Your favourite banjo tune

[nat]

I've been working on Angeline the Baker recently and it's my new favourite. I've pretty much got it down; just need to work on smoothing it out. It's a pretty tune and I find it quite relaxing to play.

The tab I've been using can be found here, along with an audio file -

www.bluesageband.com/Tabs.html

[plunknplinkntwang]

Well since I last posted I've learn't a few more tunes from Ken Perlmans book. Lots of tunes in it that don't require more than 2 finger chords, [and if they do I fluff it ] This style appears to utilise much less brushing but more in the way of drop thumb, pull offs, hammer ons, quick slides. Hard work but doable

Current favourite is Frosty morning - just started on this one, it's gDGCD tuning so has a sort of whistful plaintive feel

[bublnsqueak]

I'm a noobie,

I've just got to the point where I can Clawhammer Cripple Creek on autopilot.

This version of Kitchen Girl is my target:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGjMw6Lnq8I

One day perhaps!

Paul

[Danny]

I never actually learned CrippleCreek, I think I'm somehow deficient

[bublnsqueak]

The tabs at:

www.bluesageband.com/Tabs.html

are very clear - Thats where I got my 'Cripple Creek' from.

I chose it because people seem to think it is a banjo standard. I like it because it makes me sound like I'm actually 'pickin' as they say.

Paul

[Danny]

I REALLY ought to get around to learning it at somepoint

[bublnsqueak]

I'm still new and enthusiastic! I read somewhere that CC is a banjo anthem.

If you told me I'd play better wearing green shoes I'd be out looking in all the shops.

You old sweats know better!

P

[companyman]

Garryowen .... Girl I left Behind Me ... Sandy River Belle.....

[plunknplinkntwang]

Cripple creek is still a firm favourite of mine - basis was Perlmans tab then some of Tim Jumpers crept in - ooh and a bit of Leftwichs Round peak has now slipped in and I'm not sure how Levensons notes got there.... I think it's still Cripple Creek

Currently noodling with 'the ballad of Jesse james' from Tim Jumpers how to play banjo book.

I can't & don't do chords so noodling to get an interesting melody and substituting full brushes to strings 1&2 plus chucking in some DT & PO. If someone were to sing this they'd probably have to gargle ;D

[mark]

right now I'm enjoying playing 'the boatman', 'angeline' and 'west fork gals' but I should start on another ... maybe something modal?

[phil]

Cripple Creek is good for me, Also I like playing Will the Circle be Unbroken. One day I will get good at them. ;D

[allfordixie]

Hand Me Down My Walking Cane. I seem to play that one everyday.

[drifter]

Hi everyone, this is my first visit to this forum and I thought I would jump in to tell you about my current favourite tune. I bought by banjo almost 40 years ago and, up until 3 weeks ago, had clocked up about 40 hours of playing! I started with bluegrass and Earl Scruggs but failed to manage to produce a melodic sound. I then discovered frailing which I found much easier and recently, while surfing the net, found Patrick Costello’s websites and started playing again. I think the major problem with trying to learn the banjo is that most of the songs used as examples in teaching books etc. are from American culture which is not the music that I have been brought up with. I had never heard of Cripple Creek or Old Joe Clark. How much easier it would have been if my first tunes has been songs I knew like Loch Lomond, The Skye Boat Song or even The Wild Rover. Did I mention that I am Scottish? When I play Cripple Creek, for example, I play strictly note for note and I don’t feel connected to the song. Is Cripple Creek a place? “She’s got eyes of navy blue, makes my gun shoot straight and true.” I have never met anyone with eyes of navy blue and has the next part of the line got double meanings? I digress; my favourite tune at present is Jingle Bells which is a tune I know. I think I got the tabs for the banjo hangout and I like the arrangement.

[choobs]

(hello all) I'm currently dividing my time between Ken Pelman's book and the Costello boys' material, but I'm particularly enjoying "May the circle be unbroken". The slides at te end are catching me out more often than not, but I think I'm making some progress.

Cripple creek is the old fall-back for me too, largely as it gives me something to check progress with. It's one of those songs that gets better the more competent my playing becomes.