A New Backing Track For “At The Cross”

I wanted to start making some Gospel backing tracks. This is the first, "At The Cross," done Dave Hum backing track style. I am not sure what Dave believed about God. He always seemed friendly and happy in his videos, and from everything I've read about him he was a good man who loved teaching and helping others. So, I suspect he was a Christian, but I don't know. Biblically, we are saved by God's free grace through faith alone in Jesus, not by being good. Albeit, just because Dave never recorded any Gospel songs doesn't mean he wasn't saved. I have gratefully been a born again Christian since age 13, and I prefer folk and Bluegrass songs over Gospel stuff myself. I hope he went to Heaven. I think about that often.

I've made backing tracks in both the keys of G and A. Enjoy!

• At The Cross (key of A, normal)
• At The Cross (key of A, slower)
• At The Cross (key of A, slow)
• At The Cross (key of G, normal)
• At The Cross (key of G, slower)
• At The Cross (key of G, slow)

I used MIDI for bass, drums and piano. I added some real audio cymbals.

I Get A Lot Of Nice Comments About The Dave Hum T-Shirts I Had Made

A New Backing Track For “Green Gates”

I really like this song on the 5-string banjo, called "Green Gates." Dave Hum recorded it along with "Silver Spears" and even a burst of "The Traveller" in the middle (cool), but I just wanted a backing track for "Green Gates." It's an old popular Irish reel. Of the 115 backing tracks which Dave Hum's family has gratefully made available for purchase, Green Gates/Silver Spears is unfortunately not one of them. I am very thankful for the 115 backing tracks that I have. What a blessing! If you haven't purchased Dave's backing tracks and tabs yet, you're missing out. There's nothing available online that I would consider even close in quality. Dave's tracks aren't cluttered, like most of the other junk I've found online.

I enjoyed making this backing track. Certain songs on the 5-string banjo have an addictive pattern of notes to play, and this is one of them. I can really get into this song. Other tunes (to mention but a few) that have addictive 5-string banjo patterns are "Chicken Reel," "Cumberland Gap" and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." I recorded this song today, so you can hear me play along with this backing track. I used my Deering Calico banjo on this recording. Dave recorded the song in the key of G, standard tuning. I like playing it in the key of A, so I have provided backing tracks for both keys. I hope you like it. Dave Hum's family has tabs for sale for "Green Gates" on their website.

• Green Gates (key of G, normal)
• Green Gates (key of G, slower)
• Green Gates (key of G, slow)
• Green Gates (key of G, woodshed)
• Green Gates (key of A, normal)
• Green Gates (key of A, slower
• Green Gates (key of A, slow)
• Green Gates (key of A, woodshed)

I used MIDI for bass and drums. I added a real audio loop cymbal and Cajon. I'm playing my Eastman 505 CC mandolin and Cort acoustic guitar. I humbly think the backing track came out nice. It has a nice punch to it.

A Nifty Mandolin Trick That Makes It Easier To Play

I learned a nifty trick that has made it easier to play and record my mandolin. I'm not a professional mandolin player. Like most musicians I just wing it, doing the best I can. My fingers aren't very strong, since I don't play the mandolin every day. So, pressing down the two 4th strings can be difficult, resulting in unwanted string twanging. So, what I did was raise the pitch of both 4th strings from G to A, which works with almost all the chords I need, so I don't have to worry about pressing the 4th strings down, or trying to avoiding picking them. Now I can just strum away with confidence, which is what I did in this song, "Green Gates." Enjoy!

Dave Hum (1966-2012)

An Updated Backing Track For "Mason's Apron" (More Punch)

One of my top five songs that I love playing by Dave Hum is Mason's Apron. I went back to listen to the earlier backing track that I made in July of 2024, but it lacks the punch I've come to expect in a backing track. My skills are steadily improving as I make more backing tracks. So here is Mason's Apron again, but this time with more punch in the bass and drums. I think you will be pleased. Enjoy!

• Mason's Apron (updated, key of A, normal)
• Mason's Apron (updated, key of A, slower)
• Mason's Apron (updated, key of A, slow)
• Mason's Apron (updated, key of A, woodshed)
• Mason's Apron (updated, key of G, normal)
• Mason's Apron (updated, key of G, slower)
• Mason's Apron (updated, key of G, slow)
• Mason's Apron (updated, key of G, woodshed)

There are so many nice things you can do to improvise in this song, which is a lot of fun and sounds great. If you listen to Dave Hum's different recordings of the same tune, he always plays each version a little different. I love that, because it encourage me to know I don't have to play any song a certain way every time to sound nice.

