Metronome Upate

I just want to let you know that the bluegrass rhythm is not included with the base iReal b iPad app. They do have one, but you'll have to pay extra for it. It's included in the Pop Styles Pack, and it will cost you another $5.00.
There are several other styles in the pack, but the bluegrass style is the only one I wanted at the time. Anyway, just a heads up if you're considering this app.
By the way, I'm considering buying a set of wireless speakers to use with my iPad during practice. An acoustic banjo easily overpowers the iPad, so sometimes I have difficulty hearing the rhythm.

Metronome Alternative

The metronome is unarguably one of the best tools in any musician's tool box. For me it helps me get over my tendency to start picking up steam when I practice alone.

My metronome is one of those standard digital units with a flashing red LED and an obnoxiously loud click that marks each beat. Although it may help with my timing issues, the downside is that it really gets on my nerves and offers nothing interesting in the way of rhythm.

A quick search for a metronome replacement lead me first to Band in the Box. I owned this product many versions ago, but I wanted specifically to use the metronome replacement on my iPad, so I was out luck following this route.

Then I came upon iReal b for iPad. It provides a drum instead of a sterile click, bass, and piano that play against chords that you enter for the song that you want to practice. 

The iReal b app also links to a forum where one can find and download countless songs in various categories, and yes, bluegrass is one of the categories.

There is no demo version of the app, so I forked out a whole $8.00 to purchase it, and I'm glad that I did. No more obnoxious metronome and a way better practice experience!

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with the product, but I am a happy user.

Fireball Mail

Back to Basics

The five string banjo sounds beautiful when playing bluegrass. It's a perfect pairing, but sometimes I find myself neglecting bluegrass in favor of my own music. When this neglect comes to mind, I realize that I need to get back to basics.

With this in mind I present to you three variations of a well known tune, Fireball Mail. Fireball Mail does indeed have lyrics, but I've mostly heard this preformed as an instrumental. 

Variation 1

The first variation stays fairly true to the basic Scruggs version with two exceptions to note. The first is the non use of the 5th string as a drone. All three versions replace the 5th string with the 3rd string as a drone nearly all the way through.

The second departure is the use of chord substitution. To stay true to standard bluegrass banjo I use this sparingly in the first version. See the image below for the first chord substitutions played against the D chord in the first half of song.

Starting half way through measure eight I start walking up the scale from the initial F#. This takes me through the Em, Am, and then finally a short stop on the Ddim7 chord that leads to the G in measure 10. At this point I feel that I haven't strayed too far from the traditional sounds of bluegrass, and with exception of the Ddim7 chord, everything in these two measures fits with the tonality used in the key of G.

Variation 2

The second variation leads us slightly further astray on paper than it sounds when played. Take a look at measure 23 in the image below. In this case I am playing the notes of an E7 chord against a G chord. An E7 chord is constructed from the following notes: E, G#, B, and D. It's not too outlandish, and it leads down to the D chord in measure 24 quite nicely.

The last real chord substitution is at measure 31. This comes on the tail end of a bluesy passage that starts in measure 26. Take a look at the image below. In this case I am substituting the last D chord in the song with an F chord. This serves to link the long bluesy run in the previous measures to the standard bluegrass banjo G ending in measure 32.

Variation 3

The third and last variation is just straight bluegrass banjo. It's not quite the way that Earl played it, but it doesn't stray far from tradition at all. 

I hope you enjoy this. Don't forget that you can find the tab in the section below or on my tablature page. I have two versions for you. One is PDF that most people should be able to read, and the other is GPX. GPX is used with the latest version of Guitar Pro.

Thanks for reading!

Downloads and Links

1. Fireball Mail Banjo Tab (PDF)

V- I Transition for Bluegrass Banjo

There is nothing like a hard driving bluegrass banjo song. Hopefully something interesting is played during the break and then it is finished off with a Scruggs-styled phrase that takes us from D to G.

The problem that I have is that I tend to play the same old thing every time. This is especially true at jam sessions, and sometimes I just want to jazz it up a little. To get there I need to develop a phrase that is sonically pleasing and then practice it until it becomes second nature, so let's get started.

Design Goals

I have three simple goals for my new phrase.

1. It has to be fairly easy to play. This will allow me to play the new phrase without thinking about it too much when I'm put on the spot.
   
2. It needs to have at least a moderate amount of wow factor. I want the people whom I normally play with to notice that I pulled something new out of the bag.
   
3. Putting the wow factor slightly aside, I don't want to rock the boat too much. For me this means not going too far off the reservation in terms of chord substitutions for standard bluegrass music.

Downloads and Links

1. Salty Dog Blues Banjo Tablature (PDF)
   
2. Salty Dog Blues YouTube Video

The Transitions

The banjo tab contains two V – I transitions. The first is a Scruggs-styled phrase that appears in bars 5 – 8. This is version one of the song. It is a more-or-less standard sounding transition and when properly accented it sounds pretty darn good.

The second transition appears in measures 13 – 16. This is version two and is identical to version one with exception of the transition bars.

As you can see I took an arpeggiated approach with the new transition with the phrase played over the D bars and then a simple melodic approach with the phrase in the G bars.

The D chord starts the transition, and the following chord substitutions played against the D chord only contain the notes of the G major scale. The anchor notes through these two bars are F# and G in bar 13, and A in bar 14. I linger on this formation to build a little anticipation prior to hitting the bar 15 with the transition to the tonic (G). I am essentially crawling my way up to the G bar where I'll start the downward transition on a B in measure 15 to cap off the song.

At this point the G lick is a more-or-less standard melodic phrase and happens to flow fairly well into the last note.

Summary

So did I meet the design goals? To my ears, and I know that this is purely subjective, the new transition doesn't create a tremendous amount of musical tension and sounds pleasing, so I believe this covers my second and third goals, but is it easy to play?

Honestly I think this is something that you will have to decide for yourself. Please give it a try and feel free to tweak it as you see fit. Hopefully you can add this to your bag of tricks, and don't forget to check out the tab and the video.

Happy picking!