I hope you do have your own versions! The songs are to provide a common curriculum of jam tunes and chord progressions for us to teach with. We won’t be teaching specific arrangements.
Spring 2022 Cabin Camp Song List!
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Thanks for sharing the songs. While I’m not attending, knowing it would be songs like these and at this difficulty level gives me a goal to aim for so I can attend in the future.
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Hi Tammy.
The goal of camps is to help you learn. Most of the time is spent with instructors helping you to be able to play these songs, getting through trouble spots, and understanding how to play with others.
Other than the last “concert” session (I’ll get to that) I was never asked to perform a song or expected to play at any level.
Camp was filled with encouragement not just by the staff, but fellow students helping each other and cheering each other on for any accomplishments.
In the last “concert” the students all split up into “bands”. Each had an instructor and we had tie to put one song together to play for the rest of the camp. The bands were purposely made up of students of all levels and we were required to include everyone in in the song, so we all got a chance to play. It was all quite fun and not judged by musical ability!
Knowing “the list” would be an advantage, but I’d suggest going even if you don’t have all the songs down well, or play them at a high level (I didn’t). The reason to go is to learn to do that, and to meet up with others who are going through the same struggles of learning this music!
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Thanks for the encouragement!
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This is great – I always wanted a “study guide” for going to BG jams!
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Hi there. Great reply to Tammy and it addresses some of the things I had in the back of my head when I signed up for the April 2022 camp. I’m really looking forward to attending this and learning how to play mandolin better…I have a LONG way to go but I’m retired now…so I have time to dedicate to it!
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Very excited to see this list with this much advance notice (just signed up on Jan 4.) I’ve been going down the “Beginner Mandolin Checklist” and have completed quite a few lessons as I have played at this instrument for 30+ years but never really knew what I was doing. I’m gonna switch my focus to learning these songs and solos. I’m sure my local teacher will have fun playing along as well. He doesn’t care for tabs…but I can share the guitar tabs with him and we’ll get some work done on these. Looking forward to my first BBC Music Camp!
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Oh man. MT sold out already and i didn’t get a spot. Is there any way to get on a wait list?
I look forward to meeting you!
You can always select the “notify me when available” button on the camp store page. But also email Alicia@banjobenclark.com and see what she says…she knows more about the cancellations and capacity details than I do.
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Having fun with these–see you in Montana in August!
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I can’t wait!
This probably falls into the “dumb question” category but I’ll ask it anyway. I have finally trained my fingers to reach beyond reason (LoL0 and play your closed shape #1 for G, A, C, D etc. I haven’t seen a video for another other closed shapes but I have another one for a closed A that, with the move of two fingers, becomes a closed D. From there it’s a short ride to a closed E.
So here’s the question part: When I come to camp in April are we all expected to use the chord shapes in your videos or can I play the same chords with different shapes? Some songs with quick chord changes (like A, 2 beats on E, G, in short order) are easier to play with Ron’s Chord Shape #2.
SO looking forward to camp. For now, though, I’m heading off to my mandolin lesson!
Thanks for all the great info on your site.
Gold Pickin’ Member
Ron
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Use any chord shape you want! Looking forward to having you!
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On the road tomorrow, at the farm the next day! Gig em!
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I have a challenge for all the April mandolin/guitar/banjo players going to Cabin Camp in a few weeks (April 2022). (As a reference I would consider myself an advanced beginner so this isn’t coming from a music teacher or secret agent planted by Ben.) Here’s my idea: EDITED FOR CLARIFICATION: Let’s put the chord progression for the 5 songs we were “assigned” on individual slips of paper using the Nashville Numbering System and practice without the tab. I’ve decided to to this this week to get smarter about the NNS as I work on the chord changing when playing rhythm……who doesn’t need a new challenge? I look at this as a way to get away from tab to follow the chord progression. This could also help us during jams at camp as I suspect we are not gonna spend 2 1/2 days playing the same 5 songs and we can learn some new stuff. It will also help us develop our ability to play by ear as Ben has emphasized during his Jam Along videos and the most recent “Don’t Stress about Camp” video he put out. Finally, won’t Ben be impressed when he does his lesson about the NNS and we already know a bunch about it? Psst: Don’t tell him we’re doing this, either! (Oh wait, he probably reads the forum….nuts). Ah well, just an idea. Have a great day, everyone. (Only 21 days, 5 hours and 37 minutes to camp…but who’s counting?)
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HI ScubaNut 2014, Count me in, I am new to the Mandolin and up till now very dependent on playing with Banjo Ben’s great Tabs but find playing without them pretty difficult. Writing down the chords of all the songs using the NNS and then trying to play the songs using that without the Tabs may help me break my dependence on playing by Tab only and help me towards getting ready for Ben’s ultimate goal of helping us to learn and play by ear which for me is something I need to get better at. I will be at the Nashville Camp too and am getting really excited. I am breaking out the paper now. Thanks for the great idea.
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Hi! Thanks for the feedback. I actually had inspiration for that over breakfast this morning and glad at least one person likes it. I have played mandolin for 30 something years (very poorly, only a few songs, no double stops, no chops, etc.) but have only gotten serious about it during the last 9-12 months. I am looking forward to trying my own success with the Nashville Numbering System and look forward to seeing how others at the camp are doing with it. Let me know how it goes and I look forward to meeting you at camp…let’s get some jammin’ in!
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Not sure if you’ve seen my post about a precamp Jam at my hotel. Look for the thread and c’mon over!