stringband.mossyroof.comOld-Time Banjo Tabs

Old-time banjo tablature; mostly from Greg Canote, Jere Canote, and Candy Goldman’s stringband class in Seattle. We learn a new tune by ear every week. Generally they are interesting versions of old-time fiddle tunes. If the title looks familiar, have a listen and you might be surprised! This page looks best in Go directly to G Tunes A Tunes D Tunes C Tunes Calico Tunes Alphabetical tune list from Fall ’03-Fall ’08Filtered directly through their ears to my ears, and on to you! SNOW DAY! No class 2/11an 8-week session!Class is on hold - call or message Greg if you are interested in lessons! Class is expected to resume Monday Apr 6, 2020!Mondays in Fremont at 7:15 pmFor more info and contacts, see the Canotes’ website . Winter 2020 Last Class: One last G tune, from Jake Phelps: Gal On a Log week 7 (last class): A tune in D from Harry P. Elliot in the Bayard Collection, via Mark Tamsula: The Jay Bird week 6: This week, an A modal tune from Kenny Hall: Campbell’s Farewell to Red Gap or Steph’s Reel week 5: Here’s an A tune from Alton Mead via Spencer & Rains : John Booker week 4: This C tune comes to us from the playing of Palmer Loux, and was written by Tony Ellis: Dixie Banner week 3: A tune in C from John C. Moore in the Bayard Collection, via Mark Tamsula: Moore’s Rag week 2: This G tune is from N.H. Mills via Armin Barnett: Cuffey week 1: Starting off with a fun G tune from Melvin Wine: Old TennesseeClick here to find banjo tab for those fine Calico Tunes - tune yer fiddle to AEAC# and banjo to regular AClawhammer Uke! Goodbye Liza Jane Find a screening of The Canote Twins documentary! Get ready for the next Seattle Old Growth Old Time Festival Mine the archives of Quarantine Happy Hour Jam along to archived sessions from Slow Jam Fizz Pack some more fun into your calendar with these (mostly) Pacific Northwest events: - May 22-25, 2020 Northwest Folklife Festival - June 15 - 28, 2020, The campout at the fiddle contest in Weiser, Idaho . - June 28 - July 5, 2020 The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes .- August 10-18, 2019 Centralia Old-Time Music Campout - August 30-September 2, 2019 Zigzag Old Time Music Campout - September 5-8, 2019 American Banjo Camp - September 18-22, 2019 Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention - November 8-10, 2019 Dare to be Square - West, this time at Fort Flagler! - January 15-19, 2020 Portland Old-Time Gathering - January 24-26, 2020 Bellingham Folk Festival - February 13-16, 2020 Olympia Old Time Festival - February 20-23, 2020 Wintergrass in Bellevue at the Hyatt.* * * * * * * * * * * * Wedgwood Alehouse .Useful References: Archived and publicly available field recordings at the Digital Library of Appalachia Plenty of fiddle tune recordings at Slippery Hill Searchable index of recorded fiddle tunes at the Folk Music Index Search for words to that folk/trad tune at the Mudcat Cafe Otherwise unreleased field recordings at the Field Recorders’ Collective Practically every banjo tuning you could ever want: 5 string banjo tunings A from Banjo Camp or this extensivetune list for a Seattle jam . Jere Canote’s guitar tab Other sources Here’s some more tab of tunes that I learned elsewhere, like from my former teacherDiane Sanabria (in Western MA), or from American Banjo Camp or Fiddle Tunes . Also check out the Canotes’ website ! * * * * * * * * * * * This fun version of Cindy comes from Earl Johnson, and was taught at Dare to be Square 2009 by Dave Mount: Get my Whiskey from Rockingham Here is a quintessential D tune - I could play it for hours. I first heard it at Fiddle Tunes 2008. It’s Jere and Greg Canote with Brendan Doyle playing Big Tennessee , and an approximate banjo part (tab). The tune comes from the Hamblen collection in the Library of Congress, from fiddler David R. Hamblen in the 1840s. This D tune is a bit tricky, but very fun to play! It’s Paul Brown at Fiddle Tunes ’05 playing Twinkle Little Star , and what I think might be a fair banjo part (tab) . John Schwab on guitar. Here’s a recording from Fiddle Tunes ’05: Paul Brown playing an interesting version of Cotton Eyed Joe , and some tab as a feeble attempt at what Terri is actually playing on the banjo. John Schwab is on guitar. I ask you, who could dislike this version of Scott’s Return ? (Also from Fiddle Tunes ’07) Try playing along with this tab . There are some extra beats I didn’t notate, mostly at the end of each section. Here is a fun D tune, with the fiddle NOT in DDAD, from a jam with some of the great guys from the Atlas Stringband at Fiddle Tunes ’07. Here’s some of our Bonaparte’s Retreat , and some likely tab too . This great A tune is from John Salyer, recorded at Fiddle Tunes ’06. I wish I knew who was playing Trouble On My Mind . The rhythm is not square, and the B part might be the A part, so here’s my attempt at tab From Rafe Stefanini (11/1/06) a version of Little Birdie . The tuning is fCFCF and I haven’t worked out any tab for it. But here’s some tab for Melvin Wine’s All Young (A modal) on Hannah at the Springhouse. Calico fiddle tunes Here are some sound files of calico tunes, on the fiddle. They are all in A - fiddle is tuned AEAC#, banjo in regular A. Some of these were written by Greg Canote; so far all of them are played by Greg and Jere Canote. Here are Greg’s tunes: Obama’s March to the White House , banjo tab Walkin’ Back to Texas , banjo tab Come Back Alive , banjo tab Old Man Gone Hickory Smith , banjo tab And some others Black Mountain Rag Cows in the Pea Patch Cripple Creek Jenny Nettles Scolding Wife Snowbird in the Ashbank , from Earl Collins; banjo tab If you enjoy these, get the real thing! Support the musicians and get the Canotes’ CD: Calico Pie . I also highly recommend their other CDs, particularly their newest recordings! Some tunes from Fiddle Tunes ’05 We learned Jenny Lind (mp3) in band lab with Gerry Milnes and Dave Bing. This is a slow version; imagine about 50 people on a small stage hammering away on it. We also learned two other great tunes, (mp3) Sugar Hill and The Horny Ewe (say, "yo"). Again, these are the slow versions, meant to learn from rather than enjoy overmuch. Later in the week Gerry and Dave played a bunch of tunes for us, and here are a few of my favorites: Sally Coming Through the Rye A Rose for Polly And some rough tab for a tune they called Green Corn. I think I’ve got the rhythm off a bit around the repeats, and the brushes need to be mostly minor, but it’s a start. Here’s the fiddle part. One night Gerry Milnes, Paul Brown, and John Schwab were jamming. They were later joined by Joel Savoy. Here’s one tune they played early on called Indian Killed the Woodcock. Looking for a great gift? Everyone needs more Canote in their music collection!Ahoy Stringbandoleros! Here you will find png or jpeg images of the banjo tab for each tune, as well as sound files of each tune played at a reasonable pace by Greg (fiddle), Jere (guitar) and Candy (banjo). Recordings were made with the knowledge and consent of the musicians for non-commercial use only. All content is licensed under Creative Commons (see below). I hope that if you live near Seattle, you will come play with us at Candy, Greg and Jere’s class and you just need this website as a little reminder of what you’ve already learned.If you live far far away from Seattle, then I hope you have a bunch of friends who learn by ear so you can all learn these tunes and play them together. After all, it’s more fun that way! And if you haven’t got that, I encourage you to bring yourself and your instrument to a festival and find some friends or a teacher. **A Note To Banjo Tab Readers** Try to learn the tune by ear. If you find you need to refer to the tab, here are a few things you might like to know. This tab is far from authoritative. There are bound to be mistakes and different interpretations, so do not feel obligated to adhere strictly to the written tab. To save space I have sometimes cut corners (measures?): Rather than notating a pick up and then...