Dave Hum's Busking Buddies

A New Backing Track For “Tam Lin”

I love how Dave Hum plays this traditional Irish reel, “Tam Lin.” The tune is also known as, “The Glasgow.” Dave plays it in the G position, but tunes the fifth string one tone higher to A instead of G. This gives you the D minor tuning. So, the tuning is: aDGBD. I have also included backing tracks in the A position, or respectively E minor. Dave Hum's family has tabs available (the way Dave plays it on YouTube), as well as original backing tracks. I have posted tabs by my friend in The Netherlands, Anurakt Scheepers, but his arrangement is tabbed in standard tuning: gDGBD. Anurakt plays a very different arrangement than Dave does, but both versions are beautiful and worth learning. Enjoy!

• Tam Lin Tablature (by Anurakt Scheepers)
• Tam Lin (key of G, normal speed)
• Tam Lin (key of G, slower speed)
• Tam Lin (key of G, slow speed)
• Tam Lin (key of G, woodshed speed)
• Tam Lin (key of A, normal speed)
• Tam Lin (key of A, slower speed)
• Tam Lin (key of A, slow speed)
• Tam Lin (key of A, woodshed speed)

I had a lot of fun making this backing track. There's a lot of stuff going on. Like Dave does, I added a pulsating synthesizer, keyboard, cymbal, Cajon box and some acoustic guitar parts. I used MIDI for the bass, piano and drums. The track has a nice strong volume, much louder than my older tracks a couple years ago. I also used a real audio drum loop in addition to the MIDI drums to enhance the overall sound. I humbly think the backing track came out nicely.

By God's grace, I enjoy the tedious work of making backing tracks, and freely sharing them with other banjo enthusiasts. If my amateur backing tracks can encourage someone to start playing the banjo, provide helpful backing tracks for musicians, or inspire others to play more often, then I am delighted. Music makes the world a better place. I wish every young person could be introduced to beautiful instruments other than just the electric guitar; instruments like the lap steel, Dobro and pedal steel guitar, and the banjo, mandolin, harp, harmonica, lute, ukulele, piano, et cetera. I highly encourage every parent to support and encourage their child to learn to play a musical instrument(s). It is a lifetime worthy investment.

And also, if you have a particular song that you'd like a backing track for, just email me, and I'll see what I can do (but no promises, I have some chronic health issues from an old neck injury and two failed surgeries years ago, that still cause me much bodily pain). I was severely rear-ended by a church bus in 1992, and then I fell hard down a 15 foot slide at work in 2005. I'm a mess physically, but God is good and I try not to complain, because so many people have it MUCH worse. I'm on permanent disability, so I have the time to make backing tracks at my leisure, in between resting when my neck pain and burning nerves are intolerable. I have to do something with my time to stay busy. So I wanted to do something constructive to help other people.

I am now 57 years old, born in Chicago on March 5th 1967. I am also a grateful born again Christian (since age 13), and a fundamentalist Baptist by church affiliation. I am a big fan of John Bunyan (1628-1688), Billy Sunday (1862-1935) and Harry Ironside (1872-1952). I trained at Hyles-Anderson College for 8 years to be a pastor 40 years ago, but ironically never became a pastor. Sadly, in my humble opinion 95% of church pastors today shouldn't have ever entered into the clergy, because they woefully lack love for people. Nearly all of today's churches are pathetic. If you're interested, I like to humbly write blogs to share my Bible knowledge, feed Jesus' sheep, and most importantly share the Gospel of free grace with lost sinners. Jesus is precious! I rarely mention spiritual matters in my banjo blog and won't start doing so. I don't want to buttonhole my blog guests with spiritual things or religion. I appreciate your time spent on my blog and continued interest. I want to respect all my guests. Okay, enough of that. Thank you for your patience my friend.

