| Old Rugged Cross (Dobro) | Rachel (Mando) |

Double-Stop Chord Magic for the Banjo
My Old Kentucky Home, By Stephen Foster

A Banjo Tab: G tuning (gDGBD) arranged in C major by Tom Degney.

Although this is hard to describe as a Bluegrass piece, it will be found to be invaluable to those wanting to learn major and minor harmonies and their way around the neck using moveable chords. Double stops are formed by simple positions on the banjo neck. Like most chords, they can be formed in any key if the shape is moved to the appropriate position or frets.

The chord at the end of bar 21 should really be held to give a delay; I have not shown this here because it would make the timing more difficult.

Tom Degney, Tottington, Lancs

Old Rugged Cross - a Tab for Dobro
Traditional, arranged in C major by Bob Armstrong

This tune makes use of slant chords, very much in the style of Brother Oswald. Many of the chords can be played with tremolo or vibrato and some can be played as separate notes as in bar 20, where the same two notes are played first as a pinch chord then as two separate notes in succession. The piece should be played as smoothly as possible.

This tune can also be played on banjo in the same style as Tom Degney’s piece.

Anyone “fancying a go at Dobro” should read Brian Oldham’s account “Why Not Have A Go at Dobro?”, which appeared in the May 1997 issue of NWBN (send SAE for a copy of the article, with guitar adaptation diagrams and description). It is also on your NWBN web site under “Instrumental Workshops - Dobro”.

Bob Armstrong, Nenthead, Cumbria

Rachel -a Bluegrass Break to a Fiddle Tune
Arranged for Mandolin by John Baldry

Continuing with the theme of creating breaks, begun in the last issue, here are some ideas for the fiddle tune Rachel, aka The Texas Quickstep. Rick Townend introduced me to this tune in a session some years back. At the time I had to make up a mandolin break on the spot (sounds familiar?). Rachel was sufficiently memorable that I kept picking away at what I remembered of the tune in practice sessions, and the tab is a sort of improvisation on the chord sequence. It isn’t a note-for-note copy of anyone’s fiddle version, though I did subsequently listen to Homer Sherrill and Snuffy Jenkins playing Texas Quickstep on their delightful recording, 33 Years of Pickin’ and Pluckin’, Rounder 0005 (now reissued on CD). The alternative A Part in the tab is similar to Homer Sherrill’s, though Homer plays it as the B part, reversing the order. Bill Monroe’s version, recorded on the Uncle Pen album (MCA-500) as Texas Gallop, also uses this sequence.

Rachel is a medium-paced to medium-fast tune. Try and keep it sprightly but with plenty of push. It should be a good tune for all those Bluegrass and Old-Time sessions during the upcoming festival season!

Good pickin’, John Baldry, Crawley, April 1999 Write to John

1st May 1999