Review Of The Deering Goodtime Special Banjo

I originally published this review on June 1, 2024. I updated it on June 14, 2024. I recently bought a Deering Goodtime Special for $1,099 from Amazon.com in April from GearTree. They included a free sturdy gig bag, quality music stand and a polishing cloth. I like the sound of the banjo. It stays in tune much better than my Elite 85 Recording King banjo made in China. The Deering Goodtime Special pot (it's not the 06) has a nice tone to it, but it's not a professional banjo, so keep that in mind. It's not a toy either, far from it.

I purchased a Hatfield Buck Creek banjo and received it this past week. What a piece of crap! The intonation was so messed up that I couldn't get it to work. I ended up sending the banjo back to Arthur Hatfield for a $3,000 refund. I sincerely don't think Arthur even bothered to play the instrument before boxing it up to ship to me, because if he had he would have heard how bad it sounded. The tone was very nice (better than my Deering Goodtime Special and Recording King Elite 85 in fact), but the nicest sounding tone is worthless if the instrument won't play in tune properly. Since experiencing how crappy the intonation was on the Hatfield Buck Creek banjo I was sent, I have begun to really appreciate my Deering Goodtime Special, which has excellent intonation. I've had so much enjoyment playing my Deering.

By the way, when I received the Deering from Gear Tree on Amazon, and first opened the case, the bridge was laying sideways. I didn't mind setting the bridge position and intonation myself. It was easy and has been very accurate since. But I couldn't get the Hatfield to adjust because something is wrong with the banjo. Instead of working with me to fix it, Arthur just insisted that I return the banjo for a refund. I thought that was absolutely rotten of him, because I really wanted a banjo from him and he knew it. Some people are just mean.

Regarding the Deering Goodtime Special, some players have complained about the narrower 1/2" metal armrest, that it irritates them, but I have played the banjo nearly every day since I got it several weeks ago. The arm rest did bother my arm when I was getting used to it for a week or so, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I ordered a nice wooden arm rest last year from Ross Nickerson for my Recording King Elite 85, which I really like.

I bought this nice banjo strap for the Goodtime Special, which I like because it has a convenient metal clip to connect to the J-hooks. I have a much thicker padded strap on my Recording King, but it was made for guitar, so I had to improvise a bit to make it work.

My New Deering Goodtime Special Banjo w/Tone ring

(you can see from the worn head that I've been playing it)

The biggest thing that disappointed me about the Goodtime Special is that although Deering's website says the Goodtime Special weighs 5.5 lbs. It actually weighs 9.5 lbs. I don't like that Deering doesn't disclose upfront that their Goodtime Special banjo with a tone ring actually weighs almost 10 pounds. Albeit, compared to my 12.5 lb. Recording King, the Goodtime Special banjo seems considerably lighter, which I appreciate.

Having said that, I really like the Goodtime Special. I love the bare wood finish on the neck and headstock. It's cheerful looking to me. It came with light gauge strings, but I put some medium gauge strings on it. On his 1992 Gibson ESS Dave Hum also used medium gauge strings (from 1st string to high 5th: 12, 12, 16, 24, 12). I like these GHS strings from Amazon. The gauges are (from 1st string to high 5th: 11, 13, 16, 26, 10). I like that the low 4th string is bronze looking, which looks nice. I put Dave's gauges on my Recording King. Music stores don't sell string sets with Dave's gauges, nor does Amazon sell those string gauges individually, so I needed to order them special from a string warehouse.

I haven't had tuning issues so far with the Deering Goodtime Special. Here is a photo of my Recording King Elite 85 banjo with the wooden armrest that I bought from Ross Nickerson in Arkansas a couple years ago. ...

Wooden Arm Rest On My Elite 85 Recording King Banjo

The more expensive Deering models have the coveted 06 tone ring. I would love to play Deering's Golden Era, Rustic Wreath and Calico banjos. Someday I might fly from Pensacola to Atlanta, Georgia to the Banjo Warehouse to play a bunch of different banjos and buy one. I love the emanating sound of the Calico. However, in my humble opinion all of Deering's banjos are way overpriced! They're charging what they do because they can.

