A few F#dim Licks

An original tune I wrote several years ago and love to pick.

Happy New Year All!

Be sure to see the tablature for these ideas ... reference recording for the tab posted--<a href=&#39/tab/browse.asp?m=detail&v=25016&#39>view my tabs here</a>.

Reference recording for the tab posted--view my tabs here.

Traditional Christmas Song

We worked really hard on this. Ian&#39s arrangement was very demanding and pushed the band&#39s abilities to the limit both vocally and instrumentally.

Reference recording for the tab posted--<a href=&#39/tab/browse.asp?m=detail&v=25286&#39>view tab here</a>. This is my original arrangement of this beautiful tune by Paul McCartney. In working this up I discovered that Paul does not always play it the same way, occasionally adding in some transitional or &#34bridge&#34 measures before the 3rd and 4th verses, and sometimes only before the 4th verse. This version is the latter. Anyway, this is a fun tune to play and beautiful to hear. I hope you enjoy.

New Tears Eve song played by Victor Sadovsky

banjo with nickel silver tone ring played 3-finger

Clip from the podcast

Fun tune to play.

Steven Moore - Bent to Fly (featuring John Cowan)

My rendition on banjo and fiddle of a popular Bluegrass traditional tune titled &#34Groundspeed&#34.

I stumbled across this old recording today as I was looking for something else on my computer, a nice relaxed version of this timeless tune, recorded at band practice March 2016. Me on banjo, Dickie Brown on guitar and for the life of me, I cannot remember the bass player&#39s name. All three of us were plugged in and the placement of the Zoom H2 this was recorded on favored the banjo. Well, it is a banjo website after all LOL!! I hope you enjoy, a truly enjoyable tune to play.

I wrote this one for the &#34Party for One&#34 CD by the Feinberg Brothers. I think the melody has a uilleann pipes sound to it. I&#39m not sure anyone else does, though!

My annual new composition around the holidays. For all my Hangout friends and the rest of the Hangout crowd, I wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or whatever you might celebrate. And as always, whether you mark the season or not, I wish you peace, and a safe, healthy new year. In Double C (gCGCD).

Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys were in concert in Madison, WI, 13 February 1967. His duet with Peter Rowan is haunting, and Monroe was at the top of his game vocally. Banjo: Lamar Grier; fiddle: Richard Greene; bass: James Monroe; guitar: Peter Rowan.

Original Cello Banjo 3-finger picking Tuning: A C# A B E

Reference recording for the tab posted--view my tabs here.

traditional bluegrass

Here&#39s my latest original.

Pretty simple really, we practiced this, never sang it in public, it was good fun figuring out the banjo part. Think we recorded it about 15 years ago, have fun if you like it, and thanks if you do. I&#39ll post tab as well.

another of my instrumental originals

Love song and wish could do it some justice...Dubbed with me playing Banjo/Mando

A tune off the Feinberg Brothers CD &#34Party for One.&#34 Played in G Tuning.

An amalgamation of styles that I attempted to sew together with my own thread.

Reference recording for the tab posted--view my tabs here.

Test between 2 banjos - Stelling Golden Cross and prewar TB3 conversion to flattop. Which is which??

Made a fretless banjo from a walnut tree from my friend Ralph&#39s back yard.

From a Flatt and Scruggs broadcast on WSM radio, Spring 1956 -- one of my favorite songs by the Foggies. Earl puts on a clinic of banjo backup..

I&#39ve always thought this cool instrumental by Tommy Emmanuel would lend itself to banjo, so this is what I came up with. Starting from scratch last Friday and over the weekend, I finally settled on this adaptation of the tune. Tommy does this tune in different keys, and it&#39s easy to find examples of him playing this in D, Eb, E, F, and G, depending on where he puts his capo. I decided on D to grab the lowest note on the banjo. I rendered an MP3 of my tab, to full speed of ~130 bpm, about where Tommy plays it. For what it&#39s worth, I hope someone gets something from this. Reference recording for the tab posted--<a href=&#39/tab/browse.asp?m=detail&v=25974&#39>view here</a>.

fun old Canadian fiddle tune

Flatt and Scruggs on the WSM radio show &#34Sunday Singing,&#34 13 May 1956. Paul Warren does some spectacular bass singing.

Haven&#39t posted a song in a long time. I actually play this as a finger exercise on piano but it sounds neat on banjo too.

Posted to accompany a thread on Dance With Me. This is a old and rough recording from band practice when I first learned this tune. A very relaxed vibe. We later layered in the vocals, this was just a practice tape to learn from.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas (Performed Upon a 2X4)

Reference recording for the tab posted--view my tabs here.

