Ragtime Episode help!

[Daniel PEARCE]

Hello folks ... I hope you can help me. I'm having trouble with the Ragtime Episode tab I've got. I can't work out the fingering as it seems so fast! Do you pinch with the thumb and forefinger on the 2cnd bar or use the ring finger to maintain the speed?? I'm used to rolls on bluegrass and knowing how the fingering works but I really can't figure this one out. I don't expect to be as good as Rob Mackillop and others but any help would be most welcome. Thanks in advance!

[Daniel PEARCE]

Ha ha ..... obviously it's possible but how difficult?

[Jody Stecher]

Yes, certainly any printed music can be read for banjo so long as the notes are within the banjo's range and impossible things are not asked for, such as playing the low C and the E at the fourth fret on the C string simultaneously. The key of Skeleton Dance or any other piece of music is indicated to the left of the first measure. You will see flat and sharp symbols on certain spaces or lines. That is the "key signature".  Skeleton Dance has three flats. That can mean the key of C minor, or its Relative Major, which is E flat major. Context and sound makes it clear that C minor is meant.

[Trapdoor2]

Sorry, I've been swamped this past week. I'm attending a local String Orchestra Camp (evenings) and playing viola with the "adults". Gotta learn 3 pieces in a week and then do the recital Sunday. Morning chores, work, home, practice, rehearsal, home, practice, evening chores, sleep...lather, rinse and repeat.

So...I do really agree that 99.44% of generic TAB is poorly done. TAB has never been really accepted and has no 'standard' like notation. Most is written by amateurs for their own use...and then published willy-nilly.

My experience (only 40yrs worth) with learning/teaching simply ends up being: "I don't know the best way to teach". It changes with every person. I do know that people who don't actively listen often have a very hard go of it. Strict notation readers usually have difficulty playing the nuances...but often their technical mastery overcomes that with a little nudge here and there. Some people are just visual and only learn if you sit right in front of them and show them every note.

My personal learning techniques are all over the map and vary considerably with the instrument I'm playing. 5-string Banjo = TAB. Plectrum instruments = Chord diagrams and TAB. Strings = notation. I was amazed that I could pick up notational reading for strings so quickly. I had played piano as a kid and have been reading treble clef to create banjo TAB. When I started on Cello, suddenly notation made sense. When I switched to Viola, I feared that the alto clef would stump me...but it was a piece of cake. Why then, does my brain refuse to use notation for the banjo?? Stupid brain!!