A couple weeks ago I uploaded a new backing track for “Boys Of Bluehill & Harvest Home.” If you're like me, sometimes you just want to play one song or the other, but not both. So I made another backing track for just, “Boys Of Bluehill.” I made backing tracks in both the keys of D and C for your preference. Dave Hum plays it in the key of D, Double C Tuning (gCGCD). Just capo the 2nd fret, and the fifth string on the 7th fret. Enjoy!
I really like this traditional Irish hornpipe. When you learn the song well enough that you don't have to think what comes next, you can really start enjoy playing it, articulating your playing.
I felt like recording tonight, so I played along on my Deering Calico banjo with one of my favorite songs, “Green Gates.” Of the 115 awesome backing tracts that I purchased from Dave Hum's family, Green Gates was not among them, unfortunately. I love this song! So, last month I did the best I could to make my own backing track and I humbly think it's pretty nice. You are welcome to do whatever you want with all my backing tracks that I make. You can record along with them to share, use them on your own website or blog if you have one, et cetera. I freely made them for music enthusiasts, especially banjo pickers like me.
Green Gates (playing my Deering Calico. I recorded this tonight)
Green Gates (playing my Deering Goodtime Special. I recorded this last month)
Lord willing, I already have many more backing tracks in the works for everyone, which will be coming in the future, so please keep visiting weekly to see what's new.
Green gates is a fun and happy song to play, which is why I love the 5-string banjo so much. The banjo is a cheerful instrument in this dreary world of evil, war and hunger. Playing a musical instrument is a good, pure and honest hobby. Music makes the world a better place.
Last week I installed a railroad spike on my Deering Calico banjo. Thankfully it all went well. The key is to carefully plan your work before you start, and then go slow. I admit that I was a bit nervous drilling a hole into a $4,436 banjo...lol. I bought it from 'Fuller's Guitar' in Houston, Texas. They had a 4th of July weekend 15% discount.
I Installed a Railroad Spike on My Deering Calico
My first love will always be the steel guitar, but the banjo comes second. Lloyd Green and Tommy White (who made this historical jam session in 2002 in Nashville) are my heroes on the pedal steel guitar. I love these guys! I'd live in Nashville because of the music if I could afford it, but Pensacola is home for me. The cost of living in Pensacola is 14% below the national average, which is one reason why I moved here in 2021, thinking ahead for retirement.
It also doesn't snow here in the panhandle, so I don't have to drive in it; praise the Lord! Albeit, I do love and miss the snow when I lived up in Chicago for 37 years. I moved to the island of Guam in 2004 and lived there for 17 years, where the daily temperature is 85 degrees 365 days a year. Amazing! But believe me, you do get sick of it. I love the colder weather here in Pensacola. It's going down to 37 degrees tomorrow night and I love it. The relentless humidity on Guam was unbearable! Albeit, the ocean was beautiful, always within a 5 minutes drive.
On a different notice, I bought a Yamaha P-225 keyboard piano, as I mentioned last month. I am determined to start learning to play hymns. I'm working on the hymns: “Is your All On The Altar” in the key of Eb, and “Mansion Over The Hilltop” in the key of C. Learning to play the piano is going to take a lot of patience and time. I'm starting at a snail's pace, but thankfully I have a good understanding of basic music theory. My goal is just to learn to play a dozen of my favorite Gospel hymns. I ordered a couple piano learning books by John Thompson to get started, and YouTube has lots of helpful videos. One day at a time. I love musical instruments.
Sadly, I live alone. My former wife cruelly abandoned and divorced me in 2006 against my will, so I get lonely on holidays. I've reluctantly lived alone for 18 years since 2006. I hate divorce. My pastor years ago was right, who said that divorce is a sin that perpetuates for a lifetime. I have tried to find another woman to marry, but no one can replace what the Bible calls,“the wife of thy youth” (Proverbs 5:18; Jeremiah 3:20). No one can replace the mother of one's children. I wish our ungodly courts didn't allow divorce, like they don't in the Philippines. I believe biblically that divorce is always wrong. I have signed up for numerous dating websites over the years, but women today are very different than 75 years ago. I just haven't had any luck finding someone.
Anyway, today is Thanksgiving Day. I feel like Sylvester Stallone in the 1976 movie, Rocky, who said Thanksgiving is just Thursday to him. I am thankful to God 365 days a year, but to me Thanksgiving Day is just Thursday. God is so good and I am grateful that my name is written in Heaven (Luke 10:20). I am grateful for the blessings I have, so I have no complaints to God. The Lord is not to blame for the mess that humanity creates. God is faithful (1st Corinthians 1:9b).
Having said that, happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone and thank you for your continued interest in my banjo blog. God bless you friend.
To you it's Thanksgiving. To me it's Thursday. Yo Adrian
This is one of my favorite songs to pick on the banjo, “Arkansas Traveller.” It's a traditional fiddle song. I love how Dave Hum plays it. He plays in the key of A, standard tuning. I made backing tracks in both the keys of A and G for your preference. ...
