Banjo · Chapter 22 of 23

Fiddle Tunes on the Banjo

Most of the banjo’s Southern repertoire is fiddle tunes: short dance tunes in two parts, played around and around. Learn how they work and you can learn them quickly.

For generations, fiddle and banjo have played together for Southern dances. The tunes they play share a simple, practical shape.

AABB

A typical fiddle tune has two parts, the A part and the B part, usually eight bars each. The band plays A twice, then B twice, and then the whole thing again, as long as the dancers want. Often the A part is lower and the B part higher. In the music, repeat signs (a thick line with two dots) mark each part; our player follows them, and the loop lets you practice one part at a time.

TuneKeyBanjo choices
Soldier’s Joy, Durang’s Hornpipe, Angeline the BakerDopen D tuning, double C with a capo at 2, or open G with D shapes
Devil’s DreamAopen G with a capo at 2
Arkansas TravelerD (also played in C and G)open G in G, or double C in C
Fisher’s HornpipeF or D on the fiddle; G on our banjoopen G

When you play alone, pick the key that is easiest. When you play with a fiddler, play in the fiddler’s key: that’s what the capo and the other tunings are for.

Learning a tune by ear

  • Listen to the tune many times before you play it, until you can hum the A part and the B part.
  • Find the first few notes on the banjo (the scale chapter helps). Most tunes start and end on the key note.
  • Learn one phrase at a time (two bars), then join phrases.
  • Keep it simple at first: the notes on the beats are enough. Fill in the rest later.

Arkansas Traveler, three-finger

The A part uses the alternating-thumb roll with the melody on the thumb. The B part runs down the scale with pull-offs. In bar 7 the open 5th string plays the high G of the melody.

Try it. Learn the A part of Arkansas Traveler until you can play it twice through without stopping. Then the B part. Then play AABB at a slow, even tempo: steady is more important than fast at a dance. Afterwards, try the clawhammer version of the same tune and compare.

Check each one as you go.

  • I can say what AABB means and play a tune in that order.
  • I learned one phrase of a tune by ear before looking at the tab.
  • I can play Arkansas Traveler (or its clawhammer version) all the way through.

Remember

  • Fiddle tunes are AABB: two eight-bar parts, each played twice.
  • Play in the fiddler’s key: retune or use the capo.
  • Learn by ear in short phrases; the notes on the beat come first.

Songs that use this

@teddyrookbook GitHub