Blog – Page 60

Clawhammer Tune and Tab of the Week: “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”

Click here to subscribe to the tune of the week (if you’re not already a subscriber) and get a new tune every Friday, plus tabs to all the ones to date.

We music lovers owe Thomas Edison a huge debt of gratitude. With his invention of the wax cylinder phonograph in 1877, he set in motion a chain of events that would ultimately culminate in the world we find ourselves in today. A world in which we have access to more music than we could listen to in a lifetime, through a device that fits into our pocket, no less. An embarrassment of riches.

We take the magic of recorded music for granted these days, but just imagine what it must have been like when this technology first burst on the scene. For the first time ever in the history of humankind, it was possible to take an audio snapshot of a moment in time. You could play your favorite music on demand, whenever you wanted.

And it all started with Edison’s phonographic cylinder.

Recently, Benjamin Canaday, a leading expert on the Edison phonograph and founder of Canaphonic Records, contacted me about helping him with a project. Benjamin, who is clearly carrying on Edison’s inventive spirit, has developed a process both for restoring wax cylinders back to their original condition and for using digital audio files to produce new cylinder recordings. Amazing and inspiring stuff.

And the project he wanted help with? To create new banjo recordings to transfer to original, restored wax cylinders.

It took me all of negative 8 seconds to say yes.

For the first tune in this series we chose “Johnny Comes Marching Home”, a Civil War era song popular around the time of those phonographs. It’s a melody that still remains popular today, having been re-packaged into the children’s song “The Ants Go Marching”.

I thought it’d be neat to demonstrate the difference in sound between the modern digital recording and the original wax cylinder recording medium. So you’ll note the transition from one to other mid-way through the video (here’s a link to the full recording on just the wax cylinder).

More wax cylinder banjo recordings are on the way. You can follow along as they come out on Benjamin’s youtube channel. And, if you should find yourself fortunate enough to own an original Edison phonographic cylinder, you can purchase your very own copy of this tune on ebay!

When Johnny Comes Marching Home

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 3

Notes on the tab

Skip Notes: The notes denoted as a shaded box are “skip” notes, meaning they’re not actually sounded by the picking finger. Instead, you continue the clawhammer motion with your picking hand, but “skip” playing the note by not striking it (this is a technique used to add space and syncopation). The fret number you see in the shaded box is the suggested note to play should you elect to strike the string.

Also, listen to the recording to here how I’ve adapted the original rhythm (played in the intro) to work as a 4/4 clawhammer piece.

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

The Immutable Laws of Brainjo: The Art and Science of Effective Practice (Episode 3)

Episode 3: The Easiest Way to Get Better at Banjo

When it comes to pattern recognition, the human brain is king. Compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, our brain’s ability to extract patterns from the world around us is arguably its single greatest distinguishing feature.

It’s what enables us to make accurate predictions about our world, and to imagine new tools and technologies. And it does all this in the service of one primary goal: to keep us alive. The better our brain can predict and manipulate the world around it, the better its odds of achieving that goal.

But here’s the wondrous thing about our pattern recognition capabilities: most of it occurs beneath our awareness. In other words, it happens without any conscious effort or deliberation on our part, and it happens whether we want it to or not. Just going about the business of our day, we provide our brains with a continuous stream of sensory data that it sifts through and analyzes in an effort to better understand the world we inhabit.

This isn’t the narrow view of learning most of us are accustomed to. Learning is something that requires teachers, books, and intensive study. And, to be worthwhile, it probably should be a bit unpleasant.

Yet, most of the knowledge that any card carrying adult member of the human race possesses wasn’t acquired in this manner. Most of it comes simply by existing in this world, and it starts the moment your draw your first breath.

Every 6 month old knows that if they drop their milk-filled sippy cup, it’ll hit the ground with a pleasing thud. We all implicitly understand the law of gravity long before we ever crack open our first science text.

When you see someone’s face with their eyebrows and mouth angling down and their eyes narrowed, you immediately recognize the face of anger. You can interpret all sorts of facial expressions, in fact, effortlessly and instantaneously.

Yet how many times have you sat down and analyzed the differences between patterns of facial muscle contraction and the emotions they convey? Not once, I imagine.

Listening to Language

Nowhere our are pattern circuits on more impressive display than in the process of learning our native language. It is the crowning achievement of human cognition and, to this point, an achievement unique to our species. Most children are fluent by the time they enter their first school classroom.

In order to reach fluency, the child’s brain must be able to decode the composite sounds of speech, build associations between those sounds and the concepts they represent (e.g. that the sound for “cheerio” refers to the crunchy little circle mom puts on your plate every morning, etc.), and then construct motor programs that allows them to reproduce the full array of those sounds through the vibration of their vocal cords, coupled with movements of their mouth and throat.

