One of my main goals with banjo/guitar/mandolin is to be able to fluently play hymns and gospel songs on all three. So what should I focus on? What techniques are imperative to know for those specific types of songs? Or do you just do the same things you would with a song like “Arkansas Traveler” or “Ballad of Jed Clampett”?
Playing gospel songs
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I can speak from a banjo perspective, and I am going under the assumption that you are trying to play bluegrass style gospel songs. You can use the same licks, rolls, etc. as embellishments in bluegrass gospel songs like I’ll Fly Away or Unclouded Day as in virtually any other bluegrass song. If your goal is to create your own breaks for these songs - and that is a great goal to have - then having a large library of licks available for G, C, D, etc. will be of great benefit to you. So, one thing you might consider doing is working on the bag of licks lessons and, after learning several licks, find interesting ways to incorporate those into breaks or backup fills in the songs you are wanting to play.
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The short answer is yes. That said you don’t really want to use overpowering banjo licks with vocals. Keep it simple.
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Apologies if I over simplify here, but my initial response is to start by vamping the chords, then forward, or forward-reverse roll through the chords. Once that is nailed down, work on solos and lick placement. I suspect that plan works across all types of genre’s. I was told recently that Earl Scruggs learned chords of a song first, then created the solos later. I thought that was interesting.
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Sounds good! I’m at the point now that i realize that the banjo isn’t as hard as I’ve always thought it was. There are just so many cool things you can do with it! Recently, I played “I’ll Fly Away” for a special at church. During my break, I put the first phrase of Foggy Mountain Breakdown at the beginning of the chorus. It fit in there perfectly! I’ll go check out those bag of licks lessons as soon as I can. Thanks, @rspillers! I appreciate your advice!
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