The Old Spinning Wheel, Part 1

This lesson is part of the course Bluegrass Banjo with Bill Evans.

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Learn to make your banjo drive the band or play sweet melodies, with solos to well-known songs and tunes, backup techniques, and more.

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Blue Ridge Cabin Home

In this lesson, you’ll start adding roll patterns to the melody of “Blue Ridge Cabin Home.” Every melody has a rhythm and when Earl Scruggs was working out his breaks, he tried to keep the melody’s rhythm intact as he added the roll patterns, letting the melody dictate what kind of roll to use. Bill shows you some ideas for choosing rolls. For example, if you have a melody note that’s held out for a long time you can try a forward roll, and when the melody notes are closer together you can try an alternating thumb roll or a forward reverse roll. Bill walks you through an entire solo here, with embellishments and fill-in licks.

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The Old Spinning Wheel

The Old Spinning Wheel, Part 1

The Old Spinning Wheel, Part 2

The Old Spinning Wheel, Part 1

The 1930s melody “The Old Spinning Wheel” makes a great bluegrass banjo tune in the key of C. You’ll learn the basic melody, to which you’ll add roll patterns, and you’ll also learn a more embellished version. Bill begins by playing the basic bluegrass version of “The Old Spinning Wheel” through, and then breaks down the simple melody, phrase by phrase. He also shows you how the C major scale relates to the chords in the key of C and shows you how to add rolls, mostly forward rolls, to the melody.

"The Old Spinning Wheel" Part 1 (Available to subscribers)

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