Category: Video

Here’s a funky tune from my recent collaboration with fiddler, Esther Morgan-Ellis. We’ve been working for the last year on a group of new old-time tunes. We’ve performed them in a series of concerts beginning in Spring 2024, and we plan to release a recording of them soon. Here’s a performance of my tune “Smoot’s Good Foot” from our concert at the University of North Georgia, Dahlonega.

Here’s the tablature for the banjo part and a representative melody line.

Notes About This Tune

• “Smoot’s Good Foot” is in D, played in Double D tuning (aDADE) using the clawhammer style.
• This is a deeply crooked tune that nonetheless has a great groove.
• I usually play the quieter, groovier, unpredictable A part as many times as I like, before signaling to move to the louder, straighter B part.
• Esther and I have been playing “Smoot’s Good Foot” as the closing tune for a set.
• The tune gets its name from MIT student Oliver R. Smoot, for whom the smoot unit of measure was named. See Robert Tavernor’s Smoot’s Ear: The Measure of Humanity for more.

Give the tune a try, and add a comment to let me know what you think!

This is a fun finger-picked tune from my recent collaboration with fiddler, Esther Morgan-Ellis. The video is of our performance at the University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, of my tune “Pale Blue Dot Blues.”

And here’s the banjo tablature:

Notes About This Tune

• “Pale Blue Dot Blues” is in C, played in an open C tuning (eCEGC) using the two-finger, thumb lead up picking style.
• I like the way this tune sounds on a fretless banjo with Nylgut strings–a low, mellow tone with some nice slides thrown in for color.
• The piece isn’t really a blues. It’s not in a blues style or blues form, though its ABABC structure could be a nod to the typical AAB phrases of a 12-bar blues.
• The title comes from the Pale Blue Dot photo (above) of earth taken by the Voyager I explorer.

This is another clawhammer banjo tune from my recent collaboration with fiddler, Esther Morgan-Ellis. We’ve been working for the last year on a group of new old-time tunes. We began performing them in a series of concerts beginning in Spring 2024, and we plan to release a recording of them soon. Here’s a performance of my tune “Stay Local” from our concert at the University of North Georgia, Dahlonega.

Here’s the tablature for the banjo part and a representative melody line.

Notes About This Tune

• “Stay Local” is a fast tune in A Dorian, played in Sawmill tuning (aEADE) using the clawhammer style.
• This is a slightly crooked tune. There’s no mixed meter, but the phrase lengths are a bit wonky: 11-bar phrases in the A section and 9-bar phrases in the B section.
• The A part phrases begin with the Galax Lick, a brush across the top four strings that lands on the 5th string played with the thumb.
• There’s an alternate string pull-off on in the second ending of the A part. This is a common technique in the Round Peak Banjo style and could be sprinkled throughout other parts of this tune.
• The drop thumb figures in the B part provide a nice rhythmic drive.
• The title of the tune refers to the stationary left hand position used throughout the tune. One thing I love about playing the banjo is the wide variety note choices available without having to move your fretting hand much. This is especially true given the many possible tunings for the instrument. You can do a lot on the instrument just by staying “home,” not traveling too far up the neck. Hence, “Stay Local.”

Give the tune a try, and let me know how you like it!

This one’s an unabashedly pretty song from my recent collaboration with fiddler, Esther Morgan-Ellis. We’ve been working for the last year on a group of new old-time tunes. We began performing them in a series of concerts beginning in Spring 2024, and we plan to release a recording of them soon. Here’s a performance of my tune “Summerbird” from our concert at the University of North Georgia, Dahlonega.

Here’s the tablature for the banjo part and the basic melody line.

Notes About This Tune

• “Summerbird” is a slow, sweet song in A major. A tune like this would typically be played in open A tuning, but I prefer to play this one in Sawmill tuning (aEADE).
• This tune uses the two-finger, thumb lead style that’s well-suited for slower songs. In general, the thumb plays all the melody notes on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings, with the 1st and 5th strings serving as drones. The higher melody notes in the B and C parts are played on the 1st string with the index finger instead of the thumb.
• The form of this song begins quite predictably, but the C part enters earlier than expected.
• Esther and I have experimented with adding drones for the accompaniment. There are plenty of other possibilities for harmonies, counter-melodies, etc.

Give this little beauty a whirl, and let me know how you like it!