Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Hard Times Question

Front Porch String Bands version of Hard Times…not so sure of the chord used in the chorus at “ weary “. Also, ideas for a simple instrumental for this song out of the G position. Any help or suggestions would be kindly appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
Daniel

I found this version of the song on Youtube.

It’s in B, so if I’m doing my transposing correctly, I think the chord you’re looking for is a G diminished.

Try that and let me know if it works for you.

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Yes…I believe Gdim is it. Thank you very much

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Doh! Just realized I posted the link to a guitar Gdim. Sorry about that. Glad it worked out, though.

Enjoyed that Mark.

I gotta ask Mark. Did you catch that dim chord with your ear? That’s quite impressive.

Was it the bass note at about 1:15 that tipped you off?

I did. The story behind that ability is kinda funny. I cut my guitar playing teeth on Ray Stevens songs, and he has a few songs that use diminished chords. For years, I tried to figure out those diminished spots, but ended up poorly substituting them. One day a buddy of mine played a diminished chord and I was like “whoa! Do that again!”

I went back and put those in my Ray Stevens songs and all was right in the world. :slight_smile:

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That got me tryng to think of some of his songs.

Was “Turn you’re Radio On” one? Cause I’m thinking “Turn your lights down low and listen to the master of the radio”.

Somewhere in that descend there may have been a dim. :thinking: It was quite brilliant for him to do that.

You might be right if you’re talking about the very last chorus. I haven’t heard that song in years, but I think I recall that last line being unique in the song.

The one that comes to mind right now is Making the Best of a Bad Situation. The dim chord is near the end of each verse, and I stopped playing that song because I couldn’t find that chord. :laughing:

Yep, that’s exactly what I was thinking about.