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Given the enthusiastic response to last week’s installment of “Last Chance,” (click here if you missed it…last chance! 🙂 ), I’d thought that this week we’d take another excursion into the wonderfully weird world of alternate tunings.
Once again we have another iconic banjo tune, “Little Birdie,” in eCGAD tuning (I’m actually tuned down a half step in the video to d#BF#G#C# to better suit my voice.)
I have not been able to trace the original roots of this tune, so if anyone does know its original source or composer, please share in the comments.
Many in the “first wave” generation of recorded banjo players played it – Tom Ashley, Roscoe Holcomb, Pete Steele, and Frank Proffit to name a few. So it seems it had become a standard banjo player showpiece by that era.
In the video I begin with a plaintive rendition, inspired by Chance McCoy’s take on it from the Chance McCoy & the Appalachian String Band album (recommended!), which several folks have requested. And his version was reportedly inspired by Morgan Sexton’s. And around and around we go!
The song is most often played at a rapid clip with a galloping rhythm and sparse fingering. And towards the later part of the video, I present this alternate approach as well (note the emphasis in this part on the up beat, or the “DIT” in the bum-ditty rhythm).
As usual, the different tempos create entirely different feels. Both ways have been tabbed out.
(RELATED: “Little Birdie” is one of 10 tunes presented in the recently released “Magic of Old Time Banjo” module in the Breakthrough Banjo course. Sign up for the course and you’ll also be sent “The Magic of Old Time Banjo” book as a bonus, which contains 20 tab arrangements of 10 of the most iconic banjo tunes in 10 different tunings. Click here to learn more about the book.)
(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.)
Little Birdie (slow tempo version)
eCGAD tuning, Brainjo level 3
Little Birdie (up tempo version)
eCGAD tuning, Brainjo level 2
Notes on the Tab
In this arrangement, I’ve tabbed out the part I play in the banjo “solo,” as well as the vocal backup I play on the banjo while 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”
- Episode 12: “Mr. Tambourine Man”
- Episode 13: “Swanee River”
- Episode 14: “Big Sciota”
- Episode 15: “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms”
- Episode 16: “Darling Corey”
- Episode 17: “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
- Episode 18: “America the Beautiful”
- Episode 19: “Bury Me Beneath the Willow”
- Episode 20: “Way Out There”
- Episode 21: “New Slang”
- Episode 22: “I Saw the Light”
- Episode 23: “Amazing Grace”
- Episode 24: “Blowin’ in the Wind”
- Episode 25: “Yankee Doodle”
- Episode 26: “Budapest”
- Episode 27: “Wildwood Flower”
- Episode 28: “Paradise”
- Episode 29: “Mountain Dew”
- Episode 30: “Blue Tail Fly”
- Episode 31: “Otto Wood”
- Episode 32: “Down on the Corner”
- Episode 33: “City of New Orleans”
- Episode 34: “Big Rock Candy Mountains”
- Episode 35: “Come to the Bower”
- Episode 36: “Old Kentucky Home”
- Episode 37: “Long Journey Home”
- Episode 38: “Dixie”
- Episode 39: “Hard Times”
- Episode 40: “Corrina Corrina”
- Episode 41: “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”
- Episode 42: “Johnson Boys”
- Episode 43: “Bad Moon Rising”
- Episode 44: “Reuben’s Train”
- Episode 45: “Let the Mermaid’s Flirt With Me”
- Episode 46: “Rocky Top”
- Episode 47: “Groundhog”
- Episode 48: “Lazy John”
- Episode 49: “The Gambler”
- Episode 50: “8 More Miles To Louisville”
- Episode 51: “Who’ll Stop the Rain”
- Episode 52: “Pretty Polly”
- Episode 53: “You Are My Sunshine”
- Episode 54: “Old Molly Hare”
- Episode 55: “The Miller’s Will”
- Episode 56: “Walking Cane”
- Episode 57: “Feast Here Tonight”
- Episode 58 “Let Me Fall”
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 here for a current list of all the clawhammer songs and tunes currently available inside of The Vault
View the Brainjo Course Catalog
