Good tab for Banjo Flea

pepamahina

pepamahina

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Flea is coming out with a banjo uke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5ZCkyjklkM

and it is the first banjo uke I've seen that I ever seriously thought of buying. But then I thought about what kind of music I might actually wanted to play on it. I don't know any banjo music and I think I'm intimidated by the idea of having to work out banjo music by ear. So I thought I would ask you guys; what do you like to play on your banjo uke? Can you post a link to any good tab or written music for songs that you particularly like? Know a banjo uke music book that you like? I have a much easier time learning from tab or music than by watching videos. Thanks!
 
Aloha Papermoon,
I think mahalo has one too..and there are good banjo forums too, to get good instruction ......Good Luck and Happy Strummings, MM Stan
 
"Home on the Range" and "Clementine" are good on banjo uke. You can get them in this free songbook
http://ukulelehunt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/solobuch.pdf

Folk songs like "This Land is Your Land", "Arkansas Traveller" "Oh, Susanna", "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", "I've been working on the railroad" work nicely on the uke. Some of these you can find here
http://pdfminstrel.wordpress.com/2-standard-high-g-ukulele-pdfs/
You can always try "Dueling Banjos" but I don't have a tab for that yet (I may be making one myself soon)
–Lori
 
Anyone know when these will hit the street?
 
janeray1940 said:
Hi Pepamahina, I'm with you on this one - never really considered a banjo uke until I saw that one :)

I think the Bluegrass Ukulele book would be perfect for this. I'm also not one who learns well from videos - these days I think we're rare, but we're out there!
Click to expand...

Yeah the flea version got to me. I've tried banjo ukes over at Elderly and some of them are ridiculously heavy. The flea version looks just my style.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I got nothing when I searched on amazon but I was searching for "banjo ukulele", looks like I should have put in "bluegrass ukulele" instead. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is a little video retarded, thanks for the admission! Preferring to read music definitely puts us in the minority!
 
So far, I've enjoyed STRUMMING my (Rally) banjo uke to bluegrass/campfire-type songs, but I don't think I'll really start enjoying it until all my cracked fingers heal and I can start working on my PICKING technique. To me, strummed, the banjo uke just sounds pretty much like a loud ukulele.
 
Bad Moon Rising by Credence Clearwater is good on the banjo
 
I say play anything you want or like, doesn't have to be banjo music, It'll sound cool, and different. I don't know any Hawiian songs on uke. Play mostly Rock and country. Whatever you play on uke will sound good on banjouke, and be fun!
 
I like to play Tin Pan Alley and roaring 20's music on mine- it was made for that, but really, anything you can play on a regular uke you can play on a banjo uke...I ahve to admit that traditional Hawaiian music sounds silly on it though.
Jim Bellof's Ukulele Gems is a great book for the BU, and so are any of the books Ian Whitcomb has done for Mel Bay. Golden Age stuff that sounds perfect on these instruments.
Of course, Bluegrass and old time tunes also fit with these little gems as well, and are easy to find.
 
TCK said:
I like to play Tin Pan Alley and roaring 20's music on mine- it was made for that, but really, anything you can play on a regular uke you can play on a banjo uke...I ahve to admit that traditional Hawaiian music sounds silly on it though.
Jim Bellof's Ukulele Gems is a great book for the BU, and so are any of the books Ian Whitcomb has done for Mel Bay. Golden Age stuff that sounds perfect on these instruments.
Of course, Bluegrass and old time tunes also fit with these little gems as well, and are easy to find.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great tips. So what is your favorite "Tin Pan Alley" tune?
 
pepamahina said:
So what is your favorite "Tin Pan Alley" tune?
Click to expand...

There are so many! I must have had bluegrass on the brain when I originally replied, but TCK is right - the banjo uke was popular during the 1920s so many songs of that period would be great on it.

I think Ain't She Sweet and Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue would be perfect for this. There's a pretty easy (and fun) chord melody arrangement of Ain't She Sweet in Jim Beloff's Ukulele Gems book.
 
stupid question.....but are these tuned the same as a ukulele......ie, G,C,E,A or do you need to learn all new chords etc?
 
They are tuned the same G, C, E, A, just like regular ukuleles, only banjoee!
 
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