Can someone help me read how to play this? It’s the first couple of notes on the 5th measure of Blueridge Cabin Home. Do you hammer-on 1 while simultaneously plucking 2?
Help with 5th measure in Blueridge Cabin Home
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Eighth note hammer-on from 0-2 on the third string - hit the second string when you hammer on. You can also sub that out for a sixteenth note hammer-on if you prefer!
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Understood. Thank you, my friend.
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Simplest way to look at this @Brent.H is remove the hammer-on. What do you SEE. A forward roll. Now add the hammer-on. and like magic you have a C Chord lick.
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Yes Brent, I have done this very thing at times. It’s not difficult, but I would not consider it a beginning technique. It takes practice. I know it sounds weird, not hammering on the string you plucked, but hammering onto a different string you didn’t pluck. I wrote a blues song once that used this type of fingering; the point was that I wanted the plucked string to have a dominant tone to the more subdued tone of the hammered-on note that I didn’t pluck. It gave me just the sound I was looking for. I’m guessing that was the point of this score as well. Good luck!
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I would do this in guitar for a similar music.
- Fret the 1 fret on the 2nd string with (left) index finger first.
- Start fingerstyle pick on 3rd and 2nd strings alternatively using thumb and index finger as you would do normally.
- While you pick the 2nd string using the index finger, simultaneously hammer on the 2nd fret 3rd string using the middle finger.
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Another Blueridge Cabin Home question… Is the opening banjo solo played with a swing or is it played straight? I slowed it down to 1/4 speed on youtube and it really sounds like its swinging, but I wanted to validate that.
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Hi @Brent.H Where is the lesson located ? Nothing is coming up when I search Blueridge. Does the lesson have another title?
It’s a tab Ben put out here shortly after J.D. passed, I think.
You’re right, I would bet that those notes are being swung. I think that if you slow most players down, you can hear some swing even if they’re playing pretty quick.
Usually you don’t have to think consciously about swinging your notes; it’s pretty natural to play things with that feel (I think). I was part of a jazz guitar course once and the instructor corrected me several times on the “misunderstood jazz swing feel”… he wanted everything played straight. I was swinging everything in a bluegrass fashion and didn’t even realize it.
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