5-STRING BANJO

TABLATURES

by

Tony Essman

How To Read Tablature

Tablature (or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches. It works well for string instruments where the same pitch can be obtained using more than one fingering.

Some tablatures indicate indicate the left-hand finger that does the fretting. These tabs omit the left-hand finger that does the fretting, but left-hand fingering follows these rules: When the tab indicates a C-chord (or some other chord), the left hand uses C-chord fingering. Otherwise, it follows the 1-finger per fret rule where the 1st finger frets notes at the 1st fret, the 2nd finger frets notes at the 2nd fret, and so forth.

Also, these tablatures do not indicate note duration. That generally is not a problem however since all the tabs are in 2/4 or 4/4 time. For bluegrass banjo, it is convenient to subdivide a measure into 8 parts. If the time signature is 2/4, then the 8 divisions represent 16th notes, and if it is 4/4 then they represent 8th notes. You will notice little tick marks along the top or bottom of the tabs that divide the measure into 8 parts. When a note is omitted, then the preceding note is twice as long in duration.

Basic Chords

The above diagrams depict the shapes and fret positions of some major chords in G-Tuning in the 1st position. The cords used in the tablatures in this document are illustrated in the diagram.

My definition of 1st position for Scruggs style banjo playing is that it means the notes between the nut and the 5th fret. Others may use a different definition.

The banjo is tuned to a G chord, and we are always playing our rolls over a chord, so learning the chord shapes is simply something that must be mastered. Of all the shapes, the D shape is the usually most difficult for beginners. Just believe that you will be able to do it if you but keep at it. It's easier to practice learning that shape up the neck since up the neck the frets are closer together. Practice stretching your left hand fingers as far apart as you can. That will help.

For the C chord shape, use your index finger on the 2nd string, your ring finger on the 1st string, and your middle finger on the 4th string. For the D7 chord shape, use your index and middle fingers like in the F chord shape.

Cripple CreekCripple Creek is a traditional fiddle tune. It is good tune to learn early on since it only uses a few rolls and it has all the banjo-y sounds: hammers, slides, and pull-offs.

Traditional fiddle tunes are usually played like this: we play the verse 2 times, and then we play the chorus 2 times, then do that as much as we want. Sometimes the verse is called the "A" part, and the chorus is called the "B" part. Cripple Creek is then said to have the form "AABB".

Two arrangements of Cripple Creek are shown. The first is a basic, but good sounding arrangement, and the second is a more advanced arrangement using hammers, slides, and pull-off's. The thing to notice is that the right hand patterns are essentially the same for both arrangements. This high-lights the idea of using a simplier arrangement to learn a tune, and then "dressing" it up after the RH fingering is memorized.

Cripple Creek (melody)

Cripple Creek (basic)This is a basic arrangement of the traditional fiddle tune "Cripple Creek". It's a basic but good sounding arrangement that gets our right hand and left hand working together without asking too much of either.

What we're trying to accomplish here is to memorize the right hand finger patterns and to get the left hand to just go to where it is needed at the time it is needed. We don't ask the left hand to do much at this time. After the right hand patterns are throughly learned, we can ask the left hand to do some hammers, slides, and pull-offs. Since the left hand will already be conditioned to be in the right place at the right time, it will be much easier to execute the techniques asked.

Use the 2nd finger of the left-hand to fret the "5" in the first measure of the verse. This is because in advanced arrangements of the tune, we will do a slide on the 1st string from the 2nd fret to the 5th fret, and we will use the 2nd finger as the sliding finger. Using the 2nd finger now gets your left hand used to being where it will be in the advanced arrangement.

There is one hammer in this arrangement. It's in the last measure of both the verse and the chorus. Practice the tune first without the hammer, and then when you are comfortable with the right hand, you can add the hammer in. A hammer is a left-hand technique that slurs 2 notes together. The TAB looks like this: "0-2" (in the hand-written tab, the dash is curved). For this hammer, first sound the 4th-string open and then forcefully fret the 4th-string at the 2nd fret. That causes the 2nd note to sound. In a hammer a string is only picked once, but 2 notes are sounded. The 2nd note is sounded half-way between when the thumb picks the 4th-string and the index finger picks the 2nd-string.

It's good practice when trying to learn a new tune, to look and see what is the same in the tune. We see that the last 2 measures in both the verse and the chorus are the same. So when you learn one, you have also learned the other!

The way to learn this tune is to start with the chorus. Look at the first 2 measures of the chorus. What we see are 3 identical square rolls (TITM) followed by a full forward roll (TIM) and then by a partial forward roll (TI where the M is omitted), and then ends with a pinch. Notice the rest before and after the pinch. Along the bottom of a measure are 8 tick marks. The tick marks divide the measure into 8 equal parts, and in 2/4 they represent 1/16th notes. When you see a tick mark with no note, that's a rest.

Cripple Creek (advanced)

I'll Fly AwayHere are two arrangements of "I'll Fly Away". The RH fingering is different in the two arrangements. If you learn both, then you can mix different parts of them together for variations. Or you could play the basic arrangement for the first break, and the advanced arrangement for a second break.

I'll Fly Away (basic)

I'll Fly Away (advanced)

How To Read Tablature Basic ChordsCripple CreekCripple Creek (melody)Cripple Creek (basic)Cripple Creek (advanced)

I'll Fly AwayI'll Fly Away (basic)I'll Fly Away (advanced)