The intonation is very accurate on my Goodtime Special. The bridge was completely off when I received the banjo. So, if you purchase one, you'll likely need to get a tape measure and set the bridge in place, putting an equal distance from the 12th fret to the nut, and the 12th fret to the bridge. There is NO TRUSS ROD on the Goodtime models, but you don't need one because the hard rock maple is solid.

Because the intonation was off a bit, I had to go buy a compensator bridge from Amazon for my Recording King Elite 85. I paid $1,799 for the banjo in 2018 (from Ross Nickerson). The 5/8" compensator bridge did the trick. There's also a 1/2" height compensator bridge, so make sure you order the right one. I ordered the wrong one the first time.

In summary, the Goodtime Special is a really great first-time banjo. For a parent wanting to buy a banjo for their child, I'd definitely recommend buying one of the Goodtime models, so at least they won't get discouraged playing a piece of junk from China that is inferior. But make sure your child can handle the 9.5 pound Goodtime Special before you buy it. For teens it should be fine, but for a younger child I would recommend the Goodtime 2, which weighs a few pounds less. Deering's Goodtime models are superior in design and materials used. These banjos actually use violin grade maple wood, which to my knowledge no other banjo in the $1,000 price range uses.

Kindly said, to me the Chinese import banjos are nothing more than a bunch of parts thrown together, and you can hear (or better said, not hear) the quality of timbre in the music. TONE IS EVERYTHING FOR A MUSICIAN. There's about 50 things that go into obtaining a good tone. Ultimately, tone is the connection made between your soul and the soul of the audience. No matter how great your musical arrangement and skills may be, if the tone is lacking you won't be able to make that heart-to-heart connection which many musicians like myself seek.

Case in point, show me one professional banjo artist who plays a banjo from China. Bela Fleck (born 1958) promotes Gold Tone banjos, but I recently saw him playing a Gibson. Please keep in mind that I am not experienced with banjos, but I have been a musician all my life. I know quality when I hear it. I am familiar with steel guitars. There's no lapsteel today with a tone that can compare to the old Rickenbacher Bakelite lapsteel with a horseshoe pickup. I have two of them, a 1936 pre WW2 model, and a 1953 post WW2 model. I love them both!

I also have a 1937 Silver Hawaiian Rickenbacher with a horseshoe pickup, but it doesn't have the tone that the Bakelite's do. In fact, someone stuffed newspaper inside the body to reduce the metallic sound...lol. I removed the newspaper and put polishing cloth in there instead. Hawaiian music with a steel guitar will always be my first love of music, and the old country music of the 1970's which was saturated with pedal steel guitar. Today's music is 99% garbage! And I love the banjo of Dave Hum. He rekindled my love of the 5-string banjo. I sure hope to meet him in Heaven! Albeit, I have no idea what he believed about Jesus Christ, who according to John 14:6 is the ONLY way to get to Heaven.

If you want a lighter banjo, the Deering Goodtime Special is a bit lighter than standard banjos with heavy bronze tone rings. The cheaper Goodtime banjos don't have a tone ring, so they are even lighter, but I personally always want a tone ring. My music friend Anurakt Scheepers in the Netherlands does an amazing job with a non-tone ring Goodtime banjo. He actually inspired me to buy a Goodtime banjo, which I don't regret. It's a nice quality banjo for the price.

I do wish that higher-end quality banjo prices would drop significantly like guitar prices have. I only paid $130 for my Cort acoustic guitar new from Guitar Center in 2022 and it sounds and feels awesome. That's the one that I dropped and cracked a couple weeks ago. I have since bought Strap Locks for all my instruments. Any banjo under $500 will assuredly sound like a cheap tin can with strings on it. The more expensive banjos have a resonance, sustain and lushness to them. They have that "boing" sound as I call it...lol.

