Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Bob Baily’s feeble attempt at Blessed Assurance!

#1

Howdie Banjo Ben,

Been working on “Blessed Assurance” on guitar! I try to play banjo too and I think I just transferred roll patterns onto my guitar picking! I feel like I’m in a rut with my limited chords and picking style! At any rate, I transposed the song, but I’m looking for certain chords that I can’t figure out, and I guess I could just fumble around with them until I find the right ones, but was wondering if you could help with this? I transposed it into G from an Alan Jackson rendition.

I can’t send you a photo of my transposed chords cuz the file says it’s too big.
The chords that I came up with are as follows:
G. C. G
G Em. (?C) D
G. C. G
G C. (?). G

G. C. G
G. Em. (?C) D
D. G. C. G
G. C. (?) G
Repeat
Those in parentheses are either ones I’m not sure of or ones I just don’t know what chord to use.

I hate to bother you with this! I am also working on my G licks and my walk ups as well as your sister Katie’s rendition of “Be Thou…” on banjo! So much to learn and so little time!

Your brother in Christ,
Bob Baily

2 Likes
#2

You got it pretty well done. There are a few less common chord choices in this song. I did not check it with the hymnals, but here’s what works for me.

V line 2: G Em D A D (the first D is short and on “taste”)

V line 4: Am D G

The chorus is essentially the same progression. I think where you put the D on 3rd line of the chorus, a D7 is what you are likely gonna hear there. So you would play D on “long”, then change to a D7 at the start of the measure before the third line of the chorus.

Let me know if that makes sense and if you want me to check a hymnal let me know.

2 Likes
#3

Happy Labor Day!

So I’m trying an A chord where I questioned a (?C) C chord and and D chord where I didn’t know which chord to use, i.e. the (?)! I’m just trying to get it, so it sounds decent! Any help I can get is greatly appreciated!

#4

I definitely will try it and thank you for responding! I need all the help I can get! Have a blessed Labor Day!

#5

I definitely agree that the D7 in the chorus should be the appropriate chord instead of the D. Thankyou! I did feel that on the v line 4 that it should start with G and then Am and D and G! Thank you again, that was a great help to me!

#6

Agreed. The G was already played at the end of the previous line. I normally only notate the chord changes.

#7

Good stuff!

#8

I got the lyrics for “I just wanted you to know” by Randy Swift and worked out chords on my own that sound reasonable but are repetitious and quite frankly not very, well very moving! I know I can’t play like y’all but would like to dress it up a bit! I know I can’t make the transition part of the song that y’all do, although I suspect I could use a slide capo! I did the song in G with capo at the third fret to play along with the Purple hulls but not getting all the chords! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Also workin on “Be thou my vision” with Katie’s tab!
Slow goin for me!

Love the website now that I have some time to use it! Been a lame Gold Pick member for years! Another member, Mike, helped me out with, “Blessed Assurance.” Good guy!

Thanks! Your brother in Christ, Bob

1 Like
#9

Love that song! Check out this video Ben made a few years back for another member learning the chords:

1 Like
#10

Oh My! Hallelujah! I should’ve looked further in the website, but I came up with the same basic chords. Unfortunately, I didn’t have those other chords that Banjo Ben put in the video so I will pay attention to that because it makes it a whole lot more interesting sounding instead of just the four chords I was using in the key of G.

Mike, thank you so very much for your help! It is greatly appreciated!

Bob

1 Like
#11

@banjangles2 Sweet! Anytime. Sometimes all you need is some chords with different bassnotes and it starts to make things come together!

#12

Already working on it! Again, many thanks! This will hopefully save me some time!

1 Like