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Recently, while filming some new course content for Brainjo’s “Fiddle for All” course, Adam Hurt played a delightful arrangement of Miss McLeod’s Reel on the fiddle (see below).

(RELATED: If you’ve caught the fiddle bug and want to learn to play in a way that’s aligned with how the adult brain learns music, click here to check out the “Fiddle for All” course from Brainjo.)

It’s a tune I’ve played on the banjo before. In fact, it’s even been a featured Tune of the Week tune before.

Adam’s version, however, had some variations that differed a bit from the way I’d previously played it.

This is not uncommon. It’s rare for any two fiddlers to play the same fiddle tune in exactly the same way, and for the banjo player looking to play along, that typically means adapting what you’d typically do to some degree.

There are many ways you can go about that adaptation, from focusing mainly on providing a solid rhythmic backbone with suggestions of the melody, to a full on “melodic” banjo version in which you attempt to double the fiddle note for note, mirroring all of its melodic and rhythmic embellishments.

(RELATED: Strategies for playing with a fiddler is covered extensively in a dedicated module inside the Breakthrough Banjo course. Click here to learn more about the course.)

So, because I enjoyed Adams’ version so much, for this week’s installment of the Tune of the Week I decided to tackle it on the banjo using the “melodic” approach.

Doing this usually takes a bit of “woodshedding,” both in figuring out the optimal way of grabbing all those notes on the banjo using the techniques of clawhammer banjo, and in doing so in a way that retains the pulsating rhythm of clawhammer. Many times, there are usually some trickier technical elements required to pull this off.

But it’s a challenge I particularly enjoy, and you can learn a lot just by going through this process.

In fact, because I think this process of re-creating a fiddler’s version of a tune on the banjo is such a valuable learning exercise, I’ll be going step by step through the process of creating this particular arrangement by ear, from scratch, in this month’s installment of the Ear Laboratory in the Breakthrough Banjo course.

Below is a video of Adam’s rendition that this week’s arrangement is based on – the first time through with him playing solo, and in the second time through I join in.

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

Miss McLeod’s Reel

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 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 Here To Get The Tab

If you know a song about a chicken, a song about whiskey, and a song about a train, then chances are you’re an old time banjo player.

And it is in that spirit that I present this week’s tune selection, “Wabash Cannonball.”

The Wabash River spans 475 miles across the mid-central US. The Wabash Railroad, the inspiration for this week’s tune, spanned similar terrain.

Given it’s popularity amongst bluegrass banjoists, I’ve included it as part of the banjofication series. Hence, you’ll not only hear the old timey sounds of a downpicked banjo, but also the old timey sounds of a banjo picked in the other direction in both the 2 and 3 finger styles.

(RELATED: If you’d like to learn 2 and 3 fingerstyle banjo picking, check out the Breakthrough Banjo fingerstyle course at fingerstylebanjo.com)

What’s even better, there’s only one part to it! So it shouldn’t take you too long to get this classic under your fingers.

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

Wabash Cannonball

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

It’s never made much sense to me to think of banjo players, or musicians in general, as being “good” or “bad” (the absurdity of that notion usually cast in sharp relief if you’ve ever been tasked with the impossible job of picking a winner in banjo or fiddle contest).

Sure, there are some objective technical standards that are required to develop as a musician (even then, though, I think it’s more appropriate to think of people being at different points on the banjo learning timeline).

But once you have the technical fundamentals down, are able to play with solid rhythm and timing, and have developed your ear to the point where you can play the music that’s in your head, the rest is just a matter of aesthetic preference.

Or whether or not someone’s personal style moves you.

In every player’s performance there are countless decision that are made. What notes to leave in, what notes leave out, which ones to syncopate, what beats to emphasize, where to quiet, where to be loud, and so on, and so on.

The purpose of those decisions is to make the music in their head come out of their banjo, provided they have the skills required to to execute it. If your tastes happen to be similar to theirs, then you’ll probably like the music in their head, too (the players who enjoy the most popularity just happen to share their tastes with the greatest numbers – the pepperoni pizzas of the music world).

These players become our sources of inspiration. They are the ones who motivate us to keep working on our own skills in hopes of one day making music as moving as theirs.

One of my sources of inspiration was Donald Zepp, former owner of Zepp’s Country Music. Many of his fiddle tune renditions were canonical for me in my gestational period – I’d hear him play a tune and couldn’t imagine it being improved upon.

In other words, I liked the music in his head, and the decisions that mandated to bring it to life.

A highlight was his rendition of “Sara Armstrong’s Tune,” my original source for this week’s Tune of the Week. One of his signature moves is the use of the triplet, executed with the fretting hand either as a series of hammer ons and pull offs, and they pepper the B part liberally throughout.

My inability to replicate these maneuvers in my early playing days served as equal parts frustration and motivation.

And it was a milestone in my own journey when I finally could pull them off, particularly the final triplet flourish that punctuates the ending.

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

Sara Armstrong’s Tune

gCGCD 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

Longtime fans of the tune of the week series may be having feelings of deja vu.

“Cherokee Shuffle?” Didn’t we do that one already?

The answer is, yes, “Cherokee Shuffle” has made an appearance on the tune of the week series before. In the key of D, that is.

Some folks, especially (but not always) in bluegrass circles, play this tune in the key of A.

So, in the spirit of banjofication, I’ve adapted my clawhammer version for that key as well.

(RELATED: If you’d like to learn 2 and 3 finger style banjo, click here to check out the Brainjo course for Fingerstyle Banjo).

I think you’ll find this rendition of “Cherokee Shuffle” not too challenging to get under your fingers, including the occasional excursion up the neck.

This tune is also the first purely instrumental fiddle tune in our banjofication series. I’m especially fond of the sound of the clawhammer and fingerstyle banjo pairing for fiddle tunes. Plus, there’s also something subversively delightful about two banjos playing a fiddle tune without a devil’s box in sight.

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

Cherokee Shuffle

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.

[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