Also, keep in mind that Deering does NOT include a case of any type with this banjo. I ordered my banjo from GearTree through Amazon and they did include a nice sturdy hard gig bag. And please don't buy a Goodtime Special from Deering, because they will charge you $1,219, ripping you off. Some customers have been hurt and offended when they learned that they could have saved $120 by buying elsewhere. I don't like that Deering does this to people.

The bottom line is that I don't think you'll be disappointed if you buy a Goodtime Special, if you keep in mind that it is a bare bones banjo, not a professional instrument. It is the most bang for your buck you'll get on a student model. It wasn't intended by Deering to substitute for a $5,000 Golden Era; but rather, to put the most banjo for the money possible into the hands of students and folks who simply cannot afford an expensive banjo. In that regard, it lives up to its reputation as a quality banjo. Can we ever have enough banjos?

In summary, my Deering Goodtime Special so far is my favorite banjo that I have played. I love the accuracy of the intonation, and the sound is not bad at all. I really like the bare natural wood neck, which is pleasant to look at. You won't be disappointed if you get this banjo, but just keep in mind that the more expensive Deering banjos do sound nicer because they have the 06 tone ring. Still, the tone is very nice on the Goodtime Special.

That reminds me of a joke I heard recently. Two older men were talking. One man said that his doctor told him not to buy any more banjos past 65. The other man asked what's wrong with buying another banjo past 65? He replied that 65 banjos is enough for anybody!!! I thought that was funny. I told the joke to some folks at church for our Easter Sunrise service, but no one laughed. I guess it was too early in the morning...lol. Thanks for reading my blog.

A New Backing Track For “Off To California”

I really like playing this song, “Off to California,” on the banjo. The song is also known as “The Juggler” and “The Fireman's Reel.” The origin of this hornpipe is unknown. Dave Hum recorded the song in the Key of A using standard tuning. So, you'll need to capo the 2nd fret, and also the 5th string at the 7th fret. By God's grace, I've come a long way in my backing track skills since 2021. Listen to how awful my tracks were a couple years ago...

• Off To California - Old Not So Great Track 

Now here is the backing track that I made today. I listened to a bunch of Dave Hum's backing tracks and studied how he made them. I really tried to make this track Dave Hum style. I think it came out purdy good, much better than the one I made two years ago. Enjoy! ...

• Off To California - Tabs (TablEdit tabs)
• Off To California - Tabs (.PDF tabs)
• Off To California - Normal
• Off To California - Slower
• Off To California - Slow
• Off To California - Very Slow
• Off To California - Woodshed

I tried to be more creative making this backing track. I went back and read Dave's own words how he makes his backing tracks. He mentioned using “loops.” I love the program MixCraft, which is a complete Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). The program comes with 5,000 audio loops which you can use in your projects. They are simply .wav files of real instruments. I used a couple different shakers and a tambourine from the loops library for Off To California, which really add some quality sounds to the backing track. I'll be using them more in future tracks.

Ableton is another popular DAW, which in my humble opinion is much more complicated to use than MixCraft, and frustrating. Plus, Ableton costs $749 for the full program with all the loops. You can buy the latest MixCraft Pro 10.5 program for $149 and you get everything. If you'd like to make your own backing tracks, I highly recommend MixCraft, which I've been using for over 10 years. Once you buy the software, it's yours for life. If you buy a new computer, you can download and install the program free on your new computer, even several years later. I have done that a couple times myself. Once you buy the program, future upgrades are discounted for the newest version. I paid $39 recently to upgrade to version 10 from version 9.

I'm also using my new Fender Mustang bass in this song, which I bought to make backing tracks. I think it sounds nice. The more I make backing tracks, the easier the process gets.

