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Clawhammer Banjo Tune of the Week: “Deck the Halls”

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.

Each year when December rolls around, I often find my banjo making new, but familiar, noises. Tunes about chickens and whiskey start to fade, supplanted by ones about eggnog and figgy pudding.

Though I’m quite certain I’ve never even eaten figgy pudding, nor would recognize its presence at the tip of my spoon. But that’s besides the point.

The point is that I love the music of the holidays. Every year, it’s the same tunes. Yet, somehow they don’t get old for me.

And I love playing them on the banjo.

So, since I can’t help myself anyhow, I figure I’ll bring you along for the ride this time around. For this week’s “Tune of the Week”, then, I present: “Deck the Halls.” And this also happens to be the inaugural tune for the “12 Days of Banjo” series.

Starting Monday, I’ll be posting a new tune each day until I hit 12, or until you hit me with a blunt object.

Who knows, I might even make it a baker’s dozen when all is said and done.

You can track all of them as they appear over at clawhammerbanjo.net/12days.

Deck the Halls

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo Level 3

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

 

Clawhammer Banjo Tune of the Week: “Clinch Mountain Backstep”

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.


I’ve never much cared for the separation that exists between bluegrass and old-time/clawhammer banjo players. The division, more an artifact of history than anything more deliberately construed, keeps the two styles in relative isolation from one another. And that’s a shame because:

a) banjo players need to stick together

b) all this music springs from the same well

c) the average listener couldn’t care less

d) there’s lots more great tunes to play and licks to steal if you’re willing to leap across genres!

On that last note I bring you this week’s tune: “Clinch Mountain Backstep”.

Clinch Mountain Backstep, considered one of the great Ralph Stanley’s signature banjo tunes, is a staple in bluegrass circles. Yet, with its modal scale and crooked configuration (note the extra half measure in the B part), it certainly feels like it could’ve originated long before banjoists donned their first fingerpicks.

Not that you need an excuse to play it. Good music is good music, and “Clinch Mountain Backstep” is no exception. It sounds great played clawhammer style, and I think you’ll have a lot of fun with this one.


 

Clinch Mountain Backstep

aEAC#E tuning, Brainjo Level 3

Clinch Mountain Backstep clawhammer tab

 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.

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

Darling Nellie Gray Tune Tutorial

Level 1 Arrangement

Level 2 Arrangement

Clawhammer Core Repertoire Series: June Apple

Episode 15: June Apple

Wish I was a June Apple,
Hangin’ on a tree,
Every time a pretty gal passed,
She’d take a little bite of me

Indeed.

Whether you share a wish to transmogrify yourself into a sweet, pomaceous fruit to attract the attention of pulchritudinous passersby, or you simply want to learn another great tune on the banjo, you’re in luck! For this installment of the Core Repertoire Series, we’ve got another classic of a tune: June Apple.

June Apple is often grouped under the “modal” tune umbrella, meaning it’s got a bit of that eerie quality that makes it feel ancient. It also means it gives you an excuse to use the word “Mixolydian” in ordinary conversation, upon which you’ll be immediately bestowed 20 additional IQ points by anyone within listening distance, regardless of whether you’re capable of elaborating further on the topic.

So now that you’re sold on its merits, let’s learn it!

First up, a multisensory presentation of the final arrangement:

Step 1: Know Thy Melody

If you’ve followed along this series at all, you know that there’s no passing go till you’ve got the tune in your noggin’. Which means if you’re not familiar with June Apple, or need to re-acquaint yourself, then you’ve got some listening to do first. As always, I prefer to hear how these fiddle tunes sound on the fiddle, and then adapt them for clawhammer banjo.

So, here are a few for your auditory pleasure, compliments of the fine folks at the Fiddle Hangout. Listen until you can hum or sing the melody, and have a good sense of the apple’s essence.

Version One

Version Two 

Version Three

Step 2: Find the Melody Notes

Now let’s seek out them melody notes on the fretboard. First off, get yourself in our favored tuning for A tunes, aEAC#E. Now, here’s what I hear as the stripped down melody of this one.

Basic Melody:

https://corerepertoire.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/junemelody.mp3

And in tabulational format, it looks thusly:

Step 3:  Add Some Clawhammery Stuff

Now, to get a basic clawhammer arrangement that will sound quite nice paired with a fiddler, let’s add a “ditty” stroke after each of those downbeats from our melody above (the notes in bold). Here’s what that looks like:
And here’s what it sounds like:

Clawhammerated Apple:

https://corerepertoire.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/junebasicclaw.mp3

And, as I said, if we pair this version with June Apple on the fiddle, we have something quite nice sounding:

Fiddle Added:

https://corerepertoire.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/junebandf.mp3

Step 4: Spice the Apple

Here’s where you can add your own personal stamp by dressing up this basic outline any way you see fit. Add in more of those melody notes, or embellish with some well timed hammer ons, pull offs, or syncopations. As you do so, just remember not to sacrifice rhythm at the altar of fanciness.

You can hear my final rendition in the video above. You’ll note that I tend to favor a fairly rhythmic style for this one, but that’s just personal preference. Here’s the final version in tab:

Step 5: Practice Smart

Now it’s time to burn this one into your brain circuits. My favorite place to start doing so are the Beats for Banjo tracks (select tempo through the playlist icon on the upper right):

Go to the Core Repertoire Series Table of Contents

 

Clawhammer Banjo Tune of the Week: “Cherokee Shuffle”

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.

Some tunes grow on you with repeated listens. Others grab you the first time through.

Cherokee Shuffle is in the latter category. Which is probably part of why it’s become a “crossover” tune, equally likely to crop up in an old-time, bluegrass, or any other manner of traditional music jam setting. Great melodies have a way of doing that.

Some of you may know that Cherokee Shuffle is closely related to the tune Lonesome (or Lost) Indian, and the relationship between these two tunes is one of the most mindbending stories in all the land of old-time and folk music, which is saying a lot.

Not to mention that there are entirely unrelated tunes by the name “Lost Indian” wandering around (ouch, sorry).

Suffice to say that if someone calls out either of these in a jam, it’s best to first ask what key you’ll be playing it in, whether it’s the square or crooked version, and then remember that things are still likely to crash and burn before everyone gets on the same page.

All that said, whatever version you end up playing, it’s bound to sound pretty great in the end.

Here’s the tab:


Cherokee Shuffle

aDADE tuning, Brainjo Level 3

 Notes on the tab

Alternate string hammer-ons: There are several alternate string hammer-ons in this arrangement, noted where you see a number underneath tab with a circle around it. The number represents the finger I typically use to execute the hammer-on.

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.

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

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