THE KEY OF D FOR 5-STRING BANJO

Since the invention of the Fiddle Tune, 5-string banjo players everywhere have endured the wrath of fiddlers as they struggle to quickly capo their banjos and retune them to some form of "standard" pitch during an on-going jam session. The most common keys in which fiddle tunes are performed are A and D. This book has been written to examine the many ways in which the banjoist can play in the key of D without retuning from the common G tuning. All tunes in this book are written and performed in the key of D. Many of these same tunes appear in the keys of G or C in other 3-finger style banjo books.

After some background information, the D Major scale is presented starting with the open position (location) and moving up the neck (including the 12th fret and beyond). Additional topics are presented as they pertain to each position. More than 20 songs and 100 licks and examples are interspersed throughout the text. The book comes with an accompanying CD that plays all of the examples - first slow and then up to speed. Songs are performed with a separate rhythm guitar practice track.

TOPICS

• D Licks from the Key of G
• C#: The Leading Note
• The Solution of Old: Using a Capo
• The D Scale: Open Position
• The Extended Scale
• The D Scale: Second Position
• The D, G, and A Chords
• The D Scale: Fourth Position
• Scale Fragments
• Fourth Position Melodic Licks
• Fourth Position D and A Chords
• The D Scale: 7th and 9th Positions
• Seventh Position single-String Licks
• Fretting the Fifth String
• The D Melodic Scale: Two Octaves
• Sequential Scale Practice
• Two Positions for the Notes E and F#