengthen the forces battling disorder in the brain, to reverse the aging process in the brain, and to maximize our protection against things like dementia and Alzheimer’s?

What if, instead, our main goal is to improve our odds of a few more spins around the sun?

From this perspective, the answer is a no brainer (sorry). We should absolutely learn new styles.

Because if we’re looking to fully capitalize on the brain protecting benefits of new learning, the best candidates are the things we’re no good at. Because that’s where we have the most room to grow.

Moreover, viewed from this perspective, continuing to work on a skill once we’ve reached the shallower parts of the learning curve yields diminishing returns. Once we’ve hit the intermediate to advanced level, continued efforts no longer yield the same benefits to the brain.

So, if we’re optimizing for brain health, sticking with one style doesn’t afford us the same improvements that learning a new style, or a new instrument, would.

One final point here: if you find yourself in one of the later decades of life, you might be extra inclined to think that learning multiple styles, or instruments, is foolish.

But, once again, seen from this new perspective, it is especially important for you. The young-uns with their freshly made brains don’t have a lot of aging to undo.

Those who’ve put more miles on their cerebral cortices, on the other hand, stand to gain the most!


Intelligence Unshackled Episode: Why You Should Embrace Your Ineptitude

If you’d like more on this topic, in the audio player below you can listen to a recent episode of the Intelligence Unshackled episode where I explore the reasons why we should pursue the very things we feel inept at (click here to listen on iTunes).


9 Ways to Practice Smarter – free book and video

The “9 Ways to Practice Smarter” is a collection of 9 essential ways to get more out of your banjo practice. Click the button below to download the book, along with access to the full video.

Download the book


To learn more about the Breakthrough Banjo courses for clawhammer and fingerstyle banjo, click the relevant link below:

— Breakthrough Banjo for CLAWHAMMER Banjo —

— Breakthrough Banjo for FINGERSTYLE Banjo —


— The Laws of Brainjo Table of Contents —

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

View the Brainjo Course Catalog

brainjo 1

 

Clawhammer Tune of the Week: “Briarpicker Brown”

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

“Most people down here just like to hear the bluegrass and stuff like that now, but I like the old-timey tunes because it seems like they got a lonesomer sound.”

– Buddy Thomas 

This week’s tune entered the old time canon by way of fiddler Buddy Thomas. According to his story, a man with a “chin that looked like a briar” came through town playing this tune on his fiddle. 

While the history of this tune is simple and straightforward, Thomas’s is anything but.

Born in Kentucky in abject poverty (“so poor that even the poor folks said we were poor”), sick for most of his childhood with limited medical care, and passing away far too soon at the age of 39, his story is equal parts heartbreak and inspiration.

Heartbreaking on account of hardships no one should have to endure.

Inspiring in that, in spite of those unforgiving conditions, he not only felt compelled to make music, but to master the fiddle as well (you can hear his virtuosity for yourself on his solo album, “Kitty Puss.”).

Rather than me telling you more of his story, I highly recommend reading this short autobiographical piece. You’ll get a much richer account with Buddy’s own words.

I think there’s something we can all learn from his story.

I know from personal experience there are times when I feel less like making music.

I also know that those are the times where I most need to make it.


(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.


 “BRIARPICKER BROWN”

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3-4

Briarpicker Brown clawhammer banjo tab

 

(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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