OK National finger pick Unknown

Reference recording for the tab posted--view my tabs here.

lick from song

I uploaded this yesterday but was decided I could do better. This new version is cleaner overall and I added a bass line (banjo down 1 octave in post production)

Arrangement for banjo: Bill Keith

Reference recording for the tab posted--<a href=&#39/tab/browse.asp?m=detail&v=25838&#39>view my tabs here</a>.

Old 1971 radio recording

Traditional

Earl Scruggs Solo fast

A Beatles song we never performed, but we liked the way it turned out ....

Just my quick take on this cool old fiddle tune. This is two banjos, one serving as a drone bagpipe-like rhythm backup ... tons of fun to play.

I&#39ve played this one for a long time. I recorded this version on the &#34The Feinberg Brothers&#34 CD in 2015.

Top Tension CannonBell with resonator

I&#39m a beginner and this is My first experimental record after 9 months of playing banjo (newer played anything else) Recorded with Gold tone EB-5 electric banjo via USB PC Guitar Rig 6 tech info. Gold Tone EB-5 (tweaked stock) strings J.D. Crowe Signature 91/2 - 11 - 12 - 20 - 91/2 tailpiece Deering truetone preamp Fender Mustang micro Ernie Ball picks / Blue Chip

Part B of a three part blind sound comparison

Our last jam session took place on the terrace of the restaurant where we usually play. A tuba player passed by on his bicycle, stopped to listen and was invited into the session. This is the first tune we played together.

Reference recording for the tab posted--view my tabs here.

Reference recording for the tab posted--<a href=&#39/tab/browse.asp?m=detail&v=25311&#39>view this tab here</a>. This is a tune I picked up within the last 20 years and came up with an ever-evolving banjo version. I never tried to emulate any particular version of this tune nor have I tried to emulate a drop-thumb approach. My brain doesn&#39t work like that. My approach is to simply play the tune in a Scruggs-based style which works just fine. In writing this tab I realized that I rarely play the tune the same way twice and pull from a body of licks on-the-fly as I play it. So, in this tab you will see I offer several variations for the same phrases which appear throughout the tune. This is a fun tune to play and I&#39ve noticed over the years that it&#39s becoming more commonplace, part of a growing shared repertoire at jams and get-togethers.

I composed this tune back in 1991.

Devil&#39s Dream & Sailor&#39s Hornpipe - Harry J Miller, Kendall Carson and Stillhouse Gang at Edward Milne School, Sooke, BC Concert - Jan 29, 2005

Here&#39s a fun tune to play.

This is my recording of me playing Jerusalem Ridge including the backing track I practice this song with. The recording was made with a Zoom H5 situated about a meter away from the banjo using the X/Y mike the Zoom comes with. Using audacity, I normalised the volume, added some compression and a little reverb (in this order). I think there is too much pick noise and I suspect something is wrong with the compression setup. The backing track seems to mask some of the deficiencies in my playing.

A favorite Bluegrass song

I&#39ve been meaning to work up something for this tune for years now, so I finally just did it. This pretty much follows Paul McCartney&#39s arrangement which varies a little each time through. Here&#39s my simple arrangement on this beautiful tune, played on two banjos (one overdubbed another). I will be posting tab for this very soon...

Subject A of a three part blind sound comparison

I first heard this lovely tune a few weeks ago in a jam session and it showed up twice in other sessions. Hence, it was time I learned this tune. I set up a backing track and played with it until I was happy with my arrangement.

Our arrangement of H C L

OK National finger pick

This is a beautiful original tune by Boone, NC son Pete Washburn. This was recorded in March 2011 at (now defunct) band practice. The lineup is: Me (on my custom top-tension banjo), Shane Lail on guitar, Keith Cole on upright bass, David Heavner on mandolin, and George Giddons on fiddle. At the time, Shane and George were members of the Rodney Dillard Band.

Clinch Mountain Backstep - Sullivan V35 1900 piano neck

Wrong National finger pick

Earl Scruggs solo slow

Top Tension CannonBell without Resonator

Gospel song that was recorded and performed by the Shenandoah Cutups

Fun picking with my son (vocals, mando) and daughter in law (vocals, fiddle).

Part C of a three part blind sound comparison

Recorded by the 8th Avenue String Band

Bluegrass with tuba accompaniment and solo recorded at one of our jam sessions.

Here is a mid-1950s recording of Earl Scruggs backing up the fiddle on Blackberry Blossom.