Banjo tablatures for Careless Love
Traditional
Recomended level: Intermediate
Careless Love is one of the folk song that can have its origin traced. This one dates back to sometime around 1880 and was first found in the US. The song speaks about a heartbreak brought about by careless love and the narrator frequently threatens to kill the way ward lover. “Careless Love” is one of the most amazing pieces of repertory that the Buddy Bolden band of New Orleans have and the tune has remained a jazz and blues standard from the start of the 20th century. It has also seen tons of folk, blues, jazz, country and pop recordings which include those by Bessie Smith, Ottilie Patterson and George Lewis. Published in 1941, the autobiography of WC Handy, father of the blues, has something about careless love and Loveless Love. An excerpt found in the De Capo press version reads that the song is one of his favorite version and is based on the melody of Careless Love. He had first played it in Bessemer around 1892 and had since become really popular all over the south. Careless love was also recorded in 1946 by T. Texas Tyler for 4-star records. While Joe Turner had recordings of it all through his long career.
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Scruggs Style
- G
- 110 bpm
- gDGBD
Careless Love is an old blues standard, and the bluegrass version has been played with many different speeds and feels. This is a very simple Scruggs version of the melody.
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Melodic Style
- G
- 110 bpm
- gDGBD
This melodic version of Careless Love features some lower register melodic G scale work and stays close to the melody while giving you some nice licks to use throughout the song.
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