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It’s probably not a stretch to say that this week’s song changed my life. It’s been well over a decade, but I still remember where I was when I first heard it.

I was in my car, listening to Flatt & Scruggs’ landmark album Foggy Mountain Banjo for the first time.

It wasn’t long after I’d received my first banjo – a Christmas gift from my family. I’d messed around on it a bit over the holidays, and then life had gotten in the way. The banjo was gathering dust.

Fortunately, as part of my banjo tuition, I’d acquired some classic banjo albums for in the car listening. And I’d just inserted Foggy Mountain Banjo into the CD player (this was back in the old days).

The first track was Groundspeed, as those familiar with the album will know. It’s a great tune, one that showcases Earl Scruggs’s technical mastery. But while I’m sure I enjoyed it, the memory of that first listen is long gone.

The second track, on other hand, was a different story.

That track was Home Sweet Home, this week’s song. It left such an impression that I still remember precisely where I was – making the left turn into my neighborhood – when it came on.

I thought it was one of the greatest sounds I’d ever heard. I had no idea a banjo could sound like that.

And I had to learn it. It was just the spark of motivation I needed to pick up the 5-string again, to transform my interest into an enduring obsession.

Life would never get in the way again.

Since that time there have been a handful of tunes I’d put in the same category. Ones that, the moment I heard them, I thought: I have to play that.

But this one was the first.

A Note About the Arrangement

My first couple times through I play this one as Earl did. Naturally.

The last couple times through I mix in a bit of what might be described as “Travis style” picking – one heard more commonly on the guitar – in which the thumb alternates back and forth on the two low strings to emulate the “boom chuck” backup pattern for a rhythmic foundation.

As such, it’s a pattern that lends itself a bit better than Scruggs style (which tends to sound best when played with other musicians) to solo picking and vocal backup. The lowered bass string in the tuning used for this song, gCGBD or “drop C,” also helps provide a more robust bottom end than standard G.

As it turns out, the first time I heard anyone play Travis style on a banjo was Mike Seeger, the source for last week’s Song of the Week (and another source of material I just had to learn how to play).

(RELATED: If you’re interested in learning all styles of up-picking in a way that’s aligned with how the grown up brain learns music, then you may enjoy the Breakthrough Banjo course for fingerstyle banjo. Click here to learn more.)

 

Below you’ll find the clawhammer version for this song (click here if you’d like the CLAWHAMMER TAB).

Home Sweet Home – clawhammer banjo

Home Sweet Home (3 finger banjo version)

gCGBD tuning, Brainjo level 3

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.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

Recent Banjo Songs and Tabs of the Week:

• Feast Here Tonight
• East Tennessee Blues
• Walking Cane
• Pretty Polly
• The Miller’s Will

 

Click on the button below to get the PDF download for this tab delivered to you, and get a new song and tab delivered to you every week!

Click Here To Get The Tab

Years ago, I had the pleasure of attending a workshop on fingerpicked banjo by the great Mike Seeger.

It blew my mind and, thinking back, changed the course of my banjo life in several ways.

In the span of an hour, Mike took us through a tour of a dizzying number of unique and wonderful styles of fingerpicking, introducing me to a world that, until then, I barely knew existed.

Beyond being phenomenally entertaining, it also raised a few questions.

The conventional wisdom, or the prevailing story that I’d been told, was – and still is – that when learning to play the banjo, you had to choose your “style.” You could learn bluegrass or old time, Scruggs or melodic, index or thumb lead, 2 finger or 3, and so on, and so on….but you could only choose one. So choose wisely!

(RELATED: Click here to read the article “How To Play the Banjo in Any Style”)

And almost the entire body of banjo instruction respected those divisions.

But if that were true, then how was it that Mike could effortlessly glide from one style to the next to the next?

Furthermore, why hadn’t I heard any of this great banjo music he was playing before?

I’d started out playing “bluegrass” banjo. And like virtually everyone else who starts out learning bluegrass banjo, I was taught “Scruggs” style, using the typical instructional methods to do so.

I’d been under the impression that fingerstyle banjo essentially began and ended with Scruggs style and its subsequent offshoots.

But if it was possible to play all this wonderful music on my banjo, like Mike Seeger was, I sure as heck didn’t want to miss out on all that!

The quest to answer those questions led me to discovering an incredible new world of music.

