Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Wildwood flower speed?

hello everyone, got another rookie question… what speed is the wildwood flower normally played? When I go to my tef its a 200bpm. to me seems to fast, but what do I know, only been playing 3.5 months thank for any help with this

The tef file at 200bpm is about the speed Ben plays it in the lesson and to me, sounds like a decent speed for the tune.

But it is probably too fast for 3 1/2 months in (I’ve been playing almost 2 1/2 years now).

Play it at the speed where you can play it comfortably today. Play it a little bit faster tomorrow. And maybe a little bit faster the next day. Do this for another 3 1/2 months and I think you’ll find it sounds pretty good at that speed.

I’ve been playing 2 1/2 years and Ben’s basic Wildwood Flower gave me some problems. I played it 250 or so times before it started to get easy. So if you play it three times a day, that’s 3 months.

Keep practicing and have fun!

I think part of the beauty of that song is that it sounds great from very slow speed to smoking it. I have heard some groups play it slow followed by fast. There is no “right” speed in my book.

thanks for the info… right now im at about 165bpm before any mistakes, I will keep pucking at it. HAVE A NICE DAY EVERYONE…

I agree with Mike. I have heard great versions from slow to fast. Don’t get stuck into the mindset everything has to be fast. Sometimes the nuances of a slower version trump the pounding fast versions.