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So much music, so little time.

Even just limiting yourself to the world of traditional folk for source material, you could spend a lifetime and never reach the bottom.

Yet, sometimes it’s fun to stretch a bit, to move outside the boundaries of traditional banjo tunes and see what else we might adapt to the 5-string.

Sometimes it works out well, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Other times, though, you figure out a way to shape the peg so it fits quite nicely. And, in doing so, you usually learn something in the process.

So, even if you’re a purist, harboring no desire to play anything outside the realm of the tradition, I’d still recommend trying your hand at some non-traditional material, even if it’s just for learning sake.

It’s a great way to expand your ideas of what’s possible with clawhammer.

Besides, were it not for people pushing up against the musical boundaries throughout the course of history, we’d have no traditions to uphold in the first place.

The best place to start doing this sort of thing, in my opinion, is with the music you already love that you don’t associate with the banjo.

This week’s song, Mr. Tambourine Man, has long been one of my favorites. I’ve played it for quite some time on guitar, but only recently decided to adapt it for the 5-string.

I’ll continue to post music outside the realm of traditional banjo from time to time, partly to inspire and motivate you to do likewise, and perhaps spark some ideas for how you might go about it (Breakthrough Banjo members can look for a Module soon all about adapting music to clawhammer banjo).

But also because it’s great fun.

Mr. Tambourine Man

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3-4

Notes on the Tab

In the tab above, you’ll note I’ve tabbed out both a “lead break” (something to play in between verses) and the “vocal backup” (what I play while I’m singing).

Notes in parentheses are “skip” notes – to learn more about skips and syncopated skips, check out my video lesson on the subject.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

PRIOR SONG OF THE WEEK EPISODES

• Episode 1: “Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow”
• Episode 2: “Gumtree Canoe”
• Episode 3: “Crawdad Hole”
• Episode 4: “Oh Susanna”
• Episode 5: “Freight Train”
• Episode 6: “Grandfather’s Clock”
• Episode 7: “Hop High Lulu”
• Episode 8: “Been All Around This World”
• Episode 9: “I’ll Fly Away”
• Episode 10: “Leaving Home”
• Episode 11: “Poor Orphan Child”

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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.

 

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

We kicked off this whole Song of the Week series with a number first recorded by the Carter Family.

This week brings another gem from the original stars of country music, whose body of work offers a voluminous supply of songs ideally suited for five string adaptation.

It’s also perhaps their most heartbreaking.

I must admit I have to deliberately ignore the lyrics when performing this one, else I turn into a floundering, blubbering mess of a musician (especially when singing it with Jules and her goose-bump-inducing harmony lines…).

Nonetheless, I love this song.

In this performance, I’m actually tuned to a#D#A#D#F tuning, which is simply “Double C” (gCGCD) brought up 3 frets. This puts the resulting song in the key of D#. Since Jules carries the lead vocal here, she got to choose our performance key. Feel free to adjust to suit your own voice.

(RELATED: More on how to choose a key and tuning to suit your voice inside the “Essential Guide to Music Theory” Module, part of the Breakthrough Banjo course.)

You’ll note that there are two vocal lines in the chorus, so it works well as a duet. However, when singing it solo, you can of course just choose one of the lines to sing.

Poor Orphan Child

a#D#A#D#F (“Double C” capo 3) tuning, Brainjo level 3

Notes on the Tab

For this song, I tend to play the same thing on the banjo both while backing up the vocal line and when “solo-ing”. As such, the above tab represents what I tend to play for both parts.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

PRIOR SONG OF THE WEEK EPISODES

• Episode 1: “Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow”
• Episode 2: “Gumtree Canoe”
• Episode 3: “Crawdad Hole”
• Episode 4: “Oh Susanna”
• Episode 5: “Freight Train”
• Episode 6: “Grandfather’s Clock”
• Episode 7: “Hop High Lulu”
• Episode 8: “Been All Around This World”
• Episode 9: “I’ll Fly Away”
• Episode 10: “Leaving Home”

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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.

 

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

Like it or not, popular culture has had a major impact on the story of the banjo and the people who play it.

And that impact has not always been kind.

Most notably in the “not always been kind” family is the infamous “Dueling Banjos” scene from the movie Deliverance, from which the enduring stereotype of the banjo player as toothless and uneducated took root (regrettably, the stereotype of the banjo player as a source of uncommon and surprising virtuosity failed to catch on…).

Banjo public relations were boosted a bit in the year 2000 with the release of the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou (oft referred to as OBWAT, cause who has time these days to either say or type all that?!).

That movie, or perhaps more accurately, the soundtrack to that movie, set in motion a resurgence in interest in traditional music and the 5-string that continues to this day. With it came a rise in popularity in folk acts that incorporated the banjo (Mumford and Sons, Avett brothers, etc.).

I think one could even argue that it sparked the golden age of independent open-back-banjo makers we find ourselves in now.

And the Deliverance-derived stereotype, while not fully eradicated by the OBWAT reputation rehabilitation, was at least replaced by a more expansive view of the music of the banjo and the people who make it.

I’m a big fan of OBWAT (and of the Coen brothers in general) and its soundtrack.

One of the songs on that soundtrack was “I’ll Fly Away.” I’m not certain I’d heard it before seeing the movie, but was instantly drawn to it once I did. No surprise then that is has the distinction of being “the most recorded gospel song.”

The hymn was written in 1929 by the prolific Albert E. Brumley (on a related note, if you notice a banner ad displayed in the bottom of my video, this is why. The song is still under copyright, and so ads are a youtube requirement for broadcasting recorded works that aren’t in the public domain).

Fittingly, the vocalists in the version used in the movie (for some reason, the soundtrack released another version by Allison Kraus and Gillian Welch) were backed by the sounds of….clawhammer banjo.

Here I’ve kept the song in a female friendly key so that Jules can take the lead. I should also note that it also sounds fabulous as a solo banjo tune.

I’ll Fly Away

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 3

Notes on the Tab

In the tab above, you’ll note I’ve tabbed out both a “lead break” (something to play in between verses) and the “vocal backup” (what I play while I’m singing).

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

PRIOR SONG OF THE WEEK EPISODES

• Episode 1: “Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow”
• Episode 2: “Gumtree Canoe”
• Episode 3: “Crawdad Hole”
• Episode 4: “Oh Susanna”
• Episode 5: “Freight Train”
• Episode 6: “Grandfather’s Clock”
• Episode 7: “Hop High Lulu”
• Episode 8: “Been All Around This World”

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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.