It also led me back to the drawing board for fingerstyle banjo, to essentially start over from scratch.

And I’m sure glad I did.

I realized that the usual method of learning “rolls” as the foundation had backed me into a musical corner that I now had to escape from.

Don’t get my wrong, I’m a big fan of Earl Scruggs – he’s a big reason I picked up a banjo in the first place.

But I now see Earl as one of many in a long line of great up-picking banjoists, and I now see the traditional roll-based method of teaching Scruggs style banjo (which, of note, was not Earl’s idea) as one that’s needlessly complex and inefficient.

(RELATED: If you’re interested in learning all styles of up-picking in a way that’s aligned with how the grown up brain learns music, then you may enjoy the Breakthrough Banjo course for fingerstyle banjo. Click here to learn more.)

That experience also led me to explore as much of Mike’s recorded works as I could get my ears on, including the rich body of material from his time with The New Lost City Ramblers, including today’s gem: “The Miller’s Will.”

Mike fingerpicks on that version, which is how I initially learned it (after first having to decipher that he was playing out of aDAC#E tuning- gCGBD 2 frets up).

Below you’ll find the clawhammer version for this song, and I think you’ll find each imparts its own unique flavor to the song (click here if you’d like to view the tab for it, too).

The Miller’s Will – clawhammer banjo

 

Mike Seeger also possessed an impressive repertoire of songs with nonsense words, which includes this selection. Feel free to create your own syllabically appropriate neologism if you’d like, as it’s sure to be no less sensical than the one sung here.

Such is the nature of nonsense.

The Miller’s Will (3 finger banjo version)

aDAC#E tuning, Brainjo level 3

 

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.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

Recent Banjo Songs and Tabs of the Week:

• Feast Here Tonight
• East Tennessee Blues
• Walking Cane
• Pretty Polly
• Home Sweet Home

 

So now that the dust has settled from the rush of the holidays and we’ve fully settled into the rhythms of a new year, it’s time to share with you what sorts of things are in store from the world of Brainjo in 2018.

2017 brought the launch of the long awaited fingerstyle course. And in 2018 – in a matter of a few days – we’ll have a new course to add to the mix! One that’s been over 2 years in the making, and one I’m thrilled to finally get to share.

 

Thing #1 – The Brainjo Method tackles a new instrument, with the help of an incredible instructor.

After taking up the fiddle several years ago, I soon realized that the world was lacking a comprehensive source of instruction on the topic. Even though I had the advantage of prior musical experience, and a dependable approach to learning that I could rely upon, there were still many fits and starts in my own learning journey.

It’s no wonder then that the fiddle has the reputation that it does.

I don’t think it should be that way. Besides, the best way to ensure that this wonderful tradition lives and grows is to give aspiring fiddlers the tools they need to be successful (it is an incredibly fun instrument to play as well).

So, it brings me great pleasure to announce that next week will bring the launch of “Fiddle for All,” a comprehensive, step by step course for learning to play the fiddle, based on the Brainjo Method of instruction.

But it gets even better! Because we have none other than the inimitable Adam Hurt as the lead instructor for the course (those familiar with Adam’s music and, more importantly, his teaching ability, will understand why I’m so thrilled).

This course has been over two years in the making, so I can’t wait for it to finally see the light of day. It’s the course I would’ve loved to have had 5 years ago.

And, there’s a reason fiddle and banjo are like peas and carrots, and there’s a reason so many clawhammer banjoists are also adept sawstrokers (one of the best things I ever did for my banjo playing was learning to play the fiddle).

So, if you’ve ever had the inclination to give the devil’s box a whirl, it’s never been a better time to rosin up a bow and get started (and no, you are not too old).

Click here to learn more about the Fiddle for All course. Register before launch day and you’ll get an extra two weeks in the $7 trial period.

 

Thing #2 – The Ear Laboratory experiments will begin. 

As you may know, one of the goals of the Breakthrough Banjo course is to lead folks down the path to musical fluency, or the ability to take imagined sounds in their minds and play them on their instrument.

Doing such a thing requires a fully developed ability to play by ear.

The course already includes multiple modules for those purposes, including how to hear chord changes, how to pick out melodies by ear, and how to build a clawhammer arrangement of any song from scratch.

