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

(NOTE: I’ll be teaching a live, step by step “tab walk-through” for this tune for Breakthrough Banjo members on Mar. 25. Click here to learn more, and see the full schedule.)

Southern old time music was born out of cultural collisions – from the interactions amongst different musical forms, instruments, and techniques, a new genre emerged.

Music of European descent that was structured, proscribed, and formulaic met with music of African descent that was, by comparison, free flowing, flexible, and improvisational.

That collision would ultimately lead to the creation of a new musical form that was similar, yet different. And this compelling synergy would continue to be the story of American music and art for years to come.

To my ears, that magic blend is evident in some tunes more than others. And in some players more than others.

One such tune being this week’s selection, “Old Buck.” And one such player being Tommy Jarrell, the source for “Old Buck.”

Though it was quite some time before I realized it, I find I often gravitate to the tunes and players that best exemplify that magic blend.

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(NOTE: For those considering acquiring a Brainjo banjo, the banjo played in this video is a “Hobart” model. Click here if you’d like to learn more, or claim one in the next batch (shipping May 2019!.)

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 “OId Buck”

gDGBD 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

(NOTE: I’ll be teaching a live, step by step “tab walk-through” for this tune for Breakthrough Banjo members on Feb. 9. Click here to learn more, and see the full schedule.)

So how did a song about a Native American woman who’s lost her beloved warrior in battle become a standard part of the old time and bluegrass fiddling repertoire?

Good question!

I’d bet that composer Kerry Mills, who published it back in 1907, didn’t see that coming.

Yet, that’s not an unusual backstory for many of the tunes in the traditional fiddling canon. And why not?

If you’re a fiddler (or banjo player) in the early 20th century looking for good material, why not just play something catchy from the radio?

Strangely, doing such a thing nowadays would be viewed as anathema. Nobody would dare calling out the latest Maroon 5 hit single at their local old time jam, yet one could make a compelling argument that doing such a thing would be preserving a time-honored tradition.

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(NOTE: For those considering acquiring a Brainjo banjo, the banjo played in this video is a “Hobart” model. Click here if you’d like to learn more, or claim one in the next batch.)

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 “Redwing”

gDGBD 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

(NOTE: I’ll be teaching a live, step by step “tab walk-through” for this tune and “Colored Aristocracy” for Breakthrough Banjo members on Jan. 14. Click here to learn more, and see the full schedule.)

Most songs grow on you.

Our fondness increases for them the more we listen. It may grow even more if they attach themselves by circumstance to beloved memories.

The same is often true of people. If we consider our closest friends, our fondness for them likely grew over time as well.

Love at first sight is a rare thing. But once in a great while, it happens.

Such was the case the first time I heard the tune “Shuffle About,” off Sheesham and Lotus’s album “Five Miles from Town” (which contains many other gems). And I’m sure that instant liking was in no small part to their exceptional rendering of it.

Still, it’s a relatively rare phenomenon.

You may have had a similar experience in a jam – you hear a dozen or so tunes you’ve never heard before, but one in particular makes you stop and say “what was the name of that again?”

“Shuffle About” is a tune with loads of personality, infused with an infectious, joyful spirit that I’m sure is part of its instant appeal.

It’s also a rare fiddle tune where the name doesn’t seem to be arbitrarily chosen – as if the mission of its composer was to produce a bounce in the listener’s step, to drive him or her to “shuffle about” (unfortunately, I can find scant information regarding its origins).

So happy shuffling!

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(NOTE: For those considering acquiring a Brainjo banjo, the banjo played in this video is a “Hobart” model. Click here if you’d like to learn more, or claim one in the next batch.)

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 “Shuffle About”

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