Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Down the Road

#1

Here is a raw melody to Down the Road. What would you guys do to it for banjo?downTheRoad-Ignor.tef (914 Bytes)

#2

Sorry Joe unable to help with this, I have never been able to build a TAB from a basic melody. Wouldn’t know where to begin.

#4

I think I have Earl’s break for Down The Road at home if that’s what your looking for. Let me know and I’ll see if I can figure out how to get it to you.

#5

I guess this is off subject. How do you go about writing your own TEF?

#6

https://www.tabledit.com/

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#7

Hi Eugene you need a piece of software known as TablEdit

See this link for more info

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#8

I know what you mean. Ben makes it look easy. I want to get off of relying on tab and I think this is the first step.

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#9

Hi Joe, You misunderstand me. I disagree with the often quoted misleading statement that TAB is bad.

Playing by ear is also a great way to learn as is watch and learn I try to embrace all three methods

When I said I wouldn’t know where to begin I meant I wouldn’t know where to begin Tabbing something out from scratch. I do however like to edit tabs that others have created.

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#10

I want to be able to build a break. I don’t see how I can do that if I don’t know how to fill in the blanks of a melody. How do you do it?

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#11

I don’t, I just watch Ben and others and learn from them

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#12

The first step is to fill in the missing beats with rolls from Ben’s basic roll lessons. That’s the simplest start for building a break. Then, go back and add slides, hammer ons, and pull offs to approach key notes in the melody. Finally, go nuts adding in the “spicy notes” that give it flare.

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#13

Start by playing the basic melody, then add a roll or two. My favorites for ease are the forward roll, forward backward roll and the square roll. Also pinches. When you can do that, (give it time, Rome isn’t built in a day) add a few hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides, and you’ve got yourself an intermediate break

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#14

Keeping in mind I’m not at all familiar with this song, I took your original TEF file and just sprinkled in a bunch of open 8th notes in roll patterns that seemed to fit in between your notes. I didn’t add any fretted notes, so you can see how easy it is to come up with your own rolls.

downTheRoad-Ignor.tef (1.1 KB)

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#15

Try this arrangement it has some tricky ornamentation for the beginner

Down-the-Road.tef (2.1 KB)

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