Barbara Allen | Lesson
Added 2018-07-16 18:31:28 +0000 UTCUPDATE: I've added overhand style tableture and a sound file to this lesson (1 August 2020).
gDGAD relative (eBEF#B actual) aka "Moonshiner Tuning." This early folk ballad happens to be quite simple when played in the above tuning: it only requires one finger of your left hand and is entirely noted on the second fret of the banjo.
Comments
We're sitting on pins and needles awaiting your return.
John L Schneider
2020-08-02 13:48:22 +0000 UTCThanks for another great lesson, Clifton.
Richard Hunt
2020-08-01 12:46:53 +0000 UTCLuka, check out our video "Basic Banjo Setup" here: <a href="https://youtu.be/29AzSDeFymg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/29AzSDeFymg</a> It sounds to me like you need to move your bridge one way or the other.
Clifton Hicks
2018-07-25 22:04:17 +0000 UTCI cannot describe the help you've been to me, I just started trying to figure this song out myself today. And I've grown so very much as a banjo player thanks to you, I thank you again for all your incredible work you've put into it. However, again, a slightly ignorant question baked into this whole thing, when my banjo is tuned into these low ones the strings, they sound fine, but when pressed down they sound... slightly out of tune. Is it just me and my unmusical ears or anything specific that I'm missing? Many thanks again Mr. Hicks for your tireless and much appreciated work!
Luka Jovanovic
2018-07-25 20:23:36 +0000 UTCMary! I'm glad you are now able to post here. I just got home from assisting George Gibson at the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College outside of Asheville. He told me that he learned the song as a child from a neighbor whose mother was a banjo player. She said that the only song she never could figure out on the banjo was Barbara Allen. Young George went home and figured it out like this so that he could play it for her. He also told me that Buell Kazee recorded this song in a similar tuning: dDGAD. George also mentioned that where he grew up in Knott County, Kentucky there were more women who played the banjo than men.
Clifton Hicks
2018-07-21 02:18:15 +0000 UTCThat is a version of Barbara Allen I have not heard, but I really like the tuning.
Mary Elizabeth Grimes
2018-07-21 01:02:14 +0000 UTCYou need to come out to Oklahoma so we can jam together. I can play guitar and scratch around on a fiddle. Hopefully there are big things coming in November to my state.
Ethan Morton
2018-07-20 17:31:12 +0000 UTCGood luck at the gathering and looking forward to some new material!
Justin Hoffmann
2018-07-18 00:28:02 +0000 UTCHaving a horrible night so thanks for the lovely tune on my dinner break! Hope it goes well with George in Swanananannananoa
Bobby Banks
2018-07-16 21:08:54 +0000 UTC
