The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #117426   Message #2637400
Posted By: Geoff the Duck
21-May-09 - 06:26 AM
Thread Name: Banjo Tab
Subject: RE: Banjo Tab
JMF - for a lot of stuff, I personally wouldn't bother changing the note played by 5th string.
A number of years back, the local music sessions were pretty much Irish Diddly-diddly stuff. I mostly play using standard open G tuning and if left to my own devices will play in keys of C or G. The Irish stuff tended to be G or D with a bunch in A thrown in at random.
My initial choice was either to keep changing a capo or just to vamp chords up the neck. Neither of these was a particularly satisfying solution, vamping became tedious after a while, and capo changing often meant that by the time I was in tune with what they were playing, they were ready to shift to a different tune in a new key which wasn't right for where the capo now was.
I developed my own fingering, making use of partial chords, open strings which fit the fingering of scales in D and using my first finger to bar across the neck and fingering notes or chords with my other three fingers.
What I found is that nobody noticed that the 5th string wasn't playing the note which it would have if capoed. In clawhammer, it is seldom used as a actual melody note, it is a short, crisp, percussive thing which you notice if it is missing, but when being played is just part of the overall "feel" of the style.

I suppose what I'm saying is Don't worry about it unless you find that it causes a problem with a particular song. If you learn a tune in key of C, but need to capo up to D# for your voice, put the 5th string capo (or retune 5th string) to match. If you need to change key within a song don't worry unless the 5th string clashes with what you want the accompaniment to sound like. Remember, it IS alloweable to NOT play the 5th string if it doesn't fit - just leave it out. If it's your accompaniment, you can make the rules.

Quack!
GtD.