Hallejuha I’m a Bum & Harry McClintock

By Wayne Erbsen

Let’s take a look at one of the most notable labor songs of all time, Hallelujah I’m a Bum, and the man who wrote it,” Harry McClintock, whose nickname was Haywire Mac.

Mac’s life reads like the pages of a dime novel. Born October 8, 1882, he ran away from home when he was still a boy and joined the circus. Yielding to his itch to roam, he worked as a railroad man in Africa, a seaman, and a muleskinner in the Philippines. In 1899 he worked in China assisting a newsman reporting on the Boxer

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The Hanging of Fiddlin’ Joe Coleman

By Wayne Erbsen

The story of the hanging of Fiddlin’ Joe Coleman is enough to send chills up and down your spine. In 1847, near the town of Slate Fork, in Adair County, Kentucky, a shoemaker and fiddler named Joe Coleman was living with his wife, and his wife’s mother and sister. According to some accounts, Joe had been acting erratically and not long after that, someone smothered his mother-in-law to death with a pillow. A few days later, Joe’s wife went into the woods to gather bark and never came back. Joe went searching for his wife in the

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How to Tune a Guitar

Easy 2-Chord Songs for Guitar, cover

1. The Fret Method is a time-honored way to tune your guitar to itself, without using slick and newfangled electronic gizmos. With your guitar resting comfortably on your lap, follow these steps:

a. Take your left index finger and push down the 6th or E string at the fifth fret. There should be a dot or marker at the fifth fret. Be sure to play in the space between the two metal bars. Push down hard enough with the tip of your finger so it produces a clear note. Then, compare the pitch of that note (A) with the 5th

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Basic Guitar Chords

By Wayne Erbsen

If you’re wanting to learn the basic guitar chords, you’ve come to the right place. Although there are thousands of chord positions, I’m only going to show you the basic chords you need to start with. In certain kinds of music, such as as bluegrass, Appalachian, folk, gospel, country and blues, these chords are pretty much all you’ll ever need.

Important Tip: When you’re making your chords, it’s ESSENTIAL that you go to the chord all at once, not one finger at a time. Landing on the chord all at once will guarantee that you’ll be able

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Banjo Chords

If you’re gonna play bluegrass music, your banjo will be tuned in G Tuning. The strings in G Tuning are

1  2  3  4  5

D  B  G  D  G

 

The vast majority of all bluegrass songs use only three chords, G, C and D or D7. Some, in fact, only use two chords, G and D or D7.

When you’re in G tuning, your banjo is tuned to a G chord.

So in G tuning your G chord is just to pick or strum the banjo stings “Open,” or unfretted. What could be easier?

A D7

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How to Tune a Mandolin

By Wayne Erbsen

Mandolins are fun to play, but they’re a pain in the you-know-what to tune.

Why?

Because the double strings are like quarreling siblings who never seem to agree with each other.

Nonetheless, in this article, I will show you how to easily get your mandolin more or less in tune.

As you already know, your mandolin has four pairs of strings. Each pair is tuned to the same note.

Hold the mandolin on your lap in playing position. The 1st string is the one closest to the floor and is an E. Here are the names of

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How to Play Banjo

By Wayne Erbsen

So you want to play the banjo. That’s handy, because in one short lesson, I’m gonna teach you to play one.

Contrary to what you might think, it’s way easy.

The first thing is to tune your banjo. Check out my article “How to Tune a Banjo.”

I’m going to teach you to play banjo in what is called “Bluegrass Style.” The first song you’re gonna play is I’ll Fly Away. It’s easy. As you hold the banjo on your lap, the 1st string is the one closest to the floor, and

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How to Tune a Banjo

By Wayne Erbsen

Banjos are ornery critters. Like a puppy who wants to be petted, your banjo wants to be tuned. Often.

So how do you tune a banjo?

If you’re going to be playing bluegrass music, you’ll want to be tuned in what’s called “G tuning.”

Before you go running out to purchase an electronic tuner that you may or may not need, let me explain how to tune the banjo to itself. If you’re a beginner, you’ll be playing by yourself at first, so as long as your banjo is tuned to itself, you’re good to go.

Set

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Bluegrass Standards

Rural Roots of Bluegrass by Wayne Erbsen

If you’re new to bluegrass music, you might like a little friendly advice on some of the artists and songs to listen to. Without hesitation, I would point you to the musicians who first played the style of stringband music known as Bluegrass. This would include Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Reno and Smiley and Jimmy Martin. Of course, the list goes on and on, but in my opinion, if you’re well-grounded on these artists, you have a solid foundation on which to learn, enjoy, and understand what bluegrass music is all about. At the risk of

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How to Jam on the Mandolin

By Wayne Erbsen

By now you’ve learned to play a few tunes on the mandolin. You know some of your basic chords, and you’d love to be able to play with other musicians in a jam, but you’re “chicken.” That’s because up to now, you’ve just been playing by yourself in the closet, so to speak.

Well, it may be time to walk proudly out of the closet and into the limelight. Or, on the other hand, you may need to go deeper into your closet, pulling a coat down over your head (just kidding).

Let’s take this little

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