Ok so you have a banjo and you've learned some tab. You are playing some tunes pretty good and enjoying them now. So now you either 1. are content to keep learning from tab or 2. are watching my vids and learning to let go of the tab or 3. don't even care or 4. have a strong desire to move away from tab all-together.
If you want to get away from it (which I hope at some point you do) then let's talk about that for a bit. Here are some of the best ways to easily accomplish getting away from your reliance on tab.
- learn the songs using chords - find a song you want to learn (any song), look up the chords on the net. Pick a song you know the melody to well. Don't go picking a song you've never heard before (not the way to start). Once you have the chords start to use the basic clawhammer stroke (or just plain strums, or whatever you want to start with). Play along with a recorded version of the song to ensure you have your timing and rhythm down. Have fun with it and start adding in little embellishments - slides, hammers, pulls, etc.
- play with others - this one is great fun! Get out to some jams and you'll soon see that you don't really know that many songs and you need to start to recognize when chord changes are happening and learn to see when those things are happening. You learn so fast when playing in a group it is unreal.
- play by ear - i have a vid on that if you haven't seen it yet check it out.
You may be saying - Mandy why are you constantly harping on us about this??
Well I do it because to be completely honest with you unless you want to pick alone all the time, tab is not really that great. Memorizing tab limits you in a lot of ways. You have to be able to be flexible - for instance, let's say you have memorized a song and play it exactly as you have it memorized a zillion times. Then you go to the park to play and see a fiddler and a guitar playing sitting under a tree playing. You go up and start playing with them. They start playing a tune you know and you join in, but then they alter the song by maybe repeating the chorus or verse parts more than once or twice ? You have that song locked into your head a certain way, yet now people are playing it a little differently. Can you quickly adapt to those changes? If the answer is no, then you need to get away from tab. You need to be able to adapt quickly. So if you want to come out of your house and play with others you need to be flexible and by practicing the way I'm telling you to you will develop those skills and openness that you need. This changing of the number of times a chorus or verse is played is quite common and is the most simple change that can really happen. If you can't handle this, then you just need to stay home. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from playing with others, but you need to be able to adapt and it's really not that difficult if you just practice what I'm talking about doing.
Just go listen on youtube to Old Joe Clark - how many different variations in the speed, verses, and more do you hear? TONS, because some songs are different based on region. Plus some folks just play songs the way they play it and it may be slightly different than how you play it but you still would like to be able to play along.
So at this point to progress past just memorizing tab is a wonderful thing.
Mandy
I leave you with this simple verse.
PSALM 23
New International Version (NIV)
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