I play my Deering Goodtime Special most of the time, since it is a few pounds lighter than my Deering Calico, Recording King Elite 85 and Deering Golden Wreath banjos. The Calico is my favorite (lots of resonance), but it's heavy (about 13 pounds). Anyway, I enjoy making backing tracks if you want me to make you one. If you have a song that already exists, that makes it much easier for me, because I can just use it as a template and follow the bass notes. There should be no problem making a backing track if you'd like one. You don't even have to write a message to me, just put the name of the song in an email and I'll know you want a backing track. Don't worry, I won't try to become pen pals. But I will always reply to emails (unless I didn't get it for some reason; sometimes Gmail send good emails to the garbage).

Also, I don't want any money, and I wouldn't accept any even if you begged for me to take it, honest. I've had people kindly beg to give me money for my ministry labors, but I have never accepted a cent in 22 years of writing online. I do what I do from my heart, because I love people and just want to be a blessing and help. I just ask for the earnest prayers of others, if you are a person of faith in God. If you are an atheist or unbeliever in Jesus Christ, you are still very welcome on my blog and I am glad you are here friend. Everyone is loved and welcome. I just want to be a blessing. Thank you for reading my blog.

Dave Hum and his band 'The Huckleberries' Jamming

A Nice Ending By Sean Ray

I bought an excellent banjo course a few months ago that I highly recommend you purchase. It's called, 'THE SESSION BOOK' by Sean Ray. I love this course! Sean is a proficient banjo player. His tablature ranges from simple to advanced which I like. I've learned so many new ideas that I had never thought of before. The course is worth every penny! I learned this cool ending today from Sean for the song, "Five Speed." ...

'THE SESSION BOOK'

You'll love the Bluegrass song "Five Speed" on page 60 by Richard Underwood of The Johnson Mountain Boys. Best of all, Sean provides professional backing tracks for each song, which are worth the price along. I have never liked super fast music, so I used MixCraft to slow down the track from Sean. I think it sounds much better when played at a lower tempo. If you go to "Settings" on YouTube and reduce it to 50%, that is where I like the tempo. The original song was done on the 4th fret (key of B). I used Mixcraft to change Sean's track to an A.

If you get MixCraft Software, which I have used for over 15 years, you can easily change the tempo and key of any song. I use MixCraft almost daily to slow down tracks, and put them into the key of A (which Dave Hum likes to use). Gold Tone puts a Zero Glide nut on all their banjos, but most banjos don't use them. The Zero Glide nut lowers the strings as if the nut were just another fret. But if you don't have a Zero Glide nut, you can simply put a capo on any fret and it will have the same effect. Plus the frets are closer together when you use a capo, which makes it easier and more comfortable to play. I enjoy the key of A (i.e., using a capo on the second fret.

Sean Ray's 'THE SESSION BOOK' is an excellent banjo course.

A New Backing Track For “Speed The Plough”

This is an awesome song that Dave Hum recorded, “Speed The Plough.” Dave plays it in the key of A in standard tuning. Capo the 2nd fret, and also the fifth string on the 7th fret. Enjoy!

1. Speed The Plough (key of A, normal)
2. Speed The Plough (key of A, slower)
3. Speed The Plough (key of A, slow)
4. Speed The Plough (key of A, woodshed)
5. Speed The Plough (key of A, caveman)
6. Speed The Plough (key of G, normal)
7. Speed The Plough (key of G, slower)
8. Speed The Plough (key of G, slow)
9. Speed The Plough (key of G, woodshed)
10. Speed The Plough (key of G, caveman)

I added a real audio Cajon loop. I used a MIDI bass mostly. There's one interesting part where the bass note slides higher, which I needed to use my Fender Mustang bass to record. It went well. The drums are MIDI. I did something different in this song, by shortening the bass notes to 75% of a whole note. It gives the backing tract more of a human feeling. I think I'm going to start doing this in future songs. You'll hear the difference if you compare this tract to some of my earlier ones. The former ones sound good, but I think this backing came out really good.

I recorded real audio tracks using both my Eastman 505CC mandolin and Cort acoustic guitar. I tried to copy what Dave did on his backing track, although my track is inferior. I highly recommend buying Dave's original backing tracks from his family. It will help them financially, and you won't find better backing tracks anywhere. I realized years ago that the secret to Dave's happy sounding videos is not just his spectacular playing, but equally his driving well syncopated backing tracks. The tracks cost about $12.50 each, which is very reasonable when you consider the thousands of hours of hard work that Dave invested into making them.

