Clawhammer Tune of the Week: “Winder Slide”

Since those of you in the U.S. may still be emerging from the mass-turkey-ingestion-induced tryptophan fog, I thought it best to keep things on the slow and easy side for one more week with this week’s installment, “Winder Slide.”

In fact, I often link both of these two tunes together in my mind under the “slow and sweet D tune” category.

Winder Slide is actually a “modern old-time” tune — a relatively recent composition that still sounds as if it could’ve been around for a century or so. Written initially by fiddler Joe Larose in 1980, according to sources, it was modified at some point a few years later to add a B part.

Combine this with the fact that it’s also a bit crooked (i.e. it doesn’t conform to the classic fiddle tune form, thanks to the little tag thrown in at the 2nd to last measure) and it’s not surprising that there are several variations of this tune that tend to show up in jam circles.

But don’t let that intimidate you! This is not a difficult tune to get under your fingers, and well worth the effort. Plus, it makes for a nice medley when tagged onto last week’s tune.

Winder Slide

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3

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.