I was listening to The Lilting Banshee today by Dave Hum. I have his backing track which I purchased from his family. If you haven't bought bought Dave Hum's backing tracks yet, you're missing out! Nothing I can make comes even close to Dave's tracks. Anyway, in the backing track Dave uses a symphonic type of keyboard, which sounds very nice. I used one (which comes with MixCraft) in Off To California, which you can hear begin about half way through the song. One of the things I like best about MixCraft is how easy it is to adjust the timing of loops. You just click and drag the track to adjust it to your main drum track (i.e., to get it all coordinated). Timing is everything in music! It is tedious work at times, but I enjoy it.

Thanks for visiting my banjo blog. Music makes the world a better place!

New Backing Track For “The Merry Blacksmith”

Here is another great song that Dave Hum plays using the Double C tuning. The trickiest part of playing the song is on the first string at the 5th and 7th fret, and then down to the 2nd and 3rd strings. The key, if you watch what Dave is doing, is to keep those triplets going. His fingers keep steadily rolling through the notes, playing triplets. Watch what he does. The technique that he uses makes it much easier to play this run (in my humble opinion), than if you try to do the hammer-on without continuously playing triplets.

The Merry Blacksmith is a traditional Irish reel in the Key of D. The song is also known as The Blackened Smith, The Boys Of The Lake, The Corkonian, The Drayman’s Round, Music Of The Forge, Paddy On The Railroad, The Peeler’s Cap and Sleigh Ride. I used Dave Hum's recording as a template. I recently downloaded the free version of MODO's drum VST plugin for my MixCraft software, which has some nice percussive sounds. For this song, use a capo on the 2nd fret, and 7th fret of the 5th string. Enjoy!

1. The Merry Blacksmith (normal speed)
2. The Merry Blacksmith (slower)
3. The Merry Blacksmith (normal - MODO percussion)
4. The Merry Blacksmith (slower - MODO percussion)
5. The Merry Blacksmith (slow - MODO percussion)
6. The Merry Blacksmith (woodshed - MODO percussion)
7. The Merry Blacksmith (no master effects, dryer sounding)
8. The Merry Blacksmith (drum variation - normal speed)
9. The Merry Blacksmith (drum variation - slower)

There are so many great songs to explore and play using the Double C tuning. I enjoy playing this song. This is one of a few songs which Dave Hum plays that I can keep up with his tempo, so I don't have to slow it down. Remember when playing the hammer-on at the 5th to 7th fret on string one to keep the right hand picking continuously, which makes it much easier. I basically just keep rolling the notes on string one with my thumb, forefinger and middle finger (hence, triplets). The song is pretty straight forward to play, so I didn't tab it. Dave does a lot of improvising, which he loves to do, and we love to hear. My favorite part to play is the descending rolling bass lines toward the end.

Dave Hum (1966-2012)

A New Backing Track For “Gaspe Reel”

I had never been interested in reels, jigs and hornpipes until I found Dave Hum's music. Wow! He plays songs in an irresistible way that compels me to want to learn them on the banjo. Another one of my favorite songs Dave plays is Gaspe Reel. Dave plays three different picking patterns in this song, all fun to learn and play. I did my best to tab the song as Dave Hum played it in Double C tuning, Key of D (capo the 2nd fret, and capo the 7th fret on the fifth string). Enjoy!

• Gaspe's Reel Tablature (TablEdit tabs)
• Gaspe Reel Tablature (.PDF tabs)

Gaspe Reel was composed by Erskine Morris, an old-time fiddler from Douglastown, Quebec. I recently paid a man $149 to make me a backing track for Gaspe Reel. I am giving it to you for free. The track is not bad. It's not quite what I wanted, but it's good. You might like it. Hear it for yourself. You can download and freely use this track any way you want. ...

• Gaspe Reel by Nico Backing Tracks with Guitar
• Gaspe Reel by Nico Backing Tracks without Guitar

I set out today to see if I could do better on my own, so here is my backing track for Gaspe Reel. As I often do, I used Dave Hum's YouTube video as a template to build my track. 

