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Banjo Lessons for the Adult Beginner

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Clawhammer Banjo Tune of the Week: “Half Past Four”

Salzburg has Mozart.

Bonn has Beethoven.

West Virginia has Blind Ed Haley.

Some people have a knack for composition. It’s hard to articulate the qualities of a great tune, or what makes somewhat a great tunesmith, but Ed Haley sure knew what he was doing. He liked to put in lots of notes, for sure, but each was carefully chosen. No throwaways.

Needless to say, I love playing his tunes on the banjo, and up this week is another one of Haley’s classics: “Half Past Four.” This one always calls to mind an afternoon duel out in the wild west, hence the background I chose for the video.

Half Past Four

aEAC#E tuning, Brainjo level 3

Screen Shot 2015-01-02 at 9.32.19 PM

Notes on the tab: You have a couple of options for grabbing that open 2nd string on the offbeat that occurs several times in the B part. Sometimes I’ll use an alternate string pull off, and sometimes I’ll get it with a drop thumb – only in this case, I’m dropping my thumb to a string that’s higher than the one I’ve just struck. This is a less common usage of the drop thumb technique, but one I utilize quite a bit, as there are many situations I find it comes in handy. Both of these options are noted in the tablature.

A New Year’s Banjo Resolution That Actually Works

It’s the first day of the year. Which means it’s time for renewal, reflection, and….resolutions. At this moment, scores of folks are surely busy cataloguing their various goals for the year.

But most of those goals, despite the best of intentions, will go unmet.

Goals are a tricky thing, all too often sabotaged in the end by unrealistic expectations. Unrealistic expectations about what can be accomplished and how quickly. At the beginning of the year we’re brimming with fire and motivation, filled with it a sense of possibility. Lose 30 pounds in a month? Yeah, no problem!

Yet, motivation fades. And all the more quickly when you realize things are gonna take a lot longer than you anticipated.

The same can be true of your goals with music. It’s virtually impossible to predict what you’ll be able to accomplish and when, and you never know when life might get in the way to derail your efforts.

Fortunately, there’s a better way. A way to ensure that, if you happen to find yourself in the resolution-setting mood this New Year’s day, you don’t end up sabotaging yourself.

That better way is this: commit to a process, not an outcome.

The research is clear on this. Those who commit to a process, or a specific behavior, are far more successful in reaching their goals than those those who commit to an outcome.

For weight loss, for example, it means committing to walking for 20 minutes a day, rather than saying you’ll lose 10 pounds in a month. It’s committing to spending 15 minutes a day practicing your Spanish vocabulary, rather than saying you’ll become fluent in Spanish in a year.

Likewise, for the banjo, it’s committing to the learning process, however you want that to look. Commit to 10 minutes a day working on new material and skills, and 10 minutes a day revisiting your old stuff, for example.

Commit to some behavior that, if repeated daily over time, will ultimately lead to the outcome you desire (which could be as simple as getting a little bit better every week). And whatever it may be, make it something that you can stick to – you can always do more if you want.

This becomes even more powerful if you can ritualize the behavior and turn it into a habit. Set your banjo in a stand next to your favorite chair, for instance, so that after a while it becomes second nature to grab it for 20 minutes when you sit down in the evening. And store any learning materials you’re working from nearby.

With consistent, focused effort you can move mountains. Commit to the right process for 2015, and the desired outcome will naturally follow.

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

12 Days of Banjo Video Tutorials

For the “demonstration” versions (i.e. how the final arrangement should sound) of the main arrangements, select the relevant video from the YouTube playlist below. The demonstration versions for each of the Brainjo level 2 arrangements are part of the tutorial video for the relevant tune.

Main Arrangement Demonstrations:

 

Tutorial Videos

“Deck the Halls”

“Good King Wenceslas”

“Oh Come All Ye Faithful”

“Angels We Have Heard on High”

“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”

“Hark the Herald”

“Up On A Housetop”

“Jingle Bells”

“Joy to the World”

“Jolly Ol’ Saint Nicholas”

“Silent Night”

“We Three Kings”

“Auld Lang Syne”

The 12 Days of Banjo Songbook


The 12 Days of Banjo Songbook

 

A few weeks ago, my kids and I decided we were going to work together on an album of music for the holidays, a sequel of sorts to the original “Banjos for Babes” album. Being the holidays, we also thought this might make a good opportunity to give back to those less fortunate than us, so we decided that half of all proceeds from our project would go towards a charitable organization of my kids’ choosing.

And so the “12 Days of Banjo” was born. Our original intent was to have the book of tablature and music out a bit before Christmas, but alas the influenza virus had something else in mind for our family.

We’re all better now, and we figure it’s better late than never. Which is why from now until Jan 1, 2015 we’re making the the 12 Days of Banjo book of tablature and all related audio files available at “pay what you want” pricing.

Here’s what you’ll get:

  • A 44-page book (in PDF) of tablature containing 26 arrangements. There are 13 tunes in all, and each tune has the primary arrangement as I played it in the 12 Days of Banjo video series, along with a slightly simplified “Brainjo level 2” version.
  • Mp3 audio files of all 26 arrangements, so you’ll know how each should sound before digging in.
  • Song List:
    • Angels We Have Heard on High
    • Deck the Halls
    • God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman
    • Good King Wenceslas
    • Hark the Herald
    • Jingle Bells
    • Jolly Ol’ St. Nicholas
    • Joy to the World
    • Oh Come All Ye Faithful
    • Silent Night
    • We Three Kings
    • Up on a Housetop
    • Auld Land Syne

Click the “I’ll Take It!” link below to get it and start downloading immediately. As I said, this is “pay what you want” pricing. Can’t afford to pay anything for it? No problem. It’s our gift to you, and we’re more than happy for you to have it. If you’d like to pay a little something for it, then we’d be delighted with that as well.

As above, we’ll be directing half of our proceeds to those in need. Jules, my daughter and friend to all animals, has chosen to direct her share to the Atlanta Humane Society. Tucker, my son, wants to help give a few folks a warm meal this winter with a donation to the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

I’ll Take It!

To hear what the primary arrangement for each of these sounds like, play through the “12 Days of Banjo” video playlist below:

 

 

 

Clawhammer Banjo Tune of the Week: “Silent Night”

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.

There were those who said it wouldn’t be done.

There were those who said it couldn’t be done.

And there were those that said it shouldn’t be done.

Alas, we’ve proven the doubters, naysayers, and Scrooges wrong. The 12 Days of Banjo is now complete!

It’s been an action packed couple of weeks here filled with rapid fire rehearsals and closet pillaging for seasonally appropriate menswear. But it’s all been worth it.

Up for both the 12th day of banjo and this week’s tune of the week today is none other than “Silent Night”. Not only a beautiful holiday classic, but also a good piece for practicing playing in waltz (3/4) time signature. No need to rush this one either – slower here is often better.

Since this one was our grand finale, I let my daughter Jules loose for a couple of extra harmony tracks to make it extra special. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I do.

Silent Night

aEAC#E tuning, Brainjo Level 3

Silent Night clawhammer banjo tab

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

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