Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Little Cabin Home on the Hill Backup - TAB Request

Hi @BanjoBen do you have a backup TAB for Little Cabin Home on the Hill - Key of G

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I don’t have that specifically, but I know the chords are the same as my boogie woogie backup and other backup lessons, so we should be able to apply the concepts there. Maybe I can do a little video showing how to apply those things.

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That would be great Ben, I just found a great channel by Tyler Grant which has slow and medium. jam practice sessions (see link below) As you know I’ve always struggled with back up at the best of times (I always fall into my bad habit - the three string forward roll) but I know this tune really well and used to sing it at my local jam before lockdown. I thought if I had a good well structured backup arrangement I could practice this and use that as a template moving forward. I started off trying to TAB out the progression but it was horrible then I thought maybe my good buddy has it in his library of TABs.

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Are you looking for down the neck or up the neck backup?

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Both @Michael_Mark I am trying to get beyond basic vamping and what i call my three string roll which is 321 repeat over a chord progression. I am trying to learn meaningful backup. This particular song I know well but when I get back to my jam group I want to be able to return with something with more structure.

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Check out some of J.D.'s backup on this cut; it’s both down and up the neck and a great epitome of traditional rolling backup.

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Thank @Michael_Mark trust me it’s not for the want of trying. JD Crowe is way above my pay grade

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He is way above my pay grade, too. Don’t let that stop you from learning from his playing! You can of course simplify it and substitute some of the licks with basic rolls… If you’re looking to get away from just a basic roll, this is a great way to do so. I’ll bet you that you already KNOW the licks, etc. You just need to train yourself to learn when to play them and where they fit.

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Sure what I mean is I can’t learn this by ear. There is just too much going on for me to figure stuff out. I have to see it in a format that I can follow and understand and memorise. Yes I agree I know many of the licks but I have a hard time playing them together on the fly, I wish could just pick up the banjo and play this kind of stuff but I can’t . I do try every day. Your fortunate you have a gift for this. I really appreciate your encouraging words.

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Hi @BanjoBen & @Michael_Mark So I just want to take a moment to explain why I requested this TAB and why it’s so important to me right now. As you know Ben I have always struggled with backup and I have never been shy about asking you to create lessons on this topic especially back when no one else was taking the time to explain all this. Now it seems every other teacher is doing catchup. Your backup lessons have been brilliant I have learned so much from studying them and I am sure other students have too. However for me personally one thing was missing from the lessons - I didn’t have anyone to practice those skills with.

I don’t think you folks over there realise how difficult and frustrating it is being a remote student with no one close by to practice with. Learning the skills is one thing applying what you’ve learned in a real live situation is a whole new ball game. As I have begun to discover.

This week I stumbled on Tyler Grant’s YouTube Channel and it was like rediscovering banjobenclark.com all over again. Finally I found the missing link, the one element that I needed to move forward . A guitar player who could sing, who could call out the chord progression using the NNS, who also told you in advance the key signature before rushing to kick off a tune, in addition he played at speeds I was comfortable with and the best I saved till last he played and sang songs I knew. In short an answer to my prayers.

I struggle to find the words to express my excitement and jubilation at this discovery. I am sure now you will begin to understand my frustration at my self for not being able to draw from memory- on the fly - all the backup licks and roll patterns I have studied over the years and apply them to this one tune I know so well.

I see this TAB request as a foundation stone, a means to develop on what I already know, If I could just play some meaningful backup to this tune and break my bad habit of slipping back to my three string roll and reliance on vamping

My thought process is, if I can lay this foundation stone and get really comfortable with playing backup to this tune. I can go on and apply this to other tunes and put this gremlin evilgrin to bed once & for all.

I really feel I am on the verge of a eureka moment

As Always thank_you for your patience, understanding and support. 9to5

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Great, let me help you walk through this. Can you please chart out the verse and chorus for this song in a response below? You may use numbers or letters.

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Hi @BanjoBen Thank you

So this is what I think the chord progression is on the video below. It starts with a brief intro then followed by Verse & Chorus then it just repeats

Intro
G/// C/G/ G/// D/// G/// C/G/ G/D/ G///

Verse
G/// C/G/ G/// D/// G/// C/G/ G/D/ G///

Chorus
C/// G/// G/// D/// G/// C/G/ G/D/ G///

Good job! I would prefer to divide into 4 beat measures where each letter stands for a single measure. In that case:

Verse:
G G C G
G G D D
G G C G
G D G G

Chorus:
C C G G
G G D D
G G C G
G D G G

Let’s work on down the neck rolling backup for the verse and up the neck backup for chorus. Let’s break it up a line at a time (4 measures). The first line has G G C G.

In my mind, I would play one measure of G, then one measure of G walking to C, then one measure of C, then a one measure G lick. Can anyone come up with something like that? Here’s an example of what I would do, and for the measures following in the verse:

@Archie (or anyone else), reply back with tab (better yet, video!) of some options you might like to try. This isn’t a test or a con-test, just encouraging folks to think through this.

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Hi Ben, So I tried to TAB out your arrangement - I think it’s fairly close to what you play. (See Attached ) I need to spend a little time internalising this before I can play along with the video.

Included in the attached is a sample of what I currently do as rolling backup also as requested a Work in progress TAB demonstrating a different approach. I think you will find there are several potential train wrecks in this TAB I need to spend more time on it. But you have triggered the gray matter a little.

Cabin Home Test Ben Arr .pdf (25.0 KB)
Cabin Home Test Ben Arr.tef (3.6 KB)

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@Archie I actually like your last pass through better than what I did. I would choose to play yours if another instrument was doing fills, and mine if the fills were left up to me. Good job!

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Thanks Ben, I thought it was pretty rough myself. As I said in my earlier post, my problem is I struggle to play this stuff on the fly. I really would like to play the fills but not overdo things just enough to keep things interesting.

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