But this year I’m also adding the Ear Laboratory, a space dedicated to reinforcing those abilities.

As you may know, I create all the tabs for the tune and song of the week courses, and the laboratory will include step by step videos how to create arrangements, by ear, from scratch.

Non-members will be pleased to know that I’ll be doing this from time to time from the tunes in our tune and song of the week series as well. And the first installment is coming soon!

 

Thing #3 – More Brainjos will be released into the world to satisfy voracious appetites for an affordable, handmade, sonorous delight.

2017 saw 48 Brainjo banjos released out into the wild to the delight of their owners, and production is being ramped up to hopefully bring even more into the world this year (at this moment, 4 spots are still open for the next batch, set to ship in April).

In addition, Tim and I are also developing a much needed model for the old time fingerpickers of the world. I hope to have more details soon!

(RELATED: Click here to learn more about the Brainjo banjos)

 

Thing #4 – The classics shall continue.

While shiny new objects are always hard to resist, it’s important to remember that the classics exist for a reason.

Fans of the tune and song of the week series, and the Laws of Brainjo, will be pleased to know that these will continue unabated.

There’s far too much music left to play and musical brain building knowledge still to share.

 

Thing #5 – Camp Brainjo returns!

November 2017 saw the first ever Camp Brainjo. With myself, Adam Hurt, and Luke Abbott as instructors and a delightful, enthusiastic group of Brainjo students, we convened in the foothills of the North Georgia mountain for what turned out to be an amazing few days.

It will be a tough act to follow. But, in 2018, we will try!

Almost all of our initial set of campers have claimed a spot for round two, so, in order to accommodate some new faces, I’m exploring the possibility of a larger camp, or possibly two camps, for 2018 (first priority will again go to existing Breakthrough Banjo members). I hope to have more details soon!

(Click here if you want to be on the Camp Brainjo wait list.)

 

Thing #6 – Last but not least, 2018 will be the year of banjofication.

First, a definition is in order.

banjofication

noun

1. the act of equipping oneself with a banjo
2. the process of bringing together the artificially segregated worlds of world of banjo into a cohesive, unstoppable force, allowing all those impacted to avail themselves to new worlds of sonic possibility and previously unrealized levels of auditory bliss.

 

Clawhammer, frailing, minstrel, old time 3 finger, old time 2 finger, index lead, thumb lead, Scruggs, Keith, Reno, melodic, single string, bluegrass, old time, etc….

While all of our various and asundry ways of classifying the music of the five string may have its utility, one of its major downsides, as you may heard me say before, is that it’s created arbitrary divisions amongst the world of banjoists. Divisions that, in multiple ways, limit players from fully exploring all the incredible things this instrument has to offer.

You may have noticed the union of clawhammer and fingerstyle in several recent Song of the Week installments (here and here, for example). You can expect much more along these lines this year!

(RELATED: If you’re interested in learning not one, but all, styles of fingerstyle using the Brainjo method, click here to learn more about the course.)

 

So, there you have it! It’s shaping up to be a most excellent year.

 

 

As long as there have been banjos to be picked, people have been coming up with all sorts of inventive and wonderful sounding ways of picking them.

Listen to a sample of fingerpicking banjoists from a half century or so ago, and you’ll hear all manner original sounding music.

Yet, it seems like these days, even though there are lots of folks picking banjos, things kind of sound the same. All of that rich and wonderful variety, and all the originality, seems to have faded a bit.

While there are likely several reasons why that’s the case, one of those has to do with the way people typically learn how to play the banjo.

These days, the aspiring banjo picker is typically forced to choose a “style” of picking right from the start: “3 finger,” “2 finger,” “Scruggs,” “melodic,” “old-time” – what’ll it be?

So why is this a problem?

A small slice, or the whole enchilada?

All fingerpicking banjo styles are based on the exact same techniques.

And the problem is that combining technique AND a particular style right from the start, in most cases, forever locks a player into one single style of playing (for more on the neuroscience of why this happens, see the video at the bottom of this page), oftentimes long before he or she has any real awareness of what the different styles are, much less which one they like best!

Rather than learning in way that keeps the wide world of banjo sounds available, the player is now constrained to a small fraction of them.

Yet, if you avoid confusing and conflating style and technique from the get go, you’ll leave the entire world of fingerpicked banjo open.

