Brooklyn Rider with Béla Fleck

Brooklyn Rider and Béla Fleck are performing together at the Brook's Center for the Performing Arts at Clemson University on November 19, 2013. The tickets are apparently free; wish I could go!

Check out the links below for the details regarding the show and the performers.

Links

1. Clemson Events
2. Brooklyn Rider's Web Site
3. Bela Fleck's Web Site

Blue Ridge Acoustic Uprising

Some of you folks might want to check this out. Looks like it might be a nice way to spend a couple of days in April 2014 in Virginia with a lot of acoustic music floating through the air.

Links

1. Blue Ridge Acoustic Uprising

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)