Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Discuss the Banjo lesson: Amazing Grace Build-a-Break

#21

Hi Ben,

I just want to express my gratitude for your teaching. Your lessons have been incredibly valuable to me and I have been working may way through your beginners track, sometimes cheating by forging ahead with some intermediate songs, while not proficient, just reading them through is beneficial.

With Amazing Grace, I found myself briefly struggling with measure 25 in solo 2 and measures 41 and 42 in solo 3.

I had to pause and carefully examine your fingerings. It appears that you transitioned slightly from the first position to the second position on the fretboard.

Could you clarify if you’re shifting from the first position to the second position in terms of fingering? Or are you stretching your fingers to reach fret 4 from position 1.

It may sound silly, idn, but playing up the fretboard may not always mean playing up at frets 5, 7, 12, it be a simple as moving up a ½ step to keep fingering in order.

Anyway your insights and guidance are greatly appreciated. Thank you for helping me navigate these musical challenges.

Kindly,
David

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#22

Hi David,
What is the time(s) in the video that you are looking at?
Thanks,
Mike

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#23

hi Mike, thanks for the reply.
Using the preview video as the source, it appears Banjo Ben moves into the second position at roughly the 41 second mark, and in solo 3, at the 108 second mark, both involving the D, then after about 3 seconds in both solos, he moves back into position 1 (G)
kindly,
David

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#24

Hi @david8hunt David I think I know what your asking. The angle of @BanjoBen 's hand kinda hides what he is doing. He is forming a partial D chord with his Index finger in the 3rd string second fret, and his ring finger on the 4th string forth fret. check the TAB for his picking pattern. There is nothing difficult in what Ben is doing. Sometimes he may place his index finger down first followed by his ring finger, other times he may place both fingers down together. Practice fretting the strings without playing. Get that fixed in your memory and you should have no problems. Your going to come across the partial chord in hundreds of tunes so it’s important to get it right now. Like riding a bike once you know how everything falls into place.

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#25

This was such a great lesson for me now that I’m playing in a beginner-friendly jam session. It validates the approach I’ve been forced into on the songs that are called. Since I have no experience with most of the songs, when the break comes around to me, I focus first on just picking out the melody (best I can) and then just start to filling in some pinches, partial rolls, etc. when I have a little time - exactly like this lesson. I can see with practice and more licks under my belt, I’ll start sounding more like a banjo player! Knowing that there no “right” roll or fill, etc. is also a key thing for me. Now I see that you can really inject your own stylistic flair - make it more bluesy, or focus on walking the bass around. I put in some chromatic walk-downs in this song because it’s slow enough to fit more notes in, for instance. Fun!

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