If you check their pricing per song from a couple backing track websites, you'll discover that the going price today for a custom backing track is $150. And that's just to make the basic song, they charge extra for even the smallest of requests for something additional, like an alternate intro or ending. So, for about $125 per pack of 10 songs from Dave Hum's store, you're getting high quality backing tracks which you'll have for the rest of your life. I bought all 115 tracks, and I humbly hope Dave's wife will find some more to sell. She is a very sweet person if you contact her at their website.

I can't get enough of Dave Hum's music. I am so grateful to Dave's family for sharing his backing tracks with the world. If you haven't purchased any yet, you're really missing out. These are the actual backing tracks that Dave used for his busking videos. You can change the tempo and key of each track with MixCraft software, which I do every day. I need to slow the tracks down for me to learn. I can't play anywhere near as fast as Dave. MixCraft's basic version is only about $79, which is all you need. I bought the Pro Studio version for $149, which I prefer. You can always upgrade from the Basic to the Pro version later, if you go with the cheaper version now. The Pro Studio version comes with over 5,000 real audio loops in the library. I just recorded a whole bunch of djembe and Cajon loops for free. I just use the free Audacity software to record the sounds I hear, and save them in "My Loops" folder. You can hear one of the loops I saved, which I used twice in this song. There's millions of free loops online, from drums and percussive sounds to every musical instrument and genre imaginable. Anybody can make their own backing tracks. I'm getting better as I learn from my mistakes.

At first the song sounded complicated to learn, but when I actually started to learn it, I realized that this is a very easy song to learn and play. I have been studying Dave Hum's style for a few years now, and have thankfully learned that there is a large degree of overlap between his songs. That is to say, if you learn one song you are well on the way to learning the others. Because of the large degree of overlap (playing the same things), it makes the learning process progress exponentially. There is a steep learning curve on the banjo, like with most instruments. That means it is most difficult getting started, but if you stick with it through the initial boot camp phase, it gets much easier as time passes. I have figured out enough of Dave's songs, so that now I can figure out what he is doing relatively quickly.

Dave is not a complicated player; he keeps things simple and is very proficient in his skills. He is a master of technique and timing. I think Zarana is probably his most detailed song, which his family sells tabs for on their website. There is an original backing track for Zarana in Pack #4. Also, there are tabs for sale. The banjo is such a happy and beautiful instrument. Music makes the world a better place.

Dave Hum With His Baldwin Ode Banjo
(Dave sold the Ode before he passed away in 2012)

A Very Nice Dave Hum Lick On String One (updated)

I tabbed this wrong the other day, but it is correct now. The lick on string one starts on fret 2, not on zero. This cool run up is used in songs like "Speed The Plough" and "Mason's Apron." The whole lick executes in just one second. If your technique is correct, it sounds awesome. You can also rake your thumb across the strings for a greater emphasis.

God has blessed me with a good sense of figuring things out on musical instruments, but I know some people struggle with it. I wanted to explain one of Dave's most iconic licks that he plays. Here is the lick. I tabbed it out for you as well. You can watch Dave play it at 1:07 time in his video for "Speed The Plough." In the notation, I show the fingering, which is important to get right. It's a very simple lick, and can be used in many songs. I LOVE playing this lick! You can hear Dave Hum use it extensively in "Mason's Apron." He doesn't always use it on string one, but he does use it quite a bit once the song gets going. He uses it in Mason's Apron as soon as the bass kicks in.

• T = Thumb
• F = Forefinger
• M = Middle
• Tablature

Originally I was playing it wrong, picking only on string one. You need to start on string 5 with your thumb, and then string one with your forefinger, followed by your middle finger on string one, sliding from fret 2 up to fret 5, which gives you the redundant G note. It's a beautiful lick!

Proper technique (i.e., the way that you do something) is the key to playing anything right! Anytime that you are trying to play what someone else is playing, but it doesn't sound right, your technique is almost assuredly wrong.

By the way, it there's any particular song on the 5-string that you want tabs for, email me to let me know. I won't make any promises, but I'll do my best to tab out the main part of the song for you with TablEdit. I don't want or accept any money, I love freely helping other musicians. It is enough joy for me just to promote interest in the banjo.

A Cool T-shirt I Had Made With A Dave Hum Photo
(Women ask me who's the handsome guy on my shirt...lol)