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Old Joe has been patiently waiting in the wings for his time in the spotlight.

Alas, it’s finally his moment.

Of course, he’s had more than his fair share of attention. He’s a fixture at old time and bluegrass jams alike, and everything in between, with countless recorded versions by professional musicians.

So Joe was ok with sharing the stage for a while.

But this is one of those tunes that, if you’re caught with a banjo in your hands, you’re just kind of expected to know.

Melodically speaking, Joe isn’t all that complicated, which gives us a bit of space to play.

I like to play around with the rhythm a bit, inserting a healthy dose of syncopation, which means you’ll find a few “syncopated skips” sprinkled throughout.

Old Joe Clark

aEAC#E 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.

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.

I must say, you folks have good taste.

What started with a field of roughly 50 tunes (from a year’s worth of the Tune of the Week series) has been narrowed down to one winner:

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I really enjoy doing these contests, so let me first say a big thanks to everyone who listened, participated, and humored me by casting a vote.

It’s a good reminder that, even in the niche world of clawhammer banjo, we all have our own distinctive tastes, as every tune received a respectable share of votes.

And it’s also a good reminder that a great melody, played simply, always trumps a lesser one, played complicated.

It’s so easy to fall into the complexity trap. It seems almost a basic fact of human nature for us to be biased towards believing that the more complicated beats the simple. If something is harder to make, write, play, etc., then it must be better, right?!?!

Even if we can recite countless examples from our own lives where this isn’t true…

A simple burger and fries is often more satisfying than the finest gourmet meal, a 2-minute, 3-chord rock song more soul stirring than a 2 hour symphonic “masterpiece.” And so on.

It’s not the tunes with the most technically intricate arrangements, with the most drop thumbs per square foot, that resonate with the most people. Nope.

The ones that do are just really, really good melodies.

And the best part of this is that, even if you’re still fairly new to the world of banjo, with some basic techniques under your belt, you can make really, really great sounding music. Just choose a great melody and play it simply, cleanly, and with good timing.

One reason I include Brainjo level 2 arrangements of all the tune of the week tunes inside the Breakthrough Banjo course is to ensure that every member is always able to make great sounding music no matter where they’re at on the Timeline of Mastery.

But another reason I do it is to drive home this notion that things don’t have to be overly complicated to sound great. It’s very easy to make something sound by adding too much, but seldom do you make something worse by pruning things down to the essentials.

Case in point, here’s the Brainjo level 2 arrangement of Wandering Boy.

There are a few less technical flourishes than the original Tune of the Week rendition, but does it sound any less wonderful? I don’t think so. It’s just an outstanding tune.

So the take home message from this year’s Tune of the Week March Madness?

Avoid the complexity trap.

As you grow as a player and your technical capabilities expand, it becomes increasingly tempting to use everything you’ve got. You’ve worked hard for those chops, so you want to put them in action! At this point, knowing what NOT to play becomes as or more important to making good music as knowing what TO play.

Wandering Boy

gCGCD tuning, Brainjo level 2

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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.

View the Brainjo Course Catalog

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!

Liza Jane is one popular gal.

So much so that I’ve lost track of all the songs named in her honor.

There’s “Big Liza,” “Little Liza,”, “Li’l Liza Jane,” and then countless versions of just plain “Liza Jane.”

Yes, when it comes to songs about Liza, we have an embarrassment of riches.

And I’m on a mission to get to all of them (and perhaps even keep them all straight in my head once and for all)!

“Big Liza” was the subject of a prior Tune of the Week episode. Today’s “Liza Jane” is perhaps the one most commonly played in old-time jams, usually in the key of A, where I’ve played it here.

(“March Madness” Update: We’re down to the final 8 in the “Tune of the Week March Madness.” Click here to view the 8 remaining finalists, and cast a vote for your favorites

Liza Jane

aEAC#E 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.

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.

View the Brainjo Course Catalog