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Apparently, rye straw and the digestive tract of the carnivorous canine aren’t the best of friends.
And the ingestion of said straw produces painful digestive upheaval in the unfortunate puppy who does the ingesting.
Such is the backstory for this week’s tune, “Rye Straw.” And that backstory provides the context for understanding one of its other names, “The Joke on the Puppy.”
On the fiddle, the opening drones played on the high strings on the B part are said to mimic the wails of the distressed young pup as he attempts to pass the grass.
There are words to this tune as well, and typically revolve around a dog excreting all manner of absurd items.
Which is why, outside of the cultural norm eroding effects of fermented beverages, you’ll almost always hear this one played as an instrumental.
Ah, the things we’d have never learned if humans always had smartphones to pass the time.
Scatological references aside, this has always been one of my favorites.
[NOTE: For those considering adding a Brainjo banjo, this one is played on a “Hobart” model. Click here if you’d like to learn more, or claim one in the next batch]
Rye Straw
aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3-4
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
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Melanie says
September 29, 2017 at 2:10 pmI’m wondering if Brainjo is spying on me (haha)…. I heard and decided I loved this tune at a recent jam. Been searching around for a yummy banjo version to play with. Thank you for this!!
John Karnes says
October 24, 2017 at 10:52 amHappy ,lilting ,good morning banjo music .I think this music has a place in music therapy or even a hospice environment. I give anesthesia so it would be a nice change for the Or music selection. I am not aware of any albums with a collection of this brand of music.
I enjoyed the new book you authored and find it encouraging when I hit a rut in the road so to speak. I am still in the level one series just playing melody with chords working ho and slides and pull offs very slowly keeping the song flowing.
The hardest part of this process is slowing things down until you own that measure of a tune and then adding color as you like it.For all of us turtles who need to play chords first please consider this tune played with simple chords only
In a separate video as a level one experience. Banjo is a great learning tool for patience ,diligence and relaxation once a tune is yours. It comes along when you start a tune and you enjoy playing so much that you cannot play it just one time through.