• Gaspe Reel - Woodshed
• Gaspe Reel - Slow
• Gaspe Reel - Slower
• Gaspe Reel - Normal
• Gaspe Reel - Faster

Humbly said, I like my backing track better, but they are both helpful tracks to play along with. The disappointing thing is that I sent Dave's video of Gaspe Reel to the man at NicoBackingTracks.com and asked him to recreate the track, but what he made sounds like the Eagles...lol. Still, it's not bad. I'm not wealthy, but I really want some great backing tracks. It's a matter of priorities.

I recently made some improved backing tracks for everyone in December of 2024...

• Gaspe Reel (key of C, normal)
• Gaspe Reel (key of C, slower)
• Gaspe Reel (key of C, slow)
• Gaspe Reel (key of C, woodshed)
• Gaspe Reel (key of D, normal)
• Gaspe Reel (key of D, slower)
• Gaspe Reel (key of D, slow)
• Gaspe Reel (key of D, woodshed)

I am hoping that Dave Hum's family will make all 179 remaining backing tracks available for purchase. They're worth more than gold to me! I cannot share those of course with others, but the one's I make from scratch I will freely share. Dave's backing tracks are ten times better than anything I can make, but I'm trying to emulate the man's music genius. I recommend that you buy Dave's tracks from his family.

I checked around online and the going standard rate for making a backing track is $150. Goodnight in the morning! At first that may seem ridiculous. Since I have spent the time to make my own backing tracks, I know the time that goes into them, so I don't think it is unreasonable to charge someone $150 to make one, if it is a legitimate project. I think the guy who made Gaspe Reel for me sincerely did his best, so I just thanked him and said this was the only song I want to do. Everybody makes music differently, so I am appreciative for his time and effort. You may like his backing track better than mine. I am glad to freely share it with others.

Although $150 is a reasonable price in today's world, I simply don't want to pay that kind of money for just one backing track (nor can I afford it). I was thinking of all the stuff I could have bought at Home Depot for $149. If my memory serves correct, I paid a man $125 about ten years ago to make a backing track for the song Hawaiian Paradise. I wasn't too happy with the outcome of that one either. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Those are the only two songs I've ever paid anyone to make. I admit that I am curious about what other musicians can do to make backing tracks.

Also, I spent some time today learning to play my new used Cajon box from Amazon (I paid $88 for a used one that looks brand new), which you will hear in my Gaspe Reel backing track. I also bought a percussive instrument from Amazon called a Kandu, which you will also hear used in my Gaspe Reel track. I want to make Dave Hum style backing tracks. When I get better at it, I want to go back and add the Cajon box to Earl's Breakdown, which you can hear Dave use in his track (you can hear the Cajon box at 31 seconds in Dave's video). 

I found anther man who has been making backing tracks for 30 years. I might pay him $150 next month to make me a backing track for Dave Hum's song Peeler's Jacket. But that would likely be my last purchased backing track for $150, because it's just too dang expensive. I love that song! If I do decide to have it made, I'll freely share it with everyone. Dave Hum's backing tracks are the exception for me, I'd gladly pay thousands of dollars to his family to have the remaining 179.

I feel connected to Dave since I have listened to his music regularly since 2018. He's like a brother to me. You know you've got something special when people want to hear someone's music again and again, and you never get tired of hearing it. Dave Hum's music is that good. There are three musicians who inspire me like that: Jerry Byrd (1920-2005), Lloyd Green (born 1937) and Dave Hum (1966-2012).

This song is played in Double C tuning, Key of D. So you'll need to use a capo on fret 2. I installed my own railroad spike on the 7th fret of my new Deering Goodtime Special. I ordered the spikes from StewMac and the micro hand drill and bits from Amazon. Jake from Banjo Ben Clark's store explains how to install the spikes. It's easy to do. In 2019 I bought my daughter on Guam a Recording King Madison with a mahogany body. I also installed a railroad spike on that banjo. Like Jake does, I prefer to install my spike under the 5th string. I've seen some spikes installed half way toward the 4th string, which I don't like.

