Morning all my question is this I am talking about the music 
old Joe Clark in G listed are always in two part A and two part two. Part B and the ending. My question is as I read it it shows repeat bars so should I play strate through part A both then B both parts. But if so why the repeat bar I hope this makes sense. Al so after starting in G for a week or so after playing through a time or two I have been putting on my capo (first time I ever tried to use it enjoying it very much. Still working on muscle memory for the fingering. Thanks sorry this has gotten so long
Help with Old Joe Clark
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Hi David
I am not sure I understand what your asking here but I will attempt to answer.
Old Joe Clark is a fiddle tune and follows a certain tradition in that it has an A Part and a B Part. Following tradition and to make it easy for other musicians to follow the chord progression it would be expressed as AABB i.e. The A Part would be repeated then the B Part would be repeated and either handed off to another instrument or ended. Some fiddle tunes might follow a different progression ABAB or ABBA some might have a C Part ABCA.
Most teachers teach OJC in G because it’s popular and an easy tune for a beginners to learn, there are a lot of repeats and it’s a great way to learn/practice some simple Scruggs licks. Fiddle players on the other hand like to play OJC in A because it’s easy for them play in A and it sounds good. As banjo players learning OJC in G then placing a capo on the second fret retuning the 5th to A allows us to play banjo along with the fiddle in A out of the G position.
I am not sure this helps much but I hope it goes some way to answer your query
So @BanjoBen has two arrangements of this tune which arrangement are you working on?
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Everything Archie said.
Also, is it these bars that you are calling repeat bars? If so, double bars like these don’t mean to repeat. Instead double bars indicate the end of one section of music and the beginning of another. In this case, I believe they are being used to create separation between A parts and B parts. It makes the parts stand out and be better understood as individual 8-measure ideas.
When you do run into a repeat bar it will look like this. The two dots really stand out. Once you hit the dots you would repeat back to a similar sign earlier in the music. Although that repeat bar will have the dots after the vertical lines.
Repeat sign with first and second endings. The notes are played as: A, B, C, B, D
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Thank bkoth you and Archie bad thing is I knew what repeat signs look like wow old and forgetful but now my question is with the number of versus in the song it looks like I should play 1st Apart and 2nd A part untill the last versus set then play 1B followed by2B through the ending am I wrong what is the order for this song or how is it mostly played
That’s the way I would play it if I was just playing a short solo by myself, I might also opt to play AABBAABB - Ending just to extend practice time. Old time jam sessions tend to play these kinds of fiddle tunes over and over and over till everyone has an opportunity to play a solo.
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I’d like to hear the part before the song starts where the mandolin player complains about playing Old Joe Clark in B.
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Well spotted Mike. I hadn’t noticed they were in B just wanted to show how the tune was handed off to each musician.
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Remember, everything sounds better in B, apparently. 
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B I just started with A 
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My plan is to run AA for a ll but the last versus then play BB thru ending and if I ever get to paly with someone else we will figure it out. 
Hi David Playing in B is no more difficult than playing in A if you have spikes or 5th string capo. All you do is move your capo’s to B and just play it like you played in G…
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Thanks I will try it soon and let you know how it goes:smiley:
Hay Archie when I said I’m playing in A I am Tuned to G then place my capo on second fret I have not changed my banjos base tuning as for my 5th string I have a sliding 5th string capo it was mounted when I got the banjo
Hi David I am with you on that.
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