Now, next time you have a conversation with a three year old, ask them how they figured all that out? They’ll surely cast a quizzical glance in your direction. Figure out what, exactly?

Here we have the most sophisticated of human behaviors, the pinnacle of human cognition, and it develops without any formal study whatsoever. The brain, using its massive computational horsepower, figures it out for you using nothing more than the data of daily experience.

Now, how can we put this remarkable pattern recognition ability we already possess to good use when learning banjo? Preferably with zero effort ?

By listening.

Let’s revisit the infant learning how to talk for a moment.

The first rudimentary attempts at spoken language don’t typically begin for a full 6 months after birth. What, then, is she doing in those preceding 6 months? Being a bit lazy, perhaps?

No. She’s listening.

In order for her to utter the sounds that comprise her native tongue, she must first know what those sounds are. She must unravel the basic sonic elements of her language.

And this is no trivial matter. Nowadays, you’re so good at parsing through the sounds of your native speech that you probably take this gift for granted. But to get a glimpse of just what a major feat this is, simply listen to a conversation in an unfamiliar language. It’s entirely inscrutable. You don’t know when when word stops and another begins, and many of the sounds themselves are entirely foreign.

The very first task our language-learning infant must conquer, then, is to build a vocabulary of the fundamental sonic building blocks of her language. Yet, to do so, all she must do is listen to other humans speak.

She listens, and the amazing pattern recognizing machine inside her skull does the rest.

Over time, as she begins the practice of making those sounds with her voice, her brain builds associations between her sonic vocabulary and contraction patterns of the muscles that control her mouth and throat. Ultimately, and in impressively short order, she will become an expert at producing those sounds.

And this is precisely the kind of neural machinery we’re trying to build as we learn banjo: associations between sounds in our head and movements of our two hands (so that those sounds come out of our banjos).

As such, the language acquisition model provides us with an ideal template to guide our learning efforts. It’s one that mother nature has refined over a couple of million years, so we’d be wise to pay attention.

Which brings us to the 5th law of Brainjo:

Brainjo Law #5: Listen often to the sounds of the music you wish to make.

We’re all in the midst of learning a language – the language of banjo. And, like any language, it is comprised of basic sonic elements that we combine together to make the music we enjoy.

These are sounds that are unique to the 5-string, though, and that are further defined by style and technique (clawhammer, 3 finger, etc.). So, like the infant learning her native tongue, we must first acquaint ourselves with these sounds if we hope to one day be able to fluently reproduce them on our instrument. What’s more, the richer our sonic vocabulary, the better we’re able to express ourselves.

So listen up. Find the music of the 5 string that moves you, the music you’d like to make, and listen every chance you get. Then sit back and let your brain do the heavy lifting.

It’s as central to your development as a player as any other aspect of practice. And it couldn’t be any easier.

Go to Episode 4: Failure Is Not An Option

About the Author

Dr. Josh Turknett is the creator of the Brainjo Method, the first music teaching system to incorporate the science of learning and neuroplasticity and specifically target the adult learner

Clawhammer Banjo Tune and Tab of the Week: “Bonaparte’s Retreat”

Click here to subscribe to the tune of the week (if you’re not already a subscriber) and get a new tune every Friday, plus tabs to all the ones to date.

Not too long ago I was working on my computer with headphones on, running through one of my Spotify playlists. The playlist included an album from Ola Belle Reed that I’d recently added, entitled “Rising Sun Melodies”.

As track 4 rolled around, somewhere in recesses of my subconscious, while I was busily attending to some other business on the computer, I recognized that Bonaparte’s Retreat was now being played. It began with a stirring rendering on the dulcimer. My defenseless foot began dutifully tapping along.

But then, something unexpected. Something that broke my focus from the task at hand and redirected all of it to Ola Belle.

Ola Belle was singing.

Now, I’d heard Bonaparte’s Retreat a great many times from a great many folks up to this point. It’s one of the most classic pieces in the old-time music pantheon, and one of those tunes that virtually every musician puts their own personal stamp on. I imagine you could identify most any fiddler by the version of Bonaparte’s Retreat they play, in fact. And a risky tune to bring up in a jam for this reason, as odds are slim that my preferred Bonaparte is the same as your preferred Bonaparte.

But none of those versions had ever included any singing.

Personally, I’m always looking for an opportunity to add my voice to a tune. When I hear a great melody, I’m moved to sing along. So it’s always a joyous discovery when I find that somebody has already penned lyrics to a tune I’ve long enjoyed.

