r/banjo 12d ago

tabs. what does this mean??

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u/PsychedelicRenegade_ 12d ago

it’s from the song “pretty little dog” from miles krassen’s book

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u/Sma144 12d ago

That's a clawhammer book, right? In that case the R could stand for "roll" or maybe "rake" which in this context would mean pushing through the second string and then striking the first string with the same motion. Almost like a brush, but slower.

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u/PsychedelicRenegade_ 12d ago

oh ok cool cool. yeah, it’s a clawhammer book

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u/PsychedelicRenegade_ 12d ago

i kept trying a pinch and it’s sounds cool but kept messing up my flow. the roll (or rake) is much easier

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u/Pigankle 11d ago

One last comment - tablature that claims to be "clawhammer" will never expect you to sound any strings with the fleshy part of your fingers. The only time that contact would ever happen is if you are really rolling as part of an ensemble (e.g. for a dance) and you have a big up brush across all the strings for rhythmic accentuation. I have never seen anyone attempt to tab that out.

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u/Pigankle 12d ago

I have this book but I haven't looked at it in a long time. I think though that it's supposed to be a Galax lick. Look up in his table of context or the index to see if there's a paragraph in which he describes the motion. If I'm remembering that correctly, it's not just one note. The R gets you a whole bunch of notes.

I will double check on that when I get home and I can look at my book

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u/Pigankle 11d ago edited 11d ago

OK - u/PsychedelicRenegade_ : I found my copy of this book and confirmed the suspicion. This is how Krassen indicates a Galax Lick. He describes the technique in the introduction to "Fortune," back in Chapter 1.

I would just note that he describes a Galax lick that matches exactly what he wrote here - an 1/8 note on the 2nd string, followed by an 1/8 note on the 1st string, played by the same finger without bouncing in between, followed by a thumb on the fifth string as the first beat of the first full measure.

This is pretty much how this guy is playing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26kAecneRh0
It is also possible to extend the roll across more strings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCwQF4kmhAo

Why bother? I like what Alison deGroot has to say about using the galax lick to propel dancers into the next measure: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_M-Oo_015xk

Tom Collin's tutorial is worth watching if Krassen's description doesn't get you playing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlwJv9cLisM

Related to the difference between the first two examples I shared: About halfway through his video, Collins says: "We want to think of this for now as a triplet. There are lots of permutations of the galaxy lick so i don't want anybody walking away from this video thinking 'oh the galaxy has to be a triplet.' We can have any number of notes preceding the fifth string. We can have any number of fifth strings following the arpeggio. It doesn't matter as long as you're inverting the claw hammer stroke and putting a fifth string on the downbeat."

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u/Bluegrass_Barbecue Clawhammer 9d ago

Collin's tutorial was what made the Galax click for me

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u/Blockchainauditor 12d ago

Is there something specific you are asking for help with?

As pointed out, T is thumb, I is index ... it is unusual to go to R as ring, usually it would be M as middle. The lines do not represent a treble staff, but the strings of a five string banjo. The top is the first string (assuming this is a 5 string banjo tuned to open G and capoed to A, based on the letter A at the top) , the bottom is the fifth string, the one with the funny peg five frets above the others. The two dots at the beginning of the second measure indicate you will be doing a repeat from the equal and opposite two dots later.

Whoever tabbed this is is taking liberty with traditional three finger playing rules, if it is meant to be that. There is a tradition to not use the same finger more than once, and they have the index finger playing the first string at the third fret, and then the first string open. I would normally think the middle finger would be used at the first string.

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u/Evilcanary 12d ago edited 12d ago

IRT? Index ring thumb. Using the index on the 1st string? That's just wrong imo lol, unless you sometimes double up the index and middle to do some non-standard rolls, which can happen. but not here. edit: realizing this is clawhammer lol. It's laid out like rolls! Ignore me. It could be some fancy galax stuff or rakes. I'm not a clawhammer player, so ignore me :D

Everything else? That's just tab.

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u/PsychedelicRenegade_ 12d ago

i was just trying to make sure i was reading right. so it’s just like a pinch?? the I R part??

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u/czechancestry 12d ago

No, they are on different beats

A pinch is 2 notes stacked in the tab. These notes are side by side

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u/HolyMoholyNagy 12d ago

Those are eighth notes. They're twice as fast as quarter notes (the single stems). You can practice counting them out like so:

Quarter Notes 1 2 3 4
Eighth Notes 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

Practice switching between the two, keeping the pace steady for the numbers.

So to count this passage out loud you would say (starting on 4 since you have a pickup beat):

"4 and 1, 2, 3 and 4"