Where to Next?

Lessons, Tunes, and Licks, Oh My!

Next steps! Great job on making it this far. Be proud of yourself. Celebrate the things you improved upon, and don't beat yourself up about aspects of your playing you are still working on. These lessons are here for you to visit and revisit. Remember: progress is rarely a straight line!

When checking out new tunes, always check out the melody first, no matter how good you get. Sing or say the words as you play them. This is always a great place to start before jumping into the more full Clawhammer arrangements. It will help with your musicality and emotive playing. You'll also get a better understanding of the tune itself. Look for songs you are already familiar with. If you aren't familiar with many, or even any, then listen! Listening is important. Listening is practice.

"I'll Fly Away" is a great tune to check out. After learning a melody in one key, learn it in another! That will do wonders for your understanding of fretboard layout on the banjo and noticing patterns. Check the links below to try the song in both keys. "O Come, All Ye Faithful" is another beautiful, classic and simple melody worth checking out. If you want a bit of a challenge, try "Over the Rainbow" it's such a pretty and soaring melody. "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is another good one. All these tunes are linked below. Stay tuned and keep pickin' y'all. You're doing great and we're here to help.

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  Song

  Melody - Key of G

  • Difficulty
    
  • Key
    G
  • Tuning
    GDGBD

  Here's the melody for I'll Fly Away in G. Learn that first and start adding in licks. You'll see how they are built around the melod...

  Learn
• 

  Song

  Melody - Key of C

  • Difficulty
    
  • Key
    C
  • Tuning
    GCGCD

  Start with the melody! Think about the syllables of the lyrics when playing along with the arrangement. When you can play the melody...

  Learn
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  Song

  Melody

  • Difficulty
    
  • Key
    G
  • Tuning
    GDGBD

  Pay close attention to the fingering indications for your fret hand. Use only your striking finger for all the melody notes in this ...

  Learn
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  Song

  Melody

  • Difficulty
    
  • Key
    G
  • Tuning
    GDGBD

  Hear we have a beautiful melody played halftime against the double time backing band. It creates a nice undercurrent and drive that ...

  Learn
• 

  Song

  Clawhammer

  • Difficulty
    
  • Key
    G
  • Tuning
    GDGBD

  This arrangement has some chord splashes that add a nice touch of groove. Check out the licks for some other ideas on how to interpr...

  Learn