The lyrics she sings here are also delightfully self referential, as in it speaks of a fiddler playing the “Bonaparte’s Retreat.” I’m a sucker for self reference.

The next opportunity I had, I took out the gourd banjo and worked up yet another version of Bonaparte’s (this probably makes number 6), this one inspired by Ola Belle. For the moment, it’s become my favorite way to play it.

Bonaparte’s Retreat

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3

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

Clawhammer Core Repertoire Series: “Sandy River Belle”

Season 2: Solo Clawhammer Classics

Episode 2: “Sandy River Belle”

There’s no faster way scare off a banjo-curious guitarist than to flash a list of all the possible alternate tunings on the banjo. In the world of the guitar (and much of contemporary music), chords are king. So a new tuning means having to learn an entirely new set of chord positions. What a waste, right?!

As you the aficionado of clawhammer and old-time banjo well know, however, alternate tunings are one of those things that make our beloved instrument so special. And no, they don’t exist to make our lives more difficult. On the contrary, alternate tunings exist to make our life easier, and to make our banjos sound better.

Which brings us to today’s tune and tuning: Sandy River Belle.

That’s right, “Sandy River Belle” is one of those tunes that is so perfectly suited for a particular tuning that said tuning bears its name – “Sandy River Belle tuning” – lest anyone forget what tune they’re supposed to play in it.

Turns out there are actually multiple Sandy River Belle tunings, but that’s a discussion for another day. In this installment of Core Repertoire Series, we’ll be covering the most commonly encountered tuning referred to by the “Sandy River Belle” moniker, which is fCFCD.

So, get your banjo tuned up, or down, or sideways, and let’s do this!

Step 1: Know thy Melody

Now with your banjo firmly in tune, let’s go note hunting. Give the initial video a few listens until you’ve got the melody squared away. Here are a couple of other versions as well for your auditory pleasure. Once you can hum or whistle the basic tune, it’s time to move on.

Here’s what I hear as the stripped down version of this Belle:

Step 2: Find the Melody Notes

Here’s what that looks like in tab. Remember we’re in fCFCD tuning here.

Step 3 – Add Some Clawhammery Stuff

Now it’s time to turn this into a bona fide clawhammer number.

One of the great things about this tuning for this particular tune is that it provides us a host of opportunities for fretting hand maneuvers – slides, hammer ons, and pull offs – that add interest and depth to the arrangement but which aren’t especially difficult to execute. So you’ll notice that, in many instances in this arrangement, rather than just play the melody note plainly, I’m using one of these techniques to lead into it. It’s a great way to create a sense of movement throughout the tune.

Here’s that arrangement in tab:

And here’s what it sounds like:

Step 4: Embellish to Taste

Now, the version we already have is perfectly fine as is. And this is one of those tunes that, in my opinion, is all about the rhythm. So less is more here.

In my version from the video (tab below), I’ve added a few syncopated drop thumbs, but otherwise have tried keeping things uncluttered. So keep driving that beat with a solid right hand until you reach full on bum ditty nirvana.

Notes on the tab

Skip Notes: The notes in the shaded box are “skip” notes, meaning they’re not actually sounded by the picking finger. Instead, you continue the clawhammer motion with your picking hand, but “skip” playing the note by not striking it (this is a technique used to add space and syncopation). The fret number you see in the shaded box is the suggested note to play should you elect to strike the string.

Go to the Core Repertoire Series Table of Contents

Clawhammer Banjo Tune and Tab of the Week: “Step Around Johnny”

Click here to subscribe to the tune of the week (if you’re not already a subscriber) and get a new tune every Friday, plus tabs to all the ones to date.

Last Friday, we turned our focus to the melodious, foot stomping number known as “Johnny Don’t Get Drunk”. Regrettably, our beloved hero ignored our advice. It seems the dulcet and driving tones from our five string only stoked his fire, prompting him to gild the lily with more than a few stolen swigs from the forbidden flask.

Temperance is not Johnny’s forte.

Alas, now we find Johnny in a pitiful state.

But the party must go on! While Johnny may be sprawled prone on the dance floor, pay him no mind. Just “Step Around Johnny”, and you won’t miss a beat.

Step Around Johnny

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3

Notes on the tab

Skip Notes: The notes denoted by an “X” are “skip” notes, meaning they’re not actually sounded by the picking finger. Instead, you continue the clawhammer motion with your picking hand, but “skip” playing the note by not striking it (this is a technique used to add space and syncopation). The fret number you see in the shaded box is the suggested note to play should you elect to strike the string.

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