banjo lessons – Page 46

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

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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: “Johnny Don’t Get Drunk”

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It’s no secret that the token heroine of just about every old-time tune is Sally. Hands down, she’s the queen of the old-time song.

But if Sally is the queen of the old-time tune, then Johnny is king.

Though the Johnny that weaves his way in and out of the tapestry of old-time tuneage seems to have a mischievous streak, and perhaps is prone to a vice or two. As this week’s tune of the week would seem to suggest, one of those vices is the bottle.

And while the title phrase “Johnny Don’t Get Drunk” initially comes across like a benevolent note of warning, a few bars in we realize that it’s being delivered with a wink and a smile.

If Johnny does indeed possess a penchant for the white lightning, he doesn’t stand a chance against this raucous and rambunctious beast of a tune.

So let’s all raise a glass to Johnny, and pick a few notes in his honor. You can’t help but have a good time with this one, even when your wits are fully about you.

Johnny Don’t Get Drunk

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3

Notes on the tab

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

Clawhammer Banjo Tune of the Week: “Shady Grove”

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Bacon and eggs.

Abbott and Costello.

Modal tunes and banjos.

There’s just something special about modal tunes played on the banjo. It’s one of those pairings where each party is elevated by the presence of the other. Modal tunes just make the banjo sound extra good, and vice versa.

So, as you may have guessed, this must mean that there’s a modal tune up for today’s tune of the week. Not just any modal tune, but arguably the most popular modal tune of all, one that’s spread itself well beyond the confines of the Appalachian old-time tradition. That tune….is Shady Grove.

And while it’s been rendered in a multitude of instrumentations over the years, I’m personally still partial to the way it sounds all by its lonesome on the banjo. Vocal accompaniment is optional.

Like I said, there’s just something special about the banjo and modal tunes.

Shady Grove

gDGCD tuning, Brainjo level 2-3

Notes on the tab

As you can see, I’m playing this one on the gourd banjo, which is tuned down to dADGA. However, this is the same relative tuning as G modal, or gDGCD, which is where I’d usually play this tune on a modern, steel string strung banjo.

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

The Immutable Laws of Brainjo: Deconstructing the Art and Science of Effective Practice (Episode Two)

Episode Two: How to Play “in the Zone”, and Why You Want to be There (Part One)

“I was playing out of my head”

“It was like the banjo was playing itself”

“I was in the zone”

Ask a master – regardless of domain – what it feels like when they’re performing at their very best, and these are the kind of descriptions you’re apt to hear. The words may be different, but the underlying sentiment is almost always the same: an alternate state of consciousness has been reached, allowing for effortless and optimal performance.

Over the years, different names have been used to describe this state of being: “the zone”, “flow state”, “zen-like”. In these moments, the conscious mind is quiet, sometimes leaving the player with the impression that they’re no longer involved in the playing. He or she may even feel a bit sheepish about taking credit for the resultant performance.

But the zone isn’t territory reserved just for masters. On the contrary, these moments of effortless execution can happen to anyone, at any stage in the learning process. In fact, you’d be wise to make it a habit of seeking them out often, just as the masters do.

Here’s why.

The Bird’s Eye View of Learning

Nobody is born knowing how to play the banjo. This is obvious. Even Earl had to build his own banjo playing brain.

This means that every component of playing the banjo, from plucking a string cleanly to fretting notes with the fingers to forming chord shapes, must be learned.

More specifically, this means that a dedicated neural network – a set of instructions for how to perform that particular skill, written in the language of neurons – needs to be created for each and every technical component of banjo picking. The brilliant thing about the human brain is that it can create those instructions for itself, based entirely on the inputs it’s given through practice (which in reality are the inputs it provides itself…consider your mind blown).

In Chess and Tai Chi master Josh Waitzkin’s book The Art of Learning, he likens the learning process to hacking a path through dense jungle with a machete. At first the task is arduous and taxing, with great expense of time and effort.

During this stage, the conscious mind is fully engaged, frantically trying to cobble together an ad hoc motor program (i.e. a set of instructions for movement) out of existing multi-purpose neural machinery. All cognitive resources are brought to bear on the task at hand.

If we place a subject at this stage of learning in a functional brain imaging scanner, we see brain activity all over the place (indicated by the colors, which signify increased blood flow to the corresponding areas):

With repeated practice over time, things change. A lot. Ultimately, if the learning process goes well, the brain creates a customized neural network for the learned activity. When the task is performed now, we see both a shift in the location of the brain activity, along with a marked reduction in the number of neurons involved:

This neural network that’s been created not only consumes fewer resources, but much of it also now exists beneath the cortex (it is “subcortical”). Thinking back to our jungle analogy, a path has now been cleared, allowing us to walk down it effortlessly, without any contribution from the conscious mind. Through practice, a new pathway has literally been carved in the brain.

The Purpose of Practice

So what might this have to do with playing “in the zone”?

Everything. Playing “in the zone” can only happen after these paths have been cleared, after we’ve built neural networks specific to the corresponding activity through effective practice.

The truth is, you enter the zone all the time, everyday. Walking down the street, brushing your teeth, driving a car, fixing a sandwich – these are all learned skills you can perform while your conscious mind is engaged in something else (we take these activities, complicated as they are, for granted, precisely because they feel so effortless). Each of these activities has its own pathway carved in the brain, a dedicated neural network containing its set of instructions, built and reinforced through years of experience.

Creating these neural pathways is the reason we practice. Which brings us to the second law of Brainjo:

Brainjo law 2: The primary purpose of practice is to provide your brain the data it needs to build a neural network.

The goal of practice is not to get better right then and there. The goal is to signal the brain that we want it to change, and provide it the inputs it needs to do so effectively.

But this raises a critical point. If our brain is building new networks based on the inputs we provide, then we need to ensure that we’re providing it with the right kinds of inputs, at the right time. The brain will build a network, a set of task specific instructions, based on any type of repeated input. Provide the wrong kind of input, and we end up with the wrong kind of network.

Practice a sloppy forward roll over and over again, for example, and guess what you’ll end up with?

A “sloppy-forward-roll” neural network, that’s what. You’ve successfully carved a path, but the problem is it leads to the wrong place.

Knowing When (and When Not) to Move On

In the beginning, the temptation is always to go too fast. We’re excited and eager to start picking some good music, and we want to play it now!

But the danger here in going too quickly is that you move to more advanced techniques before the basic ones they’re grounded in have fully developed, before those pathways, which serve as the foundation, have been laid. Rinse and repeat this process, and you end up with a bunch of networks that don’t do what you want them to do. The result is frustration, and the only remedy is to start over from scratch.

But what if there were a way we could know when those pathways were fully formed, a way to know when it was safe for us to move onward to the next hurdle? As it turns out, there is.

In neuroscience parlance, when a skill no longer requires our conscious mind for its execution, it is said to have become “automatic”. This can be tested for experimentally by having a subject perform the skill in question while their attention is diverted elsewhere. If there’s no decline in performance, then the skill meets the criteria for automaticity. If performance declines, then more practice is needed.

So if we want to test for automaticity ourselves, we can steal this same strategy, which brings us to the 3rd law of Brainjo:

Brainjo Law #3: Work on one new skill at a time until it becomes automatic.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: How do I tell if a skill has become automatic?

As I mentioned above, automaticity is tested for experimentally by having a subject perform a learned task while paying attention to something else. Is there a way, then, for us to test this for ourselves, without any fancy high-tech equipment?

You bet there is! In part two of this series, we’ll cover a foolproof and indispensable method for testing for automaticity.

Go to Part 2 Now!

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