Do the people who put free banjo tab change the melody for copyright reasons, or are they being artsy? I downloaded tab for I’ll fly away and their were several obvious mistakes
Online free tab for banjo
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I suspect the answer is both. The song is still under copyright. It was written in 1929.
Are they “mistakes,” or “artistic interpretations?”
While it seems everybody & their cousin have recorded it, the version by the Chuck Wagon Gang is regarded as the definitive version. In 2017, the Chuck Wagon Gang’s recording of “I’ll Fly Away” was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or artistically significant.”
Released August 1949 sold over one million copies and ranks among the Top Selling Gospel Records of all time.
Oddly, this recording of the song is in the Public Domain.
“I’ll Fly Away” was sampled without permission for the Grammy-winning song “I’ll Be Missing You” recorded in 1997 by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans. In 2000, the songwriter’s heirs, Albert E. Brumley & Sons, Inc. settled a copyright infringement suit. In the settlement, the defendants acknowledged that Albert E. Brumley & Sons were the rightful copyright owners of “I’ll Fly Away” and compensated them for an undisclosed amount.
I know. “Too much information.”
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It may just be because whoever wrote the tab is not experienced at writing tab, etc. If you’re a Gold Pick member, email or PM @BanjoBen and he’ll help you out with tabs that he can’t teach in video lessons. 
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They break the law by tabbing out any version, and there are mistakes because they’re not good at what they do. The feeling you have right now is the exact same feeling that drove me to build the first banjobenclark.com more than 10 years ago 
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