Here are THREE COOL banjo licks for the E minor chord.
You can put this to immediate use in songs like “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” or “Blackberry Blossome,” basically anywhere you will encounter an E MINOR CHORD.
The first lick uses the E minor position at the 7th-9th frets but uses an A note on top or the 4th of the chord. It also uses CHROMATICISM. I learned this from a local banjo player many years ago
The second lick I THINK I got from Scott Vestal, I can’t remember. It uses a nice roll 5212 and moves through some E minor based chord shapes. I use this lick in “Temperance Reel” sometimes.
The third lick is something I stole from John Coltrane. See his break to “Mr PC.” It is in the key of C minor, I simply transposed it to the E minor chord. This is the most difficult of the licks and I only recommend those intermediate and above try this.
Remember when learning licks, you often have to modify them slightly to make them work, perhaps dropping or adding notes. Also, you want to use these licks in a BUNCH of different songs, the more you use them the more they will flow out of you. You have to get to the point that they sound contrived and flow effortlessly.
The TAB to these licks is available to ALL of my PATREON members at:
https://www.Patreon.com/JodyHughesMusic
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