Banjo Hangout Newest 100 Songs

This a tune that our band Sugar Pie learned from Mark Tamsula and Richard Wither's lovely CD Up in the Batten House. The tunes on Mark Tamsula's CD are all collected in western PA by Samuel Bayard. Fiddle: Jane Rothfield; banjo: Hilarie Burhans; guitar, Kellie Allen; bass, Sabra Guzman

a western theme

Favorite fiddler of mine from Kentucky (and of course Bill Monroe's best fiddling Blue Grass Boy ever), Kenny Baker, wrote this tune but stated that the title was just a title and didn't have meaning. The CD cover of Kenny's fiddling, however, called Spider Bit the Baby, sure showed a scary painting! A shout-out to Don Huber for introducing me to the song and to Linda Gunderson who -- quite coincidentally -- loaned me that very CD at the same time. It's the first tune I've learned from it and continue to joyfully pursue Kenny Baker's many musical offerings.

For the old-time Tune of the Week from WV Burl Hammonds' banjo. The tuning is "Little Birdie" tuning, f#DABE, so I combined the two similar tunes.

Two-finger picking, adapted from Jack Childress clawhammer version, using both index and thumb lead. The G part is played with index lead, and the C and D barre parts are played with thumb lead, which I added to fit my style of playing. The various patterns for the G part are as follows: The first Section is I-IT, like a simple clawhammer pattern but with all up-strokes, a pattern which Doc Watson used. The second section (0:52 ) adds a drop-thumb with a pattern of 1325. The third section (1:34 ) does not have the drop-thumb on the G part, but adds “kicking” or pull-offs to each first note of the pattern. The fourth section ( 2:12 ) is like the first on the right hand, except the second index note is brushed down, and the left hand pulls off, "kickin' the strings" as in the third variation. The C and D parts here use downstrokes, and this variation is very close to the way Jack played it.

I use Jack’s tuning of GGGBD (low octave G on String 4). Someone told him this tune was the same as Strinbean’s Cold Creek March (different than Pete Steele “Coal” Creek March) so he changed the name. However, I kept the original name which he learned in Virginia, as I think it is a separate tune. I have also heard fragments of this in other songs. Jack used to play this song in contests in Indiana and Virginia

a set of three irish sli jig that goes well with the spring !

1-another jig will do

2-hunting the hare

3-reaping the rye

...on the kit made fretless mountain banjo

Adding my arrangement of ''You Took Advantage Of Me'' to Eddy Davis' 4 st. forum topic, TOTM of April. Eddy picked a great tune for us all to work on!, hope you enjoy the listen. ..... Don. ps .... I'm just a wee bit late!.

Second attempt at posting some stuff. Still trying to (re)get the hang of picks, recorder, etc. After listening to this and the last one, I downgraded myself from purty good to novice. But I have to say, I'm having a blast making music for the 1st time in many years. There are some "ouch" moments in these recordings, but I left them as a gauge to check my progress down the road. As a sidenote, I just noticed many head strikes with the thumb pick. Sandpaper, or try to adjust my wrist angle? Anyway, enjoy, and feel free to add constructive criticism.