I think my tabs are fairly close to what Dave played. The more that I work on this song, the more comfortable I am with it, and the easier it gets to articulate the pull-offs with my fingers. It's amazing how a song opens up to you once you get it into your brain, so you don't have to keep thinking what comes next.

I was watching Dave play Devil's Dream today. Someone walked up and put some money into his banjo case and made a comment. Dave replied with a cheerful, "Thank you," looking right at them with a smile, all the while still quickly playing Devil's Dream without missing a beat. Wow! That tells me he knows the song so well that he can instinctively play it while being distracted. I would have had to stop and miss a few beats...lol. My mother (1935-2001) used to play Gospel hymns on the piano so good, that she could carry on a conversation with someone while playing. That always amazed me!

I really enjoy playing this Irish tune, Gaspe Reel. Enjoy!

Dave Hum and Daughter Perri (born 1991)

New Backing Track For “Whisky Before Breakfast”

This is a popular fiddle tune a.k.a. “Spirits of the Morning,” also known as The Scottsman, Spirits In The Morning, Whiskey ’Fore Breakfast, Whiskey For Breakfast and Whisky Before Breakfast. Traditional Canadian fiddle tune a.k.a. “Spirits of the Morning.” Dave Hum doesn't use a bass for the first 2 bars. I made multiple backing tracks with and without. I was messing around with percussion patterns and came up with a Civil War type of rhythm, which I thought was interesting, so I included that track too. I also tabbed out the song for you as Dave played it in Double C tuning. You'll need to place a capo on your 2nd fret, and then the 7th fret for the 5th string Enjoy!

• Whisky Before Breakfast Tablature (TablEdit tabs, Double C)
• Whisky Before Breakfast Tablature (.PDF tabs, Double C)
• Reno And Keith Styles On The Banjo For This Song (by Eddie Collins)
• Whisky Before Breakfast - Woodshed
• Whisky Before Breakfast - Slower
• Whisky Before Breakfast - Normal
• Whisky Before Breakfast - Slower (no bass first 2 bars)
• Whisky Before Breakfast - Normal (no bass first 2 bars)
• Whisky Before Breakfast - Slower (civil war beat)
• Whisky Before Breakfast - Normal (civil war beat)

I did the best I could with my Gretsch G2220 bass and Cort acoustic guitar. I'm trying something new by adding MODO percussion as a VST plugin to MixCraft. MODO has some great quality drum sounds. I just ordered a Fender Mustang PJ bass guitar, which from the reviews I've read is a better quality and sounding bass than the Gretsch (it costs twice as much). I've been wanting a P bass for a long time.

The bass parts are easy to play on Whisky Before Breakfast, but the guitar parts are tricky. I have difficulty playing the Bm chord, trying to do a bar chord on the second fret. I tried to slow the song down and record it that way, but the finished result wasn't as good, so I went back to recording at the tempo at which Dave recorded his song. I think it came out fairly well.

Dave Hum (1966-2012)

“The Session Book” Banjo Course By Sean Ray

I found this nice banjo course today by Sean Ray for $45. Best of all, it comes with some quality backing tracks played by real musicians, not BIAB. I ordered the course and am pleased with it. I've been working on Foggy Mountain Special just now, which I recognized right away as one of the songs Dave Hum recorded. Dave does some great things in this song. It's a fun song to play.

