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Discuss the Banjo lesson: Lonesome Road Blues
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So I sat down with this last night and tried to dig in. For some reason (I was telling myself I was too tired) nothing was sticking. Nothing was clicking the way it normally does, so after about 30 minutes I went to bed.
Tonight, I decided to change up my approach and watch the video instead of just use the tab. That made all the difference in the world. I only had to pause the video a couple of times, so in about 15 minutes, I was playing the 1st solo. Slow as molasses, but it’s clicking like normal.
So, for you tab learners like me, if this tab isn’t working out for you like normal, I encourage you to use the video more on this one. It’s definitely working for me.
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Some sound advice here buddy pun intended.
I know the frustrations that folks go through. In my case the first solo came fairly easy. So I jumped to the melodic phrase because I knew that would be the challenge for me and now I am stuck.
All weekend I have been trying to get this right. I’ve watched the video closely to see how @BanjoBen frets things, I have listened to the phrase countless times and I have been working with the Tef file.
This is a tough challenge and will require more patience, practice and perseverance than normal. After all it’s an Alan Munde Arr and these are always a lot more challenging to learn.
So to ALL of you working on this arrangement I echo @Mark_Rocka advice. Stick with it. It’s a big cake so don’t try to eat it all at once.
Happy Pickin
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YEP! @Mark_Rocka and @Archie are on to this. Many years ago I learned two breaks to LRB… not as cool as this. When I heard this I knew I had to get this. The syncopation in the first solo is addictive. I thought I would get this in no time. I jumped into the tab but got no where. I watched the first solo video and was amazed by the finger position explanation. Progress was made.
The added inspiration comes from this being an Alan Munde arrangement. I can’t wait for the time to dive into all the breaks.
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Wheweee, that’s a hot lick!
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Hey Mike! Welcome to the board!
Which lick do you think is the hottest? There are so many in this lesson I’m having trouble picking just one. 
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Me three.
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So yeah… after spending a few hours on this song, I can tell this is probably the best help for my up the neck playing I’ve run into so far. Love this one!
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Yeah agreed the videos for the solos on this one are without doubt so so helpful to learning this!
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Great inspiration here. This was on the set list for a gig in July…the band plays it with the e minor. What is correct?
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I’ve never heard of LRB in E minor, but I could have missed it!
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I think he means throwing a short Em after the third line.
I’ve heard several parking lot groups use it there over the years.
There is another song with a long 1 for a first chord that is notorious for people adding an 6m in with the first chord where it doesn’t belong also, but I can’t recall it right now. .
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Just watched the promo for this, it’s Awsome, but come on Ben, darn it now ya just showing off! 
Hope to get around to trying this at some point when I can get the time. That sounds so good on that twanger, especially when your playing it Ben.
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I just finished learning it this past week, Jon. Believe it or not, it’s not nearly as hard as I thought it’d be. Maybe it has to do with a lot of the up the neck part feeling like Foggy Mountain Breakdown, which I already knew, but I literally went from start to playing it at 100% speed in 3 days. There were a few measures that I had to really focus on, like the whole melodic run down on the 4th pass, and measures 61 and 62, but I just isolated those in the TEF Viewer and methodically worked my way up, making sure not to increase the speed until it felt natural to play them at the slower speeds.
This is possibly the funnest lesson I’ve learned on this site. It’s a real pleasure to play.
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Well I hope its not Mark. Ben always makes it look easy anyway lol 
Hope to have a go sometime soon, busy with family things just lately so not much time to practise banjo.
I get withdraw simptoms if I don’t have a banjaar in ma hands for too long. 
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I’ve worked through the first two breaks. I had to really concentrate on moving the left hand quickly and accurately. Sometimes I have to adapt the tab to meet my ability. I could not get the last note in measure 10 and make the slide in 11. So I dropped the last note in 10 because I thought the slide was more important.
I have let the banjo slide since What a Friend We Have in Jesus was posted for guitar. Not much work getting done at my house right now.
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Totally agree with all of this. I’ve felt like I’ve more significantly advanced from learning this piece than I have in awhile (mainly because my up the neck playing is weak and this REALLY helps solidify playing that Scruggs up the neck style). Once you get that main part down (those 3 main positions) it is a lot more surmountable.
The melodic run and 61/62 still slow me down but memorizing that and sitting down and just playing that over and over is helping quite a bit!
Great lesson.
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Still working on this one and still loving it! Yay!
All memorized and can play about 80 percent of it up to speed (still cannot do the melodic lick at 260 but getting there). Passed the “220” mark and can play it at that speed pretty consistently (when my mind doesn’t drift).
Now that I’ve spent significant time on it one thing that I’m noticing I struggle with is to get my fat fingers to land in a new position accurately at speed so that one finger doesn’t deaden a string next to it. I guess that’s just time that will help with that?
Can’t wait to try it on the Twanger!
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Hi Scott Try this. the next three times you sit down to practice only work on the melodic lick nothing else. Focus on your fingers,
Ask yourself these questions
Are you using the right fingers to pick the strings ?
Are you using the right fingers to fret the strings?
Can you move between positions and land on the strings accurately ?
Take a break for a day or two then go back and practice it again for three days once again only focusing on the melodic lick.
Rest for a day then at your next practice session work on the entire tune. You should find a marked improvement. It’s all about training the brain… Repeat this intensive practice as required.
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HA! I’m glad I’m not the only one with this problem. This morning I was rolling through LRB (I’ve decided I enjoy playing it most at 108% speed) and was doing just fine. Then, all of a sudden, I was missing every other lick. When I stopped, I realized that my mind wasn’t on the task at hand. I regrouped and brought myself back to playing it right and it all smoothed out.
That’s actually the part that I focus on most once I get the song memorized. Archie has some good advice above. To that, I’ll add that if there’s a particular section giving you more trouble than others, loop that in the TEF Viewer and slow it down until you can play it cleanly over and over. I usually try to loop 2 measures before and 2 after the problem section (or some number of measures before and after that allow me to keep playing in a continuous loop without stopping.) Then just start slowly increasing the speed until you develop that muscle memory. That’s really what it’s all about. Your fingers should just know what to do on their own.
This is definitely a fun one. I got up early this morning and played it for 45 minutes straight before going to work. Loved every minute of it.
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