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Speed kills.

That’s a phrase with multiple meanings. So what exactly does speed kill when it comes to banjo playing?

Timing.

Or, perhaps more accurately, the desire for speed kills timing.

The banjo has a reputation as being a “fast” instrument. Many are first drawn to the instrument, especially bluegrass banjo, by the never-ending barrage of staccato, rapid fire notes.

For some, learning to play is mistakenly thought to be the most important technical hurdle.

Why does this matter? Because it’s all too easy in the earlier stages of learning the banjo to sacrifice timing in the name of speed.

It’s a sacrifice that reinforces bad habits that, once established, are hard to undo.

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NOTE: I’ll be conducting a live “Playing & Singing” tutorial for this song next week. Click the button below to subscribe to the Fingerstyle Banjo YouTube channel to be notified when it airs.)

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The seduction of speed may account for more closeted banjos, more dashed dreams of banjo picking, than anything else.

So don’t let that be you!

And the ultimate irony, and tragedy, is that the secret to being able to play music fast is being able to play it slow – an adage repeated in musical conservatories the world over. Nothing exposes flaws in timing and tempo like slow playing.

Speed isn’t required to build a solid technical foundation. On the contrary, it’s usually an impediment. Yet, once that foundation is established, speed becomes an effortless byproduct.

The other issue with the speed fixation is that many people lose out on all the great banjo music that can be made at slower tempos. The truth is, banjo picking sounds great at any speed.

You could spend an entire lifetime picking nothing but slow to moderate speed music on your banjo and never run out of material to delight your ears (in fact, in my experience, most audiences welcome the change of pace!)

Take this week’s song of the week, “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad,” as an example. The tempo played here is moderate at best.

Yet, played fast, it would lose much of its charm and nuance. A fast paced rendition might sound okay with a full band behind it, but not here. Instead, when we play it slower, the song is given room to breathe, and we get to savor each and every note.

“Goin’ Down That Road Feeling Bad”

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 3 (3 finger banjo)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recent Banjo Songs and Tabs of the Week:

• Feast Here Tonight
• East Tennessee Blues
• Walking Cane
• Pretty Polly
• Home Sweet Home
• The Miller’s Will
• Shoes & Stockings
• Handsome Molly
• Liberty
• Aint Gonna Work Tomorrow
• Nine Pound Hammer

Notes on the Tab

For more on how to read the tab, click here for the How To Read Banjo Tabs article.

 

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

What’s the purpose of music?

Entertainment? That’s probably the word that comes to mind for most in these times. Music is big business.

But throughout the course of human history, music has been so much more than that. In fact, given the overwhelming evidence that we’re all wired to make music, it’s likely been critical to our success as a species.

We use it to connect with each other, share values, tell stories, spread news, coordinate behaviors – essential functions for the most social animals on planet earth.

We also use music to ease suffering.

For instance, put a group of humans together to perform monotonous, repetitive, exhausting work, and before long they’ll be chanting chants and singing songs. A little something to distract the mind, share the struggle, and soothe the soul.

In the post war South, prisoners, usually African Americans, were often placed in such conditions, in the forced labor gangs working in mines, railroad camps, brickyards, turpentine farms – basically, if the work was tedious and tiresome, it was just right for the chain gang.

From that sprang a rich well of work songs, some of which were thankfully captured for posterity, working their way into the folk song catalog (check out this amazing recording from the Alan Lomax archives of prisoners in the Mississippi Penitentiary singing the song “Rosie”)

Today’s song, “Nine Pound Hammer,” was originally titled “Take This Hammer,” and was part of a collection of “hammer songs.”

Scores of verses have likely been sung to its melody. Some have been preserved, probably more have evaporated into the ether.

But the gist usually endures – the song’s protagonist has announced his bold decision to defy his captain’s authority and quit the gang, a fantasy likely shared by all who used to sing it. References to the most world’s most famous hammer-wielding folk hero, John Henry, are often included.

(NOTE: For Breakthrough Banjo members, the “Playing & Singing” video tutorial for this song is now available in the course. Click here for the singing and playing workshop archive page.)

“NINE POUND HAMMER”

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 3 (3 finger banjo)

 

 

 

Recent Banjo Songs and Tabs of the Week:

• Feast Here Tonight
• East Tennessee Blues
• Walking Cane
• Pretty Polly
• Home Sweet Home
• The Miller’s Will
• Shoes & Stockings
• Handsome Molly
• Liberty
• Aint Gonna Work Tomorrow

Notes on the Tab

For more on how to read the tab, click here for the How To Read Banjo Tabs article.

 

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

These days, the prevailing view seems to be that, if you want to sing and play the banjo, or will be playing mostly solo banjo, then clawhammer is the best style for you. Clawhammer is like a complete band all wrapped up in one style, which means it sounds great played solo, or as vocal accompaniment.

Fingerstyle, on the other hand, sounds better with a band, and not so well suited to playing as vocal backup (there’s also the impression that this is harder to do).

I used to think this myself.

Until I realized that what we were talking about here was Scruggs style banjo, rather than the broader world of fingerstyle, or up-picking.

Because yes, Earl’s highly syncopated style of playing banjo breaks sounds best when there are other instruments to fill things out (which makes perfect sense, since this style evolved within a band context, and because Earl was a singing banjoist).

But, in the world old time fingerpicking, singing and playing was not only common, it seems to have been the norm – amongst old time fingerpickers who used 2 or 3 fingers.

Back in the day, banjo players wanted to pick something on their back porch and sing along, so they figured out what sounded good.

