Jesse James - up the neck

Tim writes:
(You).. put up a nice version of Jesse James on guitar. So I decided to give old Jesse James a try playing the chords up the neck

I’m still playing in G with the G chord as a D shape at 9th fret, C chord is F shape at 10th fret, and D is the bar D at 7th fret.

Just wanted to share this to show folks what the growing pains are like when we step out of our comfort zone to learn something new.

Tim


Jesse James by Tim in Korea

Aussie Frailers

There's another new banjo blog starting up, on the other side of the world this time. Aussie Frailers

It's aimed at antipodean banjo bashers but it's sprung from Tangier Sound and I think the ethos will be fairly inclusive - even for poms!

Good luck fellas.

and yes I know the image is dodgy... (sorry)

So if you've got any stuff to share youknow where to go.

Help! I need somebody....

Alan writes:

Hi Andrew, I came across your site while trying to find out about two finger picking on the 5string banjo ,I,m in the twilight years so no spring chicken but still would love to play.I have had my open back G banjo over the past year and I,m still struggling just to play some kind of tune. I have tried hard with three picks and several books and dvds know a few chords.then I bought a dvd on ebay by Happy Traum who plays two finger picking ,he calls it mountain music and just maybe I could manage this. So I have contacted you to see if you could point me in the right way of finding more about this style may some place I could get Tabs for two finger picking. I live in sompting sunny sussex down south,any way you know I,ll be very happy with any help so a Happy New Year and all the best
alan

Alan

There are a whole load of different fingerpicking styles out there, about as many as there a different tunings on the banjo. If you've tried for a year to get going with the fingerpicking style and still having problems, maybe a strumming style would be a better place to start. I know I struggled and got disheartned with the bluegrass three finger style and eventually started 'frailing', or pick and strum as it was easier for me to pick up. As someone who hasn't played any other instruments I found the bluegrass finger rolls and left hand techniques hard to learn at the same time.

I got a good book by Tim Jumper called 'How to play: Banjo' it starts by introducing simple pick and strum technique, moves onto 'downpicking' which is picking and struming with with the back of the nail, and finally moves onto three finger picking. I've found that after two years of working through these various techniques I'm ready to go back and try the three finger technique. With the frailing method you can get a song going fairly quick. I think it took me about three-six months of pretty heavy practice to get the action going naturally - check out the earlier posts!

here's a link to amazon for the tim jumper book
http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Play-Banjo-Tim-Jumper/dp/0825623529

The other place to go is Daily Frail.com Pat and Patrick Costello are a mine of useful hints tips and encouragement and I've found there free online tutorial invaluable. They have all their videos on you tube for free and the series on basic technique is where I would tell anyone to go to see demonstation and techniques explained in a non technical way.
Try these for a start http://www.youtube.com/user/Dobro33H#grid/user/EB220FDB09CFC903
These guys have also pubished some of the best instructional books and DVDs that I've seen so maybe give those a look too.

Hope this helps.

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

Andy

Anyone else got any suggestions for Alan - contact acwesley@aol.com

back to basics

Paul's been in touch again and has been over to Tangier Sound. He liked the fact that Patrick makes learning to play seem like fun, and it should be, after all if you don't get a kick out of it, why bother?
Learning the basics and practicing can be long hours of frustration if it's not going right but eventually it does -little by little.
I don't know if you got to the frailing lesson one, Paul but if you didn't here it is again, and it's what it's all based on. Work on this and the rest will fall into place, eventually!



Patrick makes it seem easy, but to begin with for many people - me included - the frailing bump-ditty rhythm can sound very mechanical. It's just a matter of practice and time, keep going and it'll eventually become a single unconscious action. The act of down picking with the back of your nail can seem a very awkward method, and to begin with I followed Tim Jumper's suggestion of up-picking with the index finger and strumming with the back of the middle finger, until I'd got a sense of the timing. It does make sense to frail with the back of your finger nail eventually as its easier to really pick up speed in your playing if your hand only has to repeat a single action rather than two. Keep on frailing....

New York Calling - via London!

Wes from New York writes:

Hi

I'm a TangierSound/Daily Frail fan from New York. I've always liked your videos and now I'm in London for a couple of weeks and thought I'd say hello.

I've been playing (or trying to play) for just a few months. It started by accident and has become an obsession. Back in May I emailed Dear Old Dad asking to interview him for an article I was writing. The next thing I knew he was putting a banjo (the S-5 prototype) in the mail to me and signing me up for the retreat that was coming up in Crisfield. After that I couldn't put the thing down.

All best, Wes

More Entertainment

After MC Clawhammer made it onto Tangier Sound with his version of Pet Shop Boys 'Rent' and The Jam 'That's Entertainment' here's a couple of other pop classics to get the banjo treatment, suggested by Patrick.


Pete G (UK Folkies) Anarchy in the UK

Get this widget Track details eSnips Social DNA

Sympathy For the Devil

Get this widget Track details eSnips Social DNA

Wabash Cannonball

I've been working on Wabash Cannonball this week on ukulele and banjo with the Uke of Cornwall , so if we get some audio or video we'll get it on.

Meanwhile, this is the tab that we've been working from, as always, Tangier Sound. They are the ukulele chords and lyrics, and below are the banjo chords.

Thumbs up from the Big Man and Irish Pub Songs for the 5-String Banjo

I've been using this site to pull together banjo related stuff that I've found on the web, and increasingly I've been using Patrick Costello's website and online resources through Tangier Sound(see links) and You Tube. So I thought it was about time that I contacted them and checked that it's OK, after all it's their hard work that produces most of the tablature that I've been linking to and posting on Northern Banjo Boy.

Patrick and Dear Old Dad dropped me a line to to say it's OK!
Thanks guys, and just to let you know, I'll be ordering a copy of - Irish Pub Songs For The 5-String Banjo by Kelly Griner, which is available for $15.95 as a download. You'll find it here

A Whole Lotta Cabbage

I've been playing Boil 'em Cabbage Down a lot recently as an exercise to improve my drop thumbing technique, and I was trawling through Patrick Costello's Tangier Sound archive for the Daily Frail and I've pulled together his various tabs for Boil 'em.

Wreck of the Old '97

Banjo tab for Wreck of the Old '97.
Thanks to Patrick Costello and Dear Old Dad.

For more tabs and video visit
http://tr.youtube.com/watch?v=m-4huoZkc1I
http://ia300025.us.archive.org/1/items/Old_time_banjo/

Bendin those Blues

Been working on the 12 bar blues that I posted earlier, adding in a few of the 7th hammer-ons, pull-offs and bends that Patrick's been posting on Tangier Sounds workshops lately. Gettin there..