Clawhammer Tune of the Week: “Bonnie Prince Charlie”

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Nope, your eyes aren’t deceiving you – that is not me in the video.

That’s right, this week we have a special guest for our Clawhammer Tune of the Week, none other than my good friend and musician extraordinaire, Adam Hurt!

Some of you may recall back in mid-June I alluded to a special project I’d been working on for Brainjo – one that I was very excited about, and that it had served as the inspiration for that week’s tune, Miss McLeod’s Reel (bonus points to anyone who figures out how this project inspired that tune!).

Well, I’ve been working feverishly on that project since then, and now I’m able to share the fruits of that labor with the first installment in “The Masters of Clawhammer Banjo” series. In this series, I’ll be mining the depths of a master player’s mind, providing a detailed analysis of a master’s journey and style of playing.

Adam is my first victim (and the ideal person to kick off this series), and this tune of the week celebrates the launch of the series.

The tune, “Bonnie Prince Charlie”, is one of 10 tunes he plays in the concert portion of the course, and it’s a killer arrangement. Just a few notes in and it’s clear that this is a master player in top form.

Each tune covered in the course is tabbed out as Adam plays it, and a slightly simplified Brainjo level 2 arrangement is also provided (both arrangements provided below). Furthermore, each arrangement comes with a tutorial video, with the tune played in tandem with the tab, along with close ups of Adam’s hand.

And I’ve provided the tutorial videos for both versions of “Bonnie Prince Charlie” as part of this week’s Tune of the Week (be sure to scroll down to see).

There’s lots more that’s part of the course – a 2 hour interview with Adam (“The Autopsy”), a video “dissection” of Adam’s style, a full concert album download, a book of 20 tabs, video tune tutorials, and a tune-by -tune technique analysis. There’s a wealth of knowledge here, and much to be gained for a player at any level.

And, in celebration of its launch, I’m offering a discount on the course for the next week. Just enter the coupon code “clawfan” at check-out for $20 off (if you’re a Breakthrough Banjo member, this is part of your course materials)

Click here to learn more about the course (including a video taking you through all the content).

Bonnie Prince Charlie

aDADE tuning, Brainjo Level 3-4

Notes on the tab:

Galax Lick: An arrow above a note in the tab means that note is to be generated using the Galax lick, in which the frailing finger picks multiple strings in succession (the lick is covered in detail as part of the Masters of Clawhammer course)

Skip notes: Skip notes are noted in the tablature is an empty stem. In this case, the picking hand continues in the clawhammer motion, but doesn’t strike the string.