MB21549M School of Banjo

Mel Bay MB21549M School of Banjo Bluegrass Melodic Style by Janet Davis

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The melodic style is a beautiful three finger picking style which can be traced to the early 1900's and became a fully accepted style for playing the five-string banjo in the 1960's, and is today an integral part of the three-finger style of many banjo players at all playing levels. Plus, the songs arranged in this style are easy and fun to learn. Although the melodic style may sound impossible with all of those notes coming from it, surprisingly you will find that it is not that difficult to learn and no previous musical knowledge is needed. This course covers the melodic style from the very basics of this picking style to the advanced techniques and provides many fun to play and well-known songs arranged in the three-finger melodic style for upper level beginning players through advanced level players.

Chapter 1: The 3 Left Hand Melodic 'Shapes'
Lesson 1: Shape #1 of D7 Shape
Song: Cripple Creek
Lesson 2: Shape #2 of Barre Shape
Song: Blackberry Blossom
Lesson 3: Shape #3 of Partial D Shape
Song: Fisher's Hornpipe
Lesson 4: Choosing Shapes
Song: Devil's Dream
Lesson 5: Review of Basic Melodic 'Shapes'

Chapter 2: Melodic of Note Mini Scale Patterns
Lesson 6: The Melody & 'G' Major Scale Tones
Song: Flop Eared Mule
Lesson 7: 'Scale Pattern' #1
Song: Fire on the Mountain
Lesson 8: 'Scale Patterns' #2 & #3
And How to Work Out A Melodic Arrangement
Song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
Lesson 9: 'Scale Patterns' #4 & #5
Song: Red Wing
Lesson 10: Review of Melodic 4-Note Scale Patterns

Chapter 3: Melodic Style Techniques
Lesson 11: Adding An Introduction
Song: Bill Cheatham
Lesson 12: 'Pick Up Notes' & Triplets
Song: The Big Sandy River
Lesson 13: Fretting the 5th String
And Using the Circular Scale
Song: Whiskey Before Breakfast
Lesson 14: Melodic Licks By Chord
Song: Dixie Hoedown
Lesson 15: Review of Melodic Techniques

Chapter 4: The 'F' Chord
Lesson 16: Adding The 'F' Chord
Song: The Cuckoo's Nest
Lesson 17: 'F' Shapes & Mixolydian
Song: Dusty Miller Hornpipe
Lesson 18: Using The Capo & Scale Pattern #1 for the F chord
Song: Red Haired Boy
Lesson 19: Adding Chromatic Notes
Song: Old Joe Clark
Lesson 20: The Old Timey Sound Melodic Style
Song: Big Scioty
Lesson 21: Review of 'The 'F' Chord, and Modal & Chromatic Scales

Chapter 5: Chord Shapes Up The Neck
Lesson 22: The Major Chord Shapes
Song: Sailor's Hornpipe
Lesson 23: The Major Chord Locations Up The Neck
Song: Twinkle Little Star (Fiddle Tune)

Chapter 6: Bluegrass Songs & The Melodic Style
Lesson 24: Contrasting Bluegrass & the Melodic Style
Song: Sally Goodin' (2 arrangements)
Lesson 25: Combining Bluegrass & the Melodic Style
Song: Katy Hill
Lesson 26: Adding Melodic Licks to a Bluegrass Arrangement
Song: Black Mountain Rag
Lesson 27: Playing A Bluegrass Song in the Melodic Style
Creating Melodic Arrangements for Bluegrass Songs
Song: Sunnyvale Breakdown
Lesson 28: Review of Bluegrass & the Melodic Style

Chapter 7: Moving a Song from Key of G to a New Key Without the Capo
Lesson 29: Playing in the Key of 'A' Without the Capo & Without Retuning
Song: Old Joe Clark

Chapter 8: Endings of Melodic Style
Lesson 29: Endings of Melodic Style
Reference: Chord Charts