As a banjo player, there are few things in life that can compare with sharing a tune with a fiddler.
Especially when it’s a tune you really, really like with a fiddler who’s really, really good.
Earlier this week, I headed about 60 miles east to visit my friend and fellow Georgian, Justin Manglitz. I’d coaxed Justin into lending his bowing services for a lesson on playing with a fiddler I’m working on for the Breakthrough Banjo course (okay, so maybe it was just a thinly veiled attempt to let me invade his home to share a few tunes).
Fortunately, we like a lot of the same tunes, including this week’s tune of the week installment: “Rockingham Cindy”. It has a disarmingly gorgeous melody, like so many others in the Round Peak tradition.
And yes, it’s a little bit crooked, too, which is probably why it’s often displaced in jams by its more well known cousin, “Cindy.”
But don’t let that stop you. It’s well worth wrapping your brain around the crookedness to get this one under your fingers.
Rockingham Cindy
aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3
