One of the most common patterns you’ll hear in bluegrass banjo is what I call the TAG ROLL (3153 1341) A song like “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” is composed largely of this roll pattern. It comes before the E minor and after it numerous times in…
If you are learning fingerstyle guitar, you may wonder if you should go with your nails or bare fingers. Today, I’ll give you some advantages and disadvantages of each approach. A lot of this decision lies on the types of music you want to perform….
I recently did a live stream covering “Old Time Music Rhythm.” You can view this 45 minute broadcast below. Some of the things discussed in this workshop were: Many of these things you won’t find as much in bluegrass or at all.
Today I want to talk about the various methods of improvisation. This outline will break down things to practice so you can become a better improviser. It will cover the advantages and challenges of each approach. Improvising By Scales One thing most instructors teach pretty…
As predominantly a three finger style banjoist, I’ve never felt the need for a bridge with wider spacing. I’ve played banjos that had Crowe spacing bridges and I couldn’t tell much difference. Maybe it’s because I grew up playing on the ole standard 5/8 bridge…
I recently had a fiddle student inquiry and it set off this question in my mind. If you’ve had years of classical violin training, perhaps under the Suzuki method, how do you sound more like a “fiddler?” That’s the question I want to answer today….
My hope is these set of articles will help alleviate tension in your hands and body as you play. Tension can lead to injures, speed barriers, and it can lead to unexpressive music. Today I’m going to discuss using dynamics to combat tension. Signs Of…
Today I want to discuss what some refer to as the Nashville Shuffle. If you want to play bluegrass or old-time music, this is critical to understand. There are parallels across the instruments, and it’s used everywhere. In the realm of old-time and bluegrass, I…
Have you practiced your scales and now your improvising sounds like scales? Here is a technique that can help. String skipping or melodic leaps are a great way to keep your solos from sounding like you are running scales. Here is an example of running…
Sometime people ask me what kind of strings, picks, or banjos I’m using. I thought I’d give a run down of some of my favorite equipment. I am an Amazon affiliate and anything purchased via these pictures/links, I earn a commission My Banjos My 78…
Today I want to talk about what I call the “Dillard Roll.” I call it this because it was a roll used a good bit by Doug Dillard. You can hear it in the famous bluegrass song “Dooley” in the Andy Griffith show. There aren’t…
If you’ve spent a good bit of time with the basic bum ditty clawhammer pattern, it may be time to add the drop thumb motion to your arsenal. Drop thumb allows you to add more melody notes and greater rhythmic variety to your clawhammer playing….
One of the most common techniques in bluegrass guitar is called crosspicking. What’s crosspicking? Today, I’ll show you how to get started with a few basic patterns. I’ll demonstrate via open strings only and then jump to a more advanced pattern where the notes move…
One of the things I enjoy doing when arranging a song is to change the underlying chords instead of the melody. This allows everyone to still hear the melody they are familiar with while adding something a little different. The ii-V sub To use this…