Playing from Standard Notation

[Brian Kimerer]

I am a novice with Classic Banjo, and part of the trouble I am having is learning how to play a composition from the standard notation. I find it difficult to translate a note from the sheet music to a fret on the neck. I have read standard notation for many years in the context of band instruments, but that is a simple mapping of one note to one finger position. On a banjo neck, there are many places to play a note.

I have been playing banjo now for about 20 years, but I only recently started learning Classic Banjo. How do you more experienced players go about arranging a tune? I find it to be agonizingly slow without tab to show me where the notes are properly found. It takes me forever to figure out a tune. 

Any hints or tips or suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks,

Brian

[Steve Harrison]

Hi Brian, on my most recent arrangements, I've added the fret numbers to parts of the score to help figure out the fingering, have a look at The Buffalo Rag or St. Louis Rag, both by Tom Turpin, and see if it's of any help to you....Steve.

[carrie horgan]

I know exactly what you mean - if you look at a classic banjo music score it can look like a blizzard of chords. However, it's also helpful to realise that the score IS mostly chords - I spend part of my practice doing chord inversions in different keys with reference to how they look in score.  I've noticed that my brain is slowly beginning to recognise some of these chord shapes.

If I ever make up my own tunes, my first one will be entitled: 'Inching Along' :)  

[Brian Kimerer]

I think I am going to grab a score and figure it out regardless of how long it takes. I have Skeleton Dance sitting on the table. My brain just does not map a note on the page to a fret and string on the banjo, so this is going to be note by note, line by line. I end up having to count frets up from a note that I do know. The flats in the key throw me off as well. In the past I have actually gone through an entire piece and written the accidentals next to the notes so that I don't have to remember which ones are modified.

[Brian Kimerer]

I am working my way through Skeleton Dance note by note and measure by measure, and I have made my way up to measure number 24. I have been figuring out the chords and arpeggios and it has been coming together. But I have now been stopped in my tracks. Measure 24 has a single chord in it that looks like this.

The key signature contains three flats

So that means that I am looking at playing an e-flat, b-flat, and g-natural for the chord. I have tried every way I can think of to play those three notes together, but I cannot find any fingering that puts all of the notes within reach.

Am I missing something simple, or is this chord impossible to play? I assume that it must be possible to play it somehow because I have watched several folks play this tune on Youtube. Is it a typo in the score? Do people invert the chord to make it reachable?

Thanks for any help with this.

[Steve Harrison]

Hi Brian, I use a tab like system of  adding the fret numbers to some of the notes. For example, if you see the note D with a zero above it, it's played as Ist string open. A 3 above it and it's 2nd string third fret, a 7 and it's 3rd string 7th fret. 14 and it's 4th string 14th fret. This can be applied to all the notes. My memory isn't what it used to be and I find this a useful aid memoir when playing a tune I haven't looked at for a while. Once you're familiar with the note positions, it works well. You could mark up any score this way in pencil as an aid to sight reading...Steve.

[thereallyniceman]

H Brian, I think that it is a "misprint".

I believe that it should a Barre at the 3rd fret, with the Eflat on the 2nd string with the second finger LH, and Bflat on the 3rd string and Eflat on the 4th string with the first finger LH.

[Trapdoor2]

Yes, that's what I play for that chord. 334

I'm not sure it is a misprint (I can't mess with it here at work to "hear" whether it works as an Ebmaj chord in the tune) but it is written as an Ebmaj chord (Eb-G-Bb) which is the III chord in C minor. The piano score shows an Ebmaj chord stack all the way from bass to treble and into the banjo.

Like Ian, I would treat it as a misprint...
 
thereallyniceman said:

H Brian, I think that it is a "misprint".

I believe that it should a Barre at the 3rd fret, with the Eflat on the 2nd string with the second finger LH, and Bflat on the 3rd string and Eflat on the 4th string with the first finger LH.

[Jody Stecher]

It's a simple notation error. The lowest note got put on the line above the intended place. One line lower is E flat. Listen to any recording or video of the tune. You'll hear an E flat chord right there. 

Trapdoor2 said:

Yes, that's what I play for that chord. 334

I'm not sure it is a misprint (I can't mess with it here at work to "hear" whether it works as an Ebmaj chord in the tune) but it is written as an Ebmaj chord (Eb-G-Bb) which is the III chord in C minor. The piano score shows an Ebmaj chord stack all the way from bass to treble and into the banjo.

Like Ian, I would treat it as a misprint...
 
thereallyniceman said:

H Brian, I think that it is a "misprint".

I believe that it should a Barre at the 3rd fret, with the Eflat on the 2nd string with the second finger LH, and Bflat on the 3rd string and Eflat on the 4th string with the first finger LH.

[Brian Kimerer]

OK. I see. I am not confident enough yet to second guess what is on the printed page.

I was going to try inverting the chord to pull the G out of the 5th string, but that would probably mess with the sombre voicing of this piece. The Eb-Bb-Eb is a somewhat partial chord, but I will play it and see how it sounds. I am not near my banjo right now.

Thanks for the help. I am hoping that this will get me rolling again on learning this tune.

[Trapdoor2]

It took me a long time to 'get over' the idea that the dots were inviolate. I kept trying and trying to make those odd notes or chords actually work...very frustrating.

When I finally realized that printers and typesetters and editors, etc., make mistakes occasionally...what a relief!

One of the great things about keying this music into a computer for playback is that you can often more easily hear the errors. Still gotta work thru basic fingering errors...

[Jody Stecher]

It's root, fifth, and octave. Not a complete chord. There's no rule that says that a combination of  simultaneous notes must be a complete chord.

Brian Kimerer said:

OK. I see. I am not confident enough yet to second guess what is on the printed page.

I was going to try inverting the chord to pull the G out of the 5th string, but that would probably mess with the sombre voicing of this piece. The Eb-Bb-Eb is a somewhat partial chord, but I will play it and see how it sounds. I am not near my banjo right now.

Thanks for the help. I am hoping that this will get me rolling again on learning this tune.

[Brian Kimerer]

That is quite true. I also play the mountain dulcimer. Talk about some strange chords!

Thanks for the help.

Jody Stecher said:

It's root, fifth, and octave. Not a complete chord. There's no rule that says that a combination of  simultaneous notes must be a complete chord.