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Out of the Mould

Lessons by David Boots.

I am very pleased and lucky to have David offer these mini lessons in playing the banjo. David has a great sense of harmony and a deep understanding of the banjo. The lessons are about playing beyond what is taught in the vast majority of lessons and in books and videos. They are about moving beyond playing someone else's tablature.

These mini lessons are designed cause you to listen, think and experiment, and not necessarily in that order. There are not arranged in any order of difficulty, you get them as they are, and you will get out of them what you put into them. This is not a step by step learning experience, it is much more like the real world where some lessons are challenging to assimilate and some are easier. In a way, these are about breaking out of the spoon fed, predictable results education idiom, and learning how to get the most out of what you encounter.

They are presented in MusEdit format, which requires either MusEdit or the MusEditViewer to access. Both of these PC programs are available as free downloads. You will need to download the files and open them in your computer for the MIDI to play.

David played with a very fine band in Northern California called HiJinks. Here are some examples of his fine banjo work in a very enjoyable swing/bluegrass band.

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Here are three progressively more complex chord melody versions of White Christmas. Study the three of them and notice how the melody line is harmonized with increasingly complex chords. The main chords are names, it is up to you to work out what is going on in the passing chords. A solid understanding of chord construction will be very helpful. See below for a primer.

David called this "fancy-ing up a tune".

• White Christmas version 1 (PDF, MIDI)
• White Christmas version 2 (PDF, MIDI)
• White Christmas version 3 (PDF, MIDI)

Here are three licks to examine and understand. A true chromatic lick with taste, a major/minor triplet lick and a chordal ending. The last two can be easily moved to another key.

• Three Licks (PDF, MIDI)

Here is an example of making a generic lick more specific.

• Generic to specific (PDF, MIDI)

David calls this mining for minors. The first part can be found applied to the B part of Blackberry Blossom (PDF, MIDI). The second part is a short exploration of the I/IV/VI/V (no error here, BTW) chord progression.

• Mining for minors (PDF, MIDI)

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The number system (without buying a book!)

We use the "formula" for creating a major scale, in this case, G. We use G as the root, THEN using whole-steps (two frets - ed.) (w) or half-steps (one fret -ed.) (h), we play wwhwwwh for a total of 8 notes (root and octave are the same note).

G(starting point) - A(w) - B(w) - C(h) - D(w) - E(w) - F#(w) - G(h).

The chords we typically hear when we're playing in the key of G are created from these 7 notes.

Major chord is constructed from the Root, 3rd, and 5th of a major scale.
Minor chord is constructed from the Root, flatted-3rd, and 5th of a major scale.

In a major chord, the distance between the root to the 3rd note are two whole-steps (4 frets), the distance between the 3rd to the 5th is one and one-half steps (3 frets).

In a minor chord, the distance between the root to the 3rd note is one and one-half steps (3 frets), the distance between the 3rd to the 5th is two whole-steps (4 frets).

If we start the notes in a G major scale at different points we get the following:

G  A  B  C  D  E  F# G
A  B  C  D  E  F# G  A
B  C  D  E  F# G  A  B
C  D  E  F# G  A  B  C
D  E  F# G  A  B  C  D
E  F# G  A  B  C  D  E
F# G  A  B  C  D  E  F#

If we take the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of each of these, we will be constructing chords (major, minor) that will sound good with the notes in a G major scale (since we constructed them from these very notes!).

Let's take the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of each of these, remembering:

G  B  D  = I chord
A  C  E  = II chord
B  D  F# = III chord
C  E  G  = IV chord
D  F# A  = V chord
E  G  B  = VI chord
F# A  C  = VII chord

The 1, 3, and 5 tell us whether the chord is major or minor, the 4 note adds a color to it. In other words, the D chord sounds good against the notes in a G scale but the D7 sounds better...fuller. However, as you know, the typical chords you hear are G, A-, B-, C, D7, E-.

G  B  D  = I chord   [G major]
A  C  E  = II chord  [A minor]
B  D  F# = III chord [B minor]
C  E  G  = IV chord  [C major]
D  F# A  = V chord   [D major]
E  G  B  = VI chord  [E minor]
F# A  C  = VII chord [F# minor b5]

Major 7th (maj7) and Dominant 7th (7) chords:

• Major 7th chord is constructed from the Root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th of a major scale.
• Dominant 7th chord is constructed from the Root, 3rd, 5th, and flatted-7th of a major scale.
• In a dominant 7th chord, the distance between the 5th to the 7th is one and one-half steps (3 frets).
• In a major 7th chord, the distance between the 5th to the 7th is two whole-steps (4 frets)

Let's add another note (the 7th) to the chords you constructed.

G  A  B  C  D  E  F# G
A  B  C  D  E  F# G  A
B  C  D  E  F# G  A  B
C  D  E  F# G  A  B  C
D  E  F# G  A  B  C  D
E  F# G  A  B  C  D  E
F# G  A  B  C  D  E  F#

G  B  D  F# = [Gmaj7]
A  C  E  G  = [A-7]
B  D  F# A  = [B-7]
C  E  G  B  = [Cmaj7]
D  F# A  C  = [D7]
E  G  B  D  = [E-7]
F# A  C  E  = [F#-7b5]

With the exception of D7 (the V7 chord), these "fuller sounds" are not played in most bluegrass tunes but are standard in jazz.

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More to come. See also David's arrangements on the tablature page.

 

Some material ©2000-2006 by David Boots

Last Updated 15 Jul 2006 by PJH

Edited 11 Jul 2009 by WF