The Session Book

In this e-course you get tablature in both .PDF and .TEF format, and then backing tracks with and without the banjo (which you download from Google drive) for the following 26 songs:

1. Blackjack
2. Bugle Call Rag
3. Clinch Mountain Backstep
4. Cripple Creek
5. Cumberland Gap
6. Dear Old Dixie
7. Earl’s Breakdown
8. Farewell Blues
9. Fireball Mail
10. Five Speed
11. Flint Hill Special
12. Foggy Mountain Breakdown
13. Foggy Mountain Chimes
14. Foggy Mountain Special
15. Ground Speed
16. Home Sweet Home
17. John Hardy
18. John Henry
19. Lonesome Road Blues
20. Pike County Breakdown
21. Randy Lynn Rag
22. Reuben
23. Sally Ann
24. Sally Goodin
25. Shuckin’ The Corn
26. Train 45

Good stuff! If you check online for the going average cost to pay someone to make you a backing tract, it is now $150 per song. Great fluffy biscuits in the morning! So, here you're getting 26 great backing tracks with violin, mandolin, guitar and bass for just $45, plus all the tablature.

The musicians are:

• Sean Ray – Banjo, Guitar, Bass
• Brian Ray – Mandolin
• Paul Kienitz – Violin

That's a great deal if you ask me! I don't get anything for promoting other people's stuff, I just like sharing things that help to enrich other musicians.

Also, on a different but related note, I love the program MixCraft and have used it for over 10 years to work with backing tracks and record my music. I use the Pro Studio version of MixCraft for $149, but I'm sure I could easily get by with the cheaper version. I've always had the philosophy that it's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. If you do opt to buy the less expensive basic version, you can always upgrade for a discounted price at a later time to the Pro Studio version if you want. With just the lower priced $79 version you can edit any backing track to change it's tempo, key, add effects, et cetera.

For example: I really like the song Ground Speed. Sean Ray made an awesome backing track for it in his The Session Book course, but I wanted to speed it up a bit (it's one of a few songs I can play at a faster tempo), so I used MixCraft to make it a bit faster today. If you do purchase MixCraft and have any questions, I'll do what I can to help you. There's plenty of helpful information and tutorials online for the program, which is invaluable. Plus MixCraft has good tech support. Once you buy the program, it's yours for life. I like that. I hate the Microsoft wants to charge you every year to use their software. I try to avoid those traps.

A Cool Dave Hum T-Shirt I Had Made

A Backing Track For “The Maid Behind The Bar”

This is one of my favorite songs that Dave Hum plays, which he does in the Double C tuning. Here is his album version. If you don't yet have Dave's albums and backing tracks, I highly recommend purchasing them. He plays The Maid Behind The Bar so fluently as if born to play the banjo, but I know better than that. Dave didn't have it any easier than the rest of us. He began playing classical guitar and busking as a teenager. Those acquired skills helped him no doubt when he started learning the banjo, but he had to work hard and apply himself just like the rest of us. There are no shortcuts to mastering any musical instrument.

Having said that, without further ado, here is my new backing track for The Maid Behind The Bar. I used Dave's song as a template, even adding his intriguing acoustic guitar Em chord back-rake toward the end of the song. I used my Fender Mustang bass guitar...

• The Maid Behind The Bar (TablEdit tabs)
• The Maid Behind The Bar (.PDF tabs)
• The Maid Behind The Bar - Woodshed
• The Maid Behind The Bar - Slow
• The Maid Behind The Bar - Slower
• The Maid Behind The Bar - Normal
• The Maid Behind The Bar - Faster

This is a beautiful song. Dave plays it better than anyone in my humble opinion. I studied his three different recordings of the song on YouTube. They are all uniquely different in some aspects. At first when I tried to learn the song, I felt like I'd never be able to play it like Dave does. But after spending a few days working on the song, I made a lot of progress.

'Maid Behind The Bar' Improved With MIDI Bass

I heard famous guitarist Tommy Immanuel say something brilliant on Rick Beato's YouTube channel last year. Tommy said that as long as you're trying to remember what chords and notes to play next, you'll never be able to focus on your style and expressiveness. So the key to learning any song on the banjo is to first play it enough, until you become so familiar with it that you don't need to think anymore what comes next. Only then can you really begin to learn the song. The Maid Behind The Bar is no different. It is a challenge to play, but well worth the investment. I really like this song.

A Cool Dave Hum T-Shirt I Had Made