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Sweet melodies played sweetly.

That’s what comes to mind when I think of 2-finger index lead legend Will Keys.

In a previous Laws of Brainjo episode, I gave one definition of mastery as the ability to accurately express who you are through your instrument. While I never had the pleasure of meeting Will personally, his music betrays a man who is humble, gentle, friendly, and playful. There’s joy in every note.

Today’s selection, the traditional Irish folk ballad “The Wearing of the Green,” is one I learned from his repertoire of tunes, and has always been a favorite.

Incidentally, because of the stylistic similarities between Keys’s 2-finger index lead style and clawhammer banjo (the down-pick of the frailing finger essentially replaces the up-pick of the index), you can almost map them one to one.

In fact, when listening to a recording of 2-finger index lead (the “lead” here referring to which finger is in charge of the melody notes), it can sometimes be difficult to tell the two styles apart.

The “banjo player’s banjo” is back!

Some of you may recognize that I’m playing a Brainjo banjo in this video. The Brainjo banjo is a partnership between myself and Tim Gardner of Cedar Mountain banjos. Our goal was to create the ultimate “banjo player’s banjo” – a banjo that’s all about tone and playability.

We just released our 3rd batch of them to some happy owners, and there’s still room left to claim one in the next batch. It’ll likely fill up quickly again, so if you love the tone of it as much as I do (this is the “Tommy” setup), then you might want to go ahead and nab one!

[RELATED: Click here to learn more about the Brainjo, hear more sound files, and read what other Brainjo owners have to say about theirs.]

 

The Wearing of the Green

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3-4

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

 

 

 

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

Ok you wild and crazy guys and gals, it’s a 4-tunes-for-1 Special Edition of the Tune of the Week!

Some of you may be familiar with the youtube video of Steve Martin’s “clawhammer medley.” The video comes from his stand up days, where he’d often include a banjo interlude as part of his act.

The video has received a few hundred thousand well deserved views. Some of those may be on account of Martin’s celebrity status (and the delight of finding out what a great banjoist he is), but probably more come from the fact that it’s just great music.

The tunes he plays are 4 traditional classics, with a few melodic liberties thrown in. The tunes, in order, are: Loch Lomond, Sally Ann, Johnson Boys, Simple Gifts, and then, in true seasoned performer fashion, there’s a final “call back” to Sally Ann (the transition to each of these is noted in the tab below).

It’s been requested by multiple folks for inclusion in the Tune of the Week series, and at long last is finally here!

There’s much fun to be had for the typical down-picking enthusiast in learning these arrangements as he plays them.

For starters, you’ll more than likely get the chance to spend some time in a relatively unfamiliar tuning. Whereas double D would be the contemporary favorite tuning to play them in, Martin uses an open D tuning, aDAF#D.

It’s a tuning I use for a few old time fingerpicking numbers, but not one I’ve ever used for clawhammer. If that’s the case for you as well, you’ll find yourself early on having to resist the urge to revert to your habituated D tune fingering patterns.

[RELATED: If you’re interested in learning the old time and 3 finger styles of fingerpicking, then click here to check out the new Breakthrough Banjo course for fingerstyle banjo.]

 

But I think the payoff is well worth. Beyond the brain stretching benefits of venturing to unfamiliar territory, playing these chestnuts in a new tuning gives them a fresh and unique sound.

My Best Steve Martin “Impression”

The arrangement I’ve presented here stays pretty close to his, and I’ve also tried to emulate some of the elements of Martin’s clawhammer style in my playing of it. His playing offers a refreshing contrast to the tones and techniques that tend to dominate the world of clawhammer banjo at this moment in time, and offer yet another excellent illustration of just how many equally wonderful sounding ways there are to coax pleasing sounds out of the banjo.

If you’d like to develop your own Steve Martin banjo impression, here are some thoughts on how to do so.

Elements of Steve Martin’s Clawhammer Style, circa late 1970s:

Play close to the bridge. These days, the sonic aesthetic du jour is to play around where the neck meets the pot, where the banjo produces a sweeter, more open sound. Martin, however, clearly likes his banjo a bit more sour, playing closer to the bridge to emphasize its nasal twang.

Incorporate full fingered brush strokes. Martin likes to punctuate sections of his tunes with twangy, full fingered brush strokes. Play these right next to the bridge if you want extra bite.

Use triplets liberally. Plenty of triplet embellishments are sprinkled throughout his arrangement, achieved via hammer ons and pull offs of the fretting hand.

Hit the head! Whether an accidental byproduct of playing close to the bridge or a deliberate effort to enhance the rhythmic pulse, Martin’s thumb consistently strikes up against the banjo head following the downstroke of his right hand. I enjoy this effect myself.

Let it breathe. One of my favorite things about his playing here is the use of “space”, achieved through the abundant use of “skip” strokes, as indicated in the tab (click here for a video lesson on this technique).

Be dynamic. Like the use of skip notes to create space, Martin also varies the volume of his playing throughout the medley, deliberately leaning into and backing off specific phrases, which makes the whole listening experience that much more interesting and engaging.

Steve Martin’s “Clawhammer Medley”

Tunes: Loch Lomond, Sally Ann, Johnson Boys, Simple Gifts

aDF#AD tuning, Brainjo level 3

 

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

 

 

 

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 no money above the fifth fret”

-Tommy Tedesco

The above, while originally uttered by a bassist, has become a favorite of other stringed instrument enthusiasts, banjoists included.

The basic idea being that there are plenty of pleasing sounds to be made within the first 5 frets of an instrument. Oftentimes, that’s also the place where an instrument really shines.

And it’s a good reminder to keep things simple. To maintain focus primarily on what sounds best, not what’s most complicated or technically advanced.

Clawhammer banjoists in particular seldom venture much past the 5th fret. And while, for the reasons mentioned, there’s good reason to keep this as home base, I also think it’s worth moving out of that comfort zone from time to time.

I think part of the reluctance to explore the up the neck regions of the fretboard comes from a misconception that playing the banjo there is HARDER. But it’s only harder because it’s less familiar.

The space between the first 5 frets feels easier because it’s what you’re used to. It’s easier because you’ve already learned it.

All this to preface the fact that in my second run through this week’s tune, the minstrel-era spawned folk classic “Golden Slippers,” I stay well above the 5th fret for both the A and B parts of the melody.

G tunes, and standard G (gDGBD) tuning, are particularly well suited for these up the neck adventures, as it’s tailor made for playing out of chord positions (the only “hard” part about it then, is in learning where those positions are. Until you learn them, that is, and then it’s easy 🙂 ).

[RELATED: I cover a number of simple tricks for navigating all around the fretboard in any key in the Essentials of Music Theory for the Clawhammer Banjoist module inside the Breakthrough Banjo course.]

 

Golden Slippers

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 3 (4 if you venture “up the neck”)

 

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