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A large part of playing banjo in a Bluegrass band is being able to play interesting accompaniment or better know in the banjo world as playing backup.

I’m currently working on my next project which will be a multimedia package that will cover the topic of playing backup in a Bluegrass band extensively. It will also focus on practical music theory and improvisation, to equip you with the tools to create your own backup off the top of your head, as well as branch out from the Bluegrass idiom if so desired.

Backup can be memorized, just like lead, though it’s much easier to improvise once you achieve a certain level of proficiency on the banjo along with some fundamental, theoretical know-how.

In an effort to get you on your way to playing better backup I’m offering free backup tab for all 26 songs inside The Session Book. These tabs will get you started with the basics of vamping, rolling and feature numerous classic Scruggs licks to keep things interesting.

As with all of my arrangements, here on seanray.com, these are not watered down or simplified. That’s not to say they aren’t for beginners though they are written in such a way as to assume you have a basic familiarity with Bluegrass banjo.

To get the most out of these tabs I highly recommend downloading TefView. TefView will allow you to play back the TablEdit (.tef) files so you’ll hear and see the tab. I wrote these TablEdit files as loops so you can practice them over and over again and adjust the tempo to your liking. High quality PDF files are also included for the low, low price of $0.00.

This is the perfect companion for The Session Book and my way of giving back to the banjo community and saying thanks for the continuing support.

Download The Session Book Backup Tabs (8MB zip file)

Songs included: Blackjack, Bugle Call Rag, Clinch Mountain Backstep, Cripple Creek, Cumberland Gap, Dear Old Dixie, Earl’s Breakdown, Farewell Blues, Fireball Mail, Five Speed, Flint Hill Special, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Foggy Mountain Chimes, Foggy Mountain Special, Ground Speed, Home Sweet Home, John Hardy, John Henry, Lonesome Road Blues, Pike County Breakdown, Randy Lynn Rag, Reuben, Sally Ann, Sally Goodin, Shuckin’ The Corn, Train 45.

Original 60’s Ludwig Black Galaxy drum set for sale. This 3 piece kit consists of a 1965 Club Date with a 1967 Super Classic floor tom. All shells are 3-ply with reinforcement rings and white interiors. Both toms have white baseball bat mufflers. Wrap and keystone badges on all drums is original. Black Galaxy is arguably the rarest Ludwig wrap after Pink Oyster. Very limited production. All drums have a nice even fade. Wrap has typical nicks and scuffs here and there but the color conceals them well. Chrome has some pitting but overall it looks pretty good. No extra holes or modifications. All interiors and edges are in great shape and appear to be original. See photos and details below.

1965 Club Date – 14×20 Bass Drum
Original rail consolette, cymbal L-arm bracket, spurs, hoops and hoop inlays. A little lift on the outer wrap seam but very tight where the wrap goes into the shell. Small crack on the inner ply near the tom side spur. I bought it like that 15 years ago and it hasn’t changed nor does it affect tone or playability. Date stamp is illegible but serial # confirms 1965.

1965 Club Date – 8×12 Rack Tom
Original muffler and tom bracket. Some snare rash. A little lift on the outer wrap seam but very tight where the wrap goes into the shell. Date stamp is illegible but serial # confirms 1965.

1967 Super Classic – 16×16 Floor Tom
Original muffler and leg brackets. Non-original legs. Seam is very tight. Date stamp is Mar 6 1967.

This kit is in good shape for being 45+ years old and has been my main kit for the past 15 years.

Price – Sold
(Will not separate)
Interesting trades considered
(drums, guitars, synths)

Local pickup only (no scams)
Email me for additional photos and questions. All emails without a name and phone number will be flagged as spam.

Thanks,
Sean

My version of Rocky Top based on the playing of Sonny Osborne.
Key of B, capo 4th fret.

Get the tab!

Tab in PDF and TablEdit formats - $6.00

Cripple Creek – Backing Track – Key of A – 100 bpm

Billy in the Lowground – Key of C

Get the tab!

Tab in PDF and TablEdit formats - $6.00

(This Is The) Squirrel Hunters played their first few gigs recently and didn’t even let a tornado siren deter them. If you’re a John Hartford fan the band name should make sense to you; if not then go buy his album “Wild Hog In The Red Brush”. Click here for more information about the band or here for a video from the 4th annual Brooklyn Bluegrass Festival complete with an unruly tornado siren in Bb (the song is in A, ouch!).

Thanks to all of you that have been submitting video requests. I’ve been keeping busy as of late but I will be filming as soon as I find some time.

Meanwhile here are a few photos from the SWBMAI Jamboree that we played this past Saturday at the High Noon Saloon here in Madison WI.

Note: If you are using Internet Explorer 6 or 7 you may need to right-click the file and select “Save Target As…”

Note: You must first download the videos from this site and then open them in Quicktime in order to slow them down.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with Quicktime one of its best features is the ability to alter both audio and video speed as well as pitch. Just go to the Window menu and select: “Show A/V Controls” (Command+K on Mac or Ctrl+K on PC). Then you can slow down the file without effecting the pitch or if you’re out of tune with a file you can tweak the pitch until you are in tune (This is an invaluable feature when playing along to old recordings especially when the band is tuned up a half step). Or if you find some of the videos on this site painfully slow then you can speed them up to your liking.

I posted my first videos on YouTube to see how the process was set up.
If I can get my hands on a camera I will be posting new material soon.

If you haven’t ever been to Michigan’s upper peninsula then you’re probably wondering what a yooper and a pasty are. If you happen to hail from Cornwall, England then you undoubtedly know that a pasty (pɑːsti) differs considerably from a pastie (pay’stee). If you’ve never had a pasty think of it as a pot pie without the pot. Anyway the pasty played a central role in our camping trip across Michigan and Gina ate her first true “Yooper Burrito” at Colonel K’s Pasty Shop in Menominee Mi at the outset of our vacation.

This trip all started when I heard Peter Rowan & Tony Rice were playing at the Dunegrass Festival in Empire Mi just outside of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. We had been looking for a reason to go up to the U.P. and chow down on some pastys. We also wanted to go to Mackinac to reminisce about the summer I once spent as the “Fort Fiddler” at Fort Michilimackinac back in 1990. The festival seemed like as good a reason as any to go on a camping trip throughout northern Michigan and the U.P. so away we went.

Sleeping Bear Dunes is on the lower peninsula but it turned out to be such a cool place that when we arrived at the festival and saw that the Djembe Factor outweighed the Bluegrass Factor we decided to forgo the steep ticket prices and stay inside the park. I knew it was going to be a hippy-fest and that didn’t bother me but part of the reason for going there was for some parking lot picking which unfortunately was nonexistent.

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