Learning style and technique from the start is like learning how to write by copying a particular person’s handwriting, rather than starting with the basics of how to form letters.

(RELATED: the Breakthrough Banjo course for fingerstyle banjo is designed to allow you to fingerpick in any style, to give you the surest and most effective path to making EXACTLY the music you want to make! Click here to learn more.)

 

Anatomy of Fingerpicked Banjo

To help right this ship, it helps to go back to basics.

If we take any fingerpicked banjo arrangement, regardless of style, we find that it consists of two main ingredients: MELODY and DECORATIONS.

In every arrangement, there are notes played that are part of the melody, and there are the extra notes, the “decoration” notes.

These decoration notes are typically drone and harmony notes that fill in the spaces in the melody, creating the banjo’s signature “wall of sound” effect.

In fact, the typical banjo arrangement has MORE notes in it that are not part of the melody than notes that are.

And when it comes to style, it’s the “decorations” that matter.

If we look at any players style (or any category of style), we can find a consistent set of decisions about how to decorate the melody (which we’ll explore further below).

This is normal, of course. We all have our own preferences about anything, and an essential part of any player’s musical journey is developing those preferences.

Back to our handwriting analogy, every person will ultimately develop his or her own preferences as to how to form the individual letters, which ultimately becomes his or her own unique handwriting.

We can even find patterns in those preferences, even if the player was unaware that those patterns existed, or was intentional about using them!

With this in mind, let’s now take the melody for Blue Ridge Cabin Home (verse) and arrange it in three different fingerpicking “styles,” paying particular attention to the various ways the melody is decorated, as well as to the ways in which they are all similar.

 

Start with the melody

As mentioned earlier, the way different “styles” are distinguished is based on the decisions that are made about how to “decorate” the melody notes.

So, in order for us to distinguish the key features of any style, we must first determine what notes are part of the melody, and what notes are part of the decorations.

And since the melody is the same regardless of the style in which it is rendered, it’s easiest to begin there.

Below I’ll provide two audio samples of the melody for “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” – one sung, and one on the banjo.

Blue Ridge Cabin Home – singing the melody

Blue Ridge Cabin Home – melody on the banjo

Below is the tab for the melody played on the banjo. This provides the basic skeleton, or foundation, for every style. Again, it’s the notes we choose to play around the melody that distinguishes one “style” from another.

Blue Ridge Cabin Home – melody tab

 

Blue Ridge Cabin Home – 2 finger thumb lead style

Now we’ll take this melody and transform it first into what’s commonly described as “2 finger thumb lead” style.

In this style, the primary “decorations” are the 1st string and 5th string, both of which primarily serve as “drone” notes. The thumb typically handles all the melody notes along with all the 5th string drones, while the index finger plays all the 1st string drones (though no reason at all that you can’t use the middle).

Here’s what our 2 finger thumb lead version looks like in tab:

 

And here’s a video tutorial of that arrangement (followed by a backup track for you to continue jamming to).

2 finger thumb lead Tutorial (excerpt from the Breakthrough Banjo course)

 

 

Blue Ridge Cabin Home – “old-time” 3 finger style

Now, let’s add another finger into the mix to create a “3 finger” arrangement. Here, we’re essentially dropping some of those droning 1st string notes (which is all our index finger played in the last arrangement), and adding in some decoration notes on other strings, which can serve as harmony notes, or doubling of the melody.

Here’s what that version looks like in tab:

 

Now here’s a video tutorial of how that arrangement sounds.

“Old-Time” 3 finger Tutorial (excerpt from the Breakthrough Banjo course)

 

Blue Ridge Cabin Home – “Scruggs” style 

Lastly, let’s decorate our melody in “Scruggs style.”

As mentioned above, the differences between 3-finger “Scruggs” style and 3-finger “old-time” are subtle. In fact, had Earl Scruggs not joined with Bill Monroe to create the band that became the defining sound of bluegrass, Earl would almost certainly still be thought of as an old-time fingerstyle banjo player (and like every other old time fingerstyle banjo picker, had his own particular way he like to pick the banjo).

The primary difference to note between this version and the preceding one is the extra syncopation – some of the melody notes are shifted from the beat where they normally occur in the melody, to an adjacent one (noted in the tab).

