Thanks again from the whole band; Jeff, Jarrod, Austin, Tyler, and Jimmy
;)
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However, if you just want to learn to play the banjo, or other stringed instrument, I would strongly encourage you to learn to read tablature. Some people do not like tablature because they believe that it harms your ability to play independent of tablature. I would agree that not being able to play without having tablature in front of you is a problem in the long term. However using tablature does not in any way cause you to be reliant on tablature. If you never work on memorization orimprovisation you will obviously not develop those skills. But someone who learns to memorize things note-by-note by ear (i.e. without using tablature) would be in the same position. So as long as you make the effort to play without music, to memorize first and eventually improvise, tablature will only benefit you.
Blank tablature looks like this:
There are vertical lines denoting measures and horizontal lines representing the strings. Banjo tablature has 5 horizontal lines and guitar tab would have 6 vertical lines.
The string are numbered as follows, remember the 5th string is the short one on the banjo.
This layout seems arbitrary, especially on the banjo. Many students of mine have commented that it seems upside down, but there is a logic to this arrangement. If you disregard the 5th string the strings are arranged in the tablature with the lowest in pitch string, the 4th string, on the bottom and as you go up the tablature the strings also go up in pitch. Thus, the top line of the tablature represents the highest in pitch string, the 1st string. This method was developed long before the 5 string banjo was invented and is a very efficient and effective way to communicate stringed instrument arrangements.
The tablature is marked with numbers rather than note symbols. These numbers represent the fret at which the string should be fretted. A zero(0) indicates that the string should be played open, whereas a five(5) would indicate that string should be fretted at the 5th fret. The tablature would look something like this.
Tab is written to a widely varying degree of accuracy and precision. Some tab is written without any fingering or timing markings, I have even see tab without even measure lines. Some tablature on the other hand isthorough markedwith fingerings, timing, accents, and even dynamics clearly marked.
The first example is just a stream of notes, no measures, no timing, no fingering.
The next one is a more common representation, measures are marked, some timing is marked, there is a slide marked, but no fingerings.
This final example is the most complete. It includes measure lines, all timing, all fingerings, the slide is specified, and the Chords are indicated.
The uppercase letters below the tab are Right hand fingering, lowercase letters above the tab are left hand fingerings.
Here is a basic song, Boil them Cabbage, tabbed out. 1/4 notes are indicated with a vertical line beneath the quarter note, all other notes are 1/8 notes.
i r r i
||----0---0-----0-|----2---2-----0-|----0---0-----0-|
||--0-------0-----|--1-------1-----|--0-------0-----|
||0-----------0---|0-----------0---|0-----------0---|
||----------------|----------------|----------------|
||------0---------|------0---------|------0---------|
T I M T M I T M T I M T M I T M T I M T M I T M
m i i m i r r i
|----0---0-----0-|----0---0-----0-|----2---2-----0-|
|--1-------1-----|--0-------0-----|--1-------1-----|
|2-----------2---|0-----------0---|0-----------0---|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|------0---------|------0---------|------0---------|
T I M T M I T M T I M T M I T M T I M T M I T M
i m
|----0---0-----0-|----0-------0---||
|--0-------1-----|----|---0---|---||
|0-----------2---|0---|---|---|---||
|----------------||---|---|---|---||
|------0---------||---0---|---0---||
| | | |
T I M T M I T M T TM I TM
Banjo technique, it almost strikes you as an oxymoron. For a large portion of banjo players out there technique, how they play the banjo, is not something they devote much time or effort to improving. This is really too bad because improving, or at least being aware of, how you play your instrument can pay large dividends. Paying a little attention to your right and left hands and to your posture can allow you to be more relaxed, more confident, more aware, and more musical, by removing the obstacle of poor technique and allowing more of your true ability to show through.
Banjo technique breaks down in to three different areas. Right hand, left hand and posture. Posture is the simplest but the most overlooked, while right and left hand technique are much more involved and recieve more attention, but not anywhere close to the attention they deserve.
Posture:
Lets run through posture first. This area will have the least impact on your actual playing, the main benefit here is preserving your ability to comfortably play the banjo for long picking sessions and, long term, to prevent injuries to your back, neck, wrists, and other areas.
Good banjo playing posture boils down to this: back stright, head held upright, fairly straight wrists, and relaxed everything.
Right Hand:
Banjo playing is driven by the right hand more than by the left hand to a greater degree than any other instrument, save possibly the dobro. Right hand technique affects timing, tone, volume, stamina, comfort and almost any other aspect of banjo playing one could name. This greater emphasis on the right hand means that anything that can be done to improve right hand technique will greatly benefit our overall playing. I can not count the number of students I have encountered who had previously taken lessons from other fine banjo instructors that had never had any substinative disscusion of their right hand technique. Often times problems with their right hand technique were directly causing problems with their playing that they were hoping to improve upon. In my experience, many instructors approach technique, if they spend any time on it at all, as something that is highly variable from one student to the next lacking any right or wrong. I taught this way for many years when I started teaching but as I have seen more students and had time to reflect on this aspect of banjo playing I have come to believe that there is such a thing as good technique, this technique can be identified and defined, and most importantly students can learn and benefit from this attention to technique.
Good right hand technique boils down to this; ring and pinky fingers resting lightly on the head, picks default position should be within 1/2 inch of the strings, finger motion should be as efficient and minimal as is possible and your hands, wrists, and forearm should be as realxed as possible.
Left Hand:
Left hand technique is an area that has much in common with other stringed instruments, unlike the right hand. The guitar, banjo, and mandolin, among others, all use the left hand in bassically the same way. The neck width, sting count and scale length all vary but the same rules apply to all the instruments. On the plus side this means there is a lot of very good information out there about left hand technique. Unfortunately, many banjo players do not bother to take advantage of this information or think that somehow it does not apply to the banjo.
Good left hand technique boils down to this: thumb rest on the back of the neck, fingers curve evenly around the neck, fingertips hover within 1 inch of the strings when not actively fretting a note, place finger centered on string as close to fret as possible, press down with the fingertips as lightly as possible while still producing a celan note, only push back with the thumb enough to counteract the pressure form fingertips, and as always be relaxed.
]]>Thanks again from the whole band; Jeff, Jarrod, Austin, Tyler, and Jimmy
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