Music Education

Learning Banjo - How to Play By Ear

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What makes this so cool is that you don't really have to worry that much about playing the specific melody of a song. If you can frail a chord progression and keep the rhythm smooth while you sing a song people will be impressed. If you add in some licks people will think you're doing something amazing.

See, even if you can do a whole bunch of melodic stuff it's really only going to work in the context of a banjo break or solo. The trick to backing up your voice or another instrument is to play simply so that the banjo sound effects don't fight the voice or the instrument playing lead.

Let's look at another couple of licks before we move on.

Example Four: Third String Slide (G chord)

Once you get comfortable with this lick try it on the fourth string/ Example Five: Third String Bend (G chord)

I use this lick a lot. The timing can be tricky at fist, but it works so well for adding a little bit of an emphasis to a word or phrase in the lyrics of a tune.

Example Six: "Phantom" Hammer-on (G chord)

Like the last lick we talked about this lick in the "Frailing Around Foggy Mountain" workshop. Like the third string bend lick I use this at some point with almost everything I play in 4/4 time. It's just a neat effect.