And it turns out that 2 finger thumb lead has a lot in common with clawhammer when it comes to the aforementioned issues. With melody and rhythm all baked into one style, it works great for solo playing, and for vocal accompaniment.

So just as 2 finger thumb lead is the ideal first technique to learn when learning fingerstyle banjo, because it builds such a solid foundation, the same is true for learning to play and sing fingerstyle.

(RELATED: Many more arrangements of 2 finger thumb lead songs with vocal backup patterns are available, and many more still to come, inside The Vault in the Breakthrough Banjo course. Click here to learn more.).

 

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Playing & Singing Workshop for

“AINT GONNA WORK TOMORROW”

I’ll be doing a live (and public) “singing and playing” tutorial for this song on June 9 at 2pm EDT. To catch it live, click here or below to subscribe to the Fingerstyle Banjo YouTube Channel. The replay of the video will be available in the workshop archive of the Breakthrough Banjo course.

And click below to check out the schedule of past and upcoming workshops (which includes the new “playing and singing” tutorial series:

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“AIN’T GONNA WORK TOMORROW”

gCGBD tuning, 2 finger thumb lead

 

 

 

Recent Banjo Songs and Tabs of the Week:

• Feast Here Tonight
• East Tennessee Blues
• Walking Cane
• Pretty Polly
• Home Sweet Home
• The Miller’s Will
• Shoes & Stockings
• Handsome Molly
• Liberty

Notes on the Tab

For more on how to read the tab, click here for the How To Read Banjo Tabs article.

 

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

In a recent workshop on “Branching Out With 2-Finger Thumb Lead Style” banjo (now available in the workshop archive for Breakthrough Banjo members) I reviewed what has become my favorite tuning for playing fiddle tunes in the key of D, and why.

And I’ve had a great time working out many of the classic D tunes in both 2 and 3 finger style using this tuning (and adding these arrangements to The Breakthrough Banjo Tune Vault).

As is often the case, choosing the right tuning can spell the difference between a tune that is awkward to play, and lackluster in sound, to one that fingers easily and sounds fantastic.

Old time banjo players have long recognized the value of using various tunings, including old time fingerpickers. Again, the prevalence of standard G in bluegrass banjo is primarily an artifact of Earl Scruggs’s influence (though Earl certainly availed himself of alternate tunings as well).

REMINDER: I’ll be posting the tab “walk-through” video for this 2 finger version of Liberty on May 24. Click below for the schedule of past and upcoming workshops:

To see the schedule of workshops, click the button below:

 

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“Liberty”

aDADF# tuning, 2 finger thumb lead (Brainjo level 2)

Note here that I am capo’d at the 2nd fret to bring the banjo to aDADF# tuning, which places the tune in the key of D. You could also tune the banjo without the capo to gCGCE and play it just as it’s shown – the only difference being that the song will now be in the key of C.

Recent Banjo Songs and Tabs of the Week:

• Feast Here Tonight
• East Tennessee Blues
• Walking Cane
• Pretty Polly
• Home Sweet Home
• The Miller’s Will
• Shoes & Stockings
• Handsome Molly

Notes on the Tab

For more on how to read the tab, click here for the How To Read Banjo Tabs article.

 

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

As I’ve said before (and will surely say many times again), there’s seemingly no end to the number of ways you can make wonderful music on the banjo.

(RELATED: Click here to learn more about how to learn to play the banjo in any style.)​​

It’s also amazing what you can do on it with just 2 fingers! I’m especially fond of the surprisingly versatile 2 finger “thumb lead” style of playing, which doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves (another casualty of Scruggs banjo myopia).

Two finger “thumb lead” style is the perfect introduction to fingerstyle banjo, and an ideal stepping stone to 3 finger Scruggs style. In fact, it’s so useful in the learning progression, it should be a mandatory stepping stone, which is precisely why it’s the style covered first in the Breakthrough Banjo course.

(RELATED: If you’re still just getting started with fingerstyle banjo, or if you’ve struggled with 3 finger bluegrass, I HIGHLY recommend learning 2 finger thumb lead first. It’ll make learning Scruggs banjo so much easier – though you may find after learning it that you no longer have a desire to do so! Click here to learn more about the Breakthrough Banjo course for fingerstyle banjo.)

Of course, it’s more than just a stepping stone. It’s a fantastic way to play the banjo in it’s own right, and I’ve been delighted by the growing interest in it, along with the number of request from course members for more tune demonstrations in this style.

As part of my efforts to do just that, I’ve been revisiting some of the classic 2 finger material (though don’t get me wrong, you can play essentially any tune in this style).

One of those classics is this week’s Song of the Week selection, “Handsome Molly,” a heartbreaking of lost love (and yet another banjo tune with Molly as the female protagonist). Its simple, repeating melodic line also makes it a great song to learn early on.

Given the level of interest 2 finger thumb lead, I’ll be presenting more songs in the style. It’s one I’ve experimented with quite a bit in the last several years, and is a lot more versatile than most might think, which I’ll demonstrate in future installments (course members can also look forward to the upcoming course module on playing 2 finger “up the neck”).

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“Handsome Molly”

gDGBD tuning, 2 finger banjo (Brainjo level 3)

 

Recent Banjo Songs and Tabs of the Week:

• Feast Here Tonight
• East Tennessee Blues
• Walking Cane
• Pretty Polly
• Home Sweet Home
• Shoes and Stockings
• The Miller’s Will

Notes on the Tab

For more on how to read the tab, click here for the How To Read Banjo Tabs article.