The other key feature of Scruggs style arrangements are the use of certain signature “licks” during the open spaces, or pauses, in the melody (measure 8, for example, where the only melody note is the open 4th string, allowing for the addition of one of Earl’s signature licks in the remainder of the space in that measure).

Here’s what our “Scruggs style” version looks like in tab:

Now here’s a video tutorial of how that arrangement sounds.

“Scruggs” style Tutorial (excerpt from the Breakthrough Banjo course)

As you can see and hear, while there are certain differences in the notes that we play around the melody in these three examples, they all still sound far more similar than they do different.

And we’ve only just scratched the surface of what’s possible.

The options here are virtually endless, and there’s no reason to limit those options right from the beginning, long before you have any real idea of the music you ultimately want to make as a banjo player.

So how do you learn in a way that keeps those options open?

By learning the techniques of fingerpicking first, distinct from any particular style.

Once those are building blocks are established, you can then learn the many ways those they can be combined. Rather than becoming a carbon copy of a particular player and his or her style, you can instead add your own unique voice to the world of fingerpicked banjo.

Furthermore, you’ll find this approach to not only be much more satisfying, but also much easier!

Deeper Dive

For more on the subject of how to learn fingerstyle banjo more effectively and efficiently, and build the brain of a versatile fingerpicker, check out the video below (the introduction to the Breakthrough Banjo course, and the Brainjo Method of instruction):

 

BREAKING TAB

In aural traditions (like the banjo), the pinnacle of musicianship, regardless of chosen instrument, is musical fluency, or the ability to take imagined sounds and, via the movement of the hands, get them out into the world and into the ears of others.

The ability to do such a thing requires a specific type of neural machinery, which we build through practice. Specifically, it requires that we build mappings in the brain between the sounds we imagine and the instrument-specific movements of the hands needed to make them.

And, as you’ll note, written notation isn’t part of the machinery needed for musical fluency. Which means that our goal, if we wish to develop this ability, is to ensure that written notation (in this case banjo tab) isn’t baked into our core banjo playing circuitry.

This is not to say written notation, in this case banjo tablature, shouldn’t be used in the learning process. It can be an extremely useful tool, if used wisely.

Using it wisely means not using it in ways that bakes it into your banjo playing networks. Once this happens, playing without tablature becomes a biological impossibility. And learning to play without it requires that you build new, tab-independent, banjo playing neural networks.

The easiest way to avoid such a situation of tab dependency is to build those networks right the first time, paying careful attention to the sequence and structure of practice.

[RELATED: The Brainjo Method is designed to help you build tab-free neural networks that allow you to reach your full musical potential. Click here for more information on the course for fingerstyle banjo, or here for the course for clawhammer banjo]

 

The problem is that oftentimes it isn’t used wisely, which leads to tab dependency.

The good news? Even if you’ve become dependent on tab, it’s entirely possible to break free from it.

Remember, tab dependency is not indicative of some inherent flaw in your own capacity to make music by ear, but instead a natural biological consequence of the manner in which you went about learning.

And the first step to breaking free is recognizing the signs of it, so you can alter course accordingly.

The 5 Signs of Tab Dependency

First, let’s review some of the signs of tab dependency:

1. You find it difficult to “memorize” a new tune (“memorizing” tunes is FAR more challenging when they’re learned exclusively by notation).
2. When you learn a new tune, something feels like it’s missing. Even though all the notes are there, it doesn’t sound like the version you were trying to learn.
3. You find it very difficult to make changes in the way you play a tune once it’s learned.
4. You find playing a tune along with others, or jamming, very challenging.
5. You have a difficult time picking out the chord progression for a new tune.

So if some of these things resonate with you, and you’d like to free yourself of the tab shackles, then let’s discuss how to right the ship.

How to Break the Habit

First, the bad news. Breaking the tab habit, as is the case with all habit breaking, requires the formation of NEW habits. Better habits to replace the old ones.

This means having to take a few steps back in order to move forwards again, like a veteran golfer with a 30 handicap and a swing full of compensations and compromises with no hope of shredding a point off his score without going back to basics to build his swing back from the ground up. It’s not in our nature to do such things.

But it’s an essential thing to do IF you wish to progress.

And it’s entirely possible by incorporating some basic principles from the Brainjo Method.

UPDATE: I recently completed a video workshop covering 6 Strategies for Breaking Free From Tab. Click here to check it out.