Category: Bluegrass Banjo

Bluegrass vs Clawhammer Banjo + ‘Things in Life’ Tab

Don Stover on StageApproximately 99.99%  of all banjo players fall squarely in one camp or the other: Clawhammer or bluegrass. It’s kind of like the Hatfields and the McCoys; you’re either with us, or you’re against us. This silly notion has lingered for too long. Let’s do our part in poking holes in this crazy idea by looking at the life of a renowned banjo player who played both styles extremely well: the late Don Stover.

Don grew up in the coalfields of West Virginia, and spent much of his teenage and young adult life working down in the mines. He originally learned

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Bluegrass Banjo Lesson: Take Me Home, Country Roads

Howdy!

I remember back In the seventies and eighties, it was neigh on impossible to do a bluegrass show without performing “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” better known as just “Country Roads.” The audience would practically take us out to the nearest tree and hang us by our toes if we didn’t play it. And when we finally did play it, the audience would sing along, swaying back and forth and having a genuine feel-good “Kumbaya moment.”

John Denver“Country Roads” was actually written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver, who was the first to record it in 1971. It

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A Word About These Free Bluegrass Banjo Tabs!

Howdy!

If you’re thinking that the free tabs look a little sparse, you’re right! What I’ve provided you is just the bare bones skeleton of the melody.

Why did I do that, and where are the rolls?

As you know, bluegrass banjo plays the melody using rolls, which consist of 4 or 8 note patterns that are repeated over and over.

Virtually every single bluegrass banjo method out there teaches you a tune with the rolls already incorporated into the melody. That is a BIG MISTAKE.

Why?

Because you need to be able to figure out how to add the

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