Hey Y’all,
I am a new banjo player. I have clawhammer tab for the song “A Place int the Choir” sung by Celtic Thunder. I really need it to be in just normal ol’ banjo tab. Do you have a suggestion on how I can get this converted? Is there an app? I pulled a .midi file into Tabledit but it was such a mess, no matter what “module” I tried (choices of voice, violin, steel guitar, but no Banjo) it didn’t give me something I could play/figure out. Thanks Mom for letting me quit piano!
I also have the piano sheet music but once again, I’ll be very old by the time I learn to play it on a banjo.
Any help is majorly appreciated!
Clawhammer Tab to Regular Tab
Denise,
It’s difficult to convert from clawhammer to Scruggs style (3 finger). Clawhammer often leaves some of the melody out in favor of maintaining the strum pattern, and it doesn’t include any rolls or licks. I’d suggest figuring out the melody notes first—either using the clawhammer tab or piano sheet music or more likely both. Then notice the chords (hopefully they are included on the tab or piano music). If you don’t have the chords, google the song name followed by the word “chords” and you’ll likely find them listed. Folks like Ben, his sisters, and many others can simply hear the chords, but many of us have to cheat and look them up somewhere. Once you have the melody and chords, look up one of Ben’s build a break lessons (like Amazing Grace) and use that approach—which is simply building rolls and licks in the right chords around the melody notes. Or you could learn to play clawhammer. It’s actually pretty fun. 
Good luck!
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