Minstrel Banjo

[zeked45]

I have a Bouch Banjo made by Bob Flesher. I am looking for some more minstrel banjo tabs. I would like tabs that Confederate Soldiers would have played in camp. I am also looking for the Bonnie Blue Flag and Wait for the Wagon. If anyone could help it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much

[Old Cremona]

Re: Minstrel Banjo

Hi Zach,

I assume you have already started working out of the Flesher tab books. That's an excellent start, there's quite a lot of material in there to get a fellow immersed in the style of the Civil War banjo. Some people have opined here that Flesher takes a few too many liberties with the music, but I don't agree with that. He has mastered the style and personalized it.

It will be difficult, well nigh impossible to find "tabs that Confederate soldiers would have played in camp," tab being developed sometime after the war...

I kid you...I know what you mean, tabs of songs that Confederate soldiers would have played in camp.

If you send me a PM I can probably help you out there, having done a lot of tabbing over the years. Also, check out Centerstream's Briggs Banjo Instructor for a tab of Wait For The Wagon.

I might suggest, also, looking over the notation in the reissued tutors published by Joe Ayers Tuckahoe Music. It's not all that hard to read banjo notation- there aren't that many notes used in the minstrel banjo style:embaresse If you can learn to read tab you can learn to read notes. And while reading banjo music might not have been PEC in the period, that doesn't much help those of us trying to learn a style that went extinct before any of us were born. Just as tabs of period banjo music are immensely useful, so is reading the notes, and reading the notes opens up a vast frontier for the aspiring stroke-stylist.

[Danny]

Re: Minstrel Banjo

I have a Bouch Banjo...I am looking for some more minstrel banjo tabs... Bonnie Blue Flag and Wait for the Wagon...

Zachary -

Here attached is what old banjo tutor pages look like for those two songs. The more complex "Wait For..." (the pdf) is from the 1855 Briggs tutor. The others (the jpg) are from a much later banjo tutor, the Eclipse (DeVille's).

btw, if that Boucher reproduction is like the one that went on eBay last week, Congrats on a very fine instrument.

Dan Wykes

p.s. If you eventually get comfortable with the noted form, you can download the rest of that Briggs tutor and most of another early banjo tutor, Buckley's, from

http://groups.google.com/group/Albert-Baur?hl=en

[Hardtack Herring]

Re: Minstrel Banjo

I went ahead and drew up a tab for the Bonnie Blue Flag. I hope you can read it.

This will give you the melody of the tune. Take it from there and play it in the minstrel style.

I hope this helps you.

PS>>> I made a mistake in the A strain.... The first 2 you see should be played on the third string and not the second....Sorry