I used a MIDI bass, kick drum and piano. I used a djembe and tambourine audio loop. I tried to recreate Dave Hum's backing track, but I cannot match his superb percussion. I am not sure if he made his own percussive sounds, or if he used premade loops. It definitely doesn't sound like only MIDI. I highly recommend purchasing Dave's backing tracks from his family. They are reasonably priced when you consider all the hard work that Dave invested into making his backing tracks. I paid Nico Backing Tracks $149 to make me a backing track for Gaspe Reel.
The going price for a backing track nowadays is $150 per song and up. So, paying $12.50 per track for Dave's songs is very reasonable. I bought all 115 of his awesome backing tracks and will always cherish them! There's nothing available online that compares to Dave's simple, driving, fun tracks. I am so thankful to Dave's wife, Mel, for making the backing tracks available. The family has been through a lot over the years. My prayers are always with them.
I first discovered Dave's YouTube channel in 2018 and have been smitten with a love for the banjo ever since. I had bought a Gold Tone banjo for about $850 back around 1990 and learned Cripple Creek, but that's as far as I got. I can't remember what happened to the banjo. I haven't had it for decades. I don't even remembered the model it was. I lived in Chicago and there was no internet back then. (The internet didn't become public until about 1995.)
So, I quickly lost interest in the banjo. The only style I had had thus far was Scruggs' style Bluegrass. We didn't have any Bluegrass radio stations in the Windy City, so I didn't have any musical influences to look to as mentors. I bought a few banjo books and CD's from Jack Hatfield and Janet Davis, but I just didn't have enough resources to hold my continued interest. Everything is different today.
In 2018, I discovered Dave Hum's music online. I had never heard anyone play the banjo like that, and his style and musical voice spoke to my soul. I wanted to learn to play just like him! I have worked hard on the banjo and have made good progress over the past several years. I'll never play as fast as Dave, and I honestly have no desire to play lightning fast. It is challenging enough for me to play accurately at slow speeds, let alone super fast. I am amazed how fast Dave can play, and accurately. I've always enjoyed playing music at slower speeds.
Anyway, I use MixCraft Pro Studio software to make all my backing tracks. I paid $149 for it, which is a great deal. Of the different Digital Audio Workstations (DAW's) I have tried, I am very pleased with MixCraft, which I have used for over 15 years. The banjo is such a happy instrument, raising eyebrows and lifting down spirits.
Dave Hum recorded a beautiful hybrid of two different songs: 'Devil's Dream and Blackberry Blossom.' Although I love playing both songs together, sometimes I just enjoy playing Devil's Dream by itself. So, I have made a backing track just for Devil's Dream. I made backing tracks in the keys of both A and G for your preference.
I used a MIDI bass. I'm strumming along with my Cort acoustic guitar. I enjoy playing this song. There are a few different ways to play the song. I encourage you to try out different tabs in the Banjo Hangout.
This is a fun song to learn and play, "Rickett's Hornpipe." I enjoy picking hornpipes on the banjo (e.g., Sailor's Hornpipe, Dunphy's Hornpipe, Sportsman's Hornpipe, Reed's Hornpipe). Hornpipes are popular with fiddle players. I made my backing track following along with Dave Hum. He plays it in the key of A. I've made backing tracks in both the keys of A and G for your preference. I also made a really slow "Caveman speed," which I needed to be able to learn this song. I tabbed out the song for you. Enjoy!
I used MIDI for the bass, drums and piano. I used real audio loops for the cymbals, djembe and tambourine. I used MixCraft Pro Studio software to make all my backing tracks.
Here is a traditional Irish reel that I learned from Dave Hum called, 'The Traveller.' It is also known as, 'Walker Street.' I used his recording on YouTube as a template to make this backing track. Dave plays it in standard tuning in the key of A (capo 2nd fret, and 7th fret of fifth string), but I have also made backing tracks in the keys of A and G for your preference. Enjoy!
Dave Hum has tablature for sale on his website, but he only tabs the chorus, not the entire song. So, half the song is not tabbed. If you want the partial tabs, you would need to purchase his larger pack with 41 songs, the smaller pack with 10 songs doesn't have 'The Traveller.' I did my best to tab out the song accurately just like Dave Hum did. It took me 6 hours just to tab the first half of the song, which Dave doesn't tab. He only tabbed the chorus.
It also took me about 6 hours to make this backing track. Some songs require more tedious work, which I enjoy. I used a MIDI bass and piano. All the bass and piano notes are entered one mouse click at a time. Sometimes I can use copy and paste to speed things along, which I did a little, but for the most part I need to enter notes individually. I am amazed how nice the quality of MIDI instruments sound.
I used real instrument audio loops for the kick drum, tambourine, cymbal and djembe. There's also some solo piano parts that Dave Hum did, which I tried to imitate exactly the way he did them. I really like playing this song on the 5-string banjo.
