Cluck Old Hen. How to spice up a melodic banjo arrangement?

[Shad]

My son is learning Cluck Old Hen on fiddle, and I want to be able to play with him. I couldn’t find any good 3 finger banjo arrangements online, so I started trying to make my own arrangement. Any general tips on spicing up a melodic banjo arrangement? This is what I have so far which is true to the melody but it is so boring.

These are the ideas I have so far:
-throw in some extra filler notes, maybe some that are outside the scale, especially for the second time around
-change the chord strums to some kind of lick
-play the more boring parts Scruggs style where I know more tricks to spice it up

Anyway, if you guys have any general tips on spicing up something like this, I would love to hear them!
… or if you already have a tab with a killer arrangement of this tune, I’d also take that!

[Michael_Mark]

Dude, you’re gettin’ it! Love that you did that by ear… and without a capo to boot.

The first thing I would be inclined to do is add more rolls around the basic melody (this may make your arrangment sound more Scruggs-inclined). This is going to be slightly harder to work in without a capo. Sometimes you’ll have to include notes that aren’t “correct” in your roll, but as long as those don’t severely stick out like a sore thumb, that’s totally fine. You’ll have a much more sensitive ear to that than your audience will.

If you haven’t tried it capoed 2, you may find it easier it that way (though there’s nothing wrong with open A). You’ll just have to avoid the open B, which is easier to do that it seems. Or, you can tune that B string up to a C for sawmill tuning.

If you do decide to play out of G, definitely check out the Minor Blues Scale lesson. It’s got some athletic licks in there, but the theory is helpful even if you don’t learn every lick.

[Shad]

@Michael_Mark, those are some great ideas. Thank you! I think I might try putting a capo on 2 and then do a combined melodic and Scruggs version. I’m wondering what it would sound like with rolls and a steady eighth note pulse. I am at work all evening, no banjo in hand, but I am having fun musing on these things!

[Michael_Mark]

no banjo in hand, but I am having fun musing on these things!

Sometimes that’s when you get the best work done!

(Banjo work that is )

[mharrison43]

Jim Mills’ arrangement of The Old Hen is tabbed out by Bill Evans in Banjo Newsletter, October, 2005. @Shad your arrangement is cool ! Lots of good stuff to work around with.

[Shad]

I forgot to look there! I found a tab for a version from Team Flathead: the Huber banjo sessions that is really good. I may try to learn that one. It sounds way better than anything I could ever come up with. It says the banjo player is John Lawless.

[Shad]

So when I tried to come up with a melodic version with the capo on 2, but in the same key, it all fell apart. I couldn’t find a way to make it work. I then found a tab for an arrangement that I absolutely love, and I wanted to share it here. I think once I practice it a bunch and polish it up, it’s going to sound awesome.

https://www.banjohangout.org/tab/browse.asp?m=detail&v=10300

[Michael_Mark]

I love John Lawless’ break! Really good job. You’ll be nailing it in no time.

[Archie]

Sounds GREAT to my ear