https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/nine-pound-hammer-basic-banjo
A standard parking lot pick, this is a great straight-ahead version to sink your teeth into, even if you don’t normally like to chew on hammers.
Discuss the Banjo lesson: Nine Pound Hammer- Basic
Hey ben! Just wanted to get your opinion. So the way I’ve been progressing through the lessons is to get to where I can play the slow version at 1.5 speed. So you think I’m good to keep going once I get that down
2 Likes
Nothing wrong with moving on as long as you can play the song from memory and go back to it a few days later.
If you need variety to stay interested, definitely move on.
5 Likes
I keep getting frustrated because I keep spending a lot of time on the transitions from when the song starts over. Instead of just doing the banjo solos one time though and going straight to the ending. Could you maybe do them 3 times just like you do on the rhythm tracks as well so I know exactly how to start the song over. I keep getting lost and there is nothing to listen to since there is no examples of the song being played through 3 times since you only do the banjo solo once and go straight to the ending.
1 Like
Should I repeat the intro when the song starts over. It seems like on some songs you do and others you don’t. It seems like I’m having to guess how the songs start over. Am I doing something wrong? Since there are no clear examples of how to start the song over I spend lots of time frustrated and guessing how to play them. Love the site though.
1 Like
In this song, it is just a little pickup, so yes. That pickup is part of the words “Oh the nine pound” in the lyrics and then “hammer” comes in on the one of the first measure.
If instead of a simple walkup, you had a few measures to kick off a song (like taters), those would not be repeated.
Looking at the tab, it looks like you would play the three quarter note pickup line in measure 17. I would play the open G note on beat one, then beats 2, 3 and 4 would be just like measure 1 (open D, open D, open G).
1 Like
Thank You, appreciate the help! Rock on brother!
2 Likes
looks like the PDF and TEF files are corrupted
The downloads worked for me when I tried them. Sometimes if the page sits a while before you download it doesn’t work. Try refreshing the page and then downloading.
1 Like
Hi @bonefish William 
to @BanjoBen’s Forum. I agree with @Mike_R PDF & TEF TABs downloaded and opened just fine. All I can suggest is you try downloading again. If you are still having issues give us a yell and we can try emailing them to you.
1 Like
Getting back to the basics after just learning tabs by rote: I’m finding that learning the melody first and focusing on the melody notes is a big help for me because if (when) I miss a note in the exact tab, I can always find and it the next melody note and keep going. This is big for me because I can finally see how I can start improvising or modifying the song by launching off of the melody notes and not get flustered when I mess up. It would be really cool if the tabs actually highlighted the melody notes somehow (maybe a box around them) but for now, I’m going to take my highlighter out on my paper prints.
3 Likes
You got it! I love it when those AHA! moments hit. No matter how fancy you get, you can always get back to the melody if you get lost.
It’s really cool when you realize that your fingers are emphasizing the melody notes over background notes without even thinking about it.
Right - and now I’m learning to not be so focused on memorizing that exact tab, realizing now that it was just one person’s take on how to fit all those rolls and licks over that melody and even that person might not play it exactly like that each time! It’s starting to make more sense because I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how banjo players memorized all those exact fingerings, rolls, licks, etc. for so many songs! They really just learn the basic melodies and chord changes and are so comfortable with rolls and licks that it’s just a new language (with lots of common phrases). So my real goal now is expanding my “vocabulary” of licks, etc. so that I can fit them over the melody/chord structure as needed to get away from exact song tabs - that’s when I’ll feel like I’ve really transitioned from beginner to intermediate.
3 Likes
We’re in the exact same boat. You hit the nail on the head with the word “Vocabulary.” It’s one thing to learn the licks. It’s yet another to learn how to fit them in places that sound good on the fly.
Katy and I have been discussing this topic over the past couple of months. Once both of our schedules calm down, I plan on getting some one on one direction from her so that I’m not wasting time on things that won’t move the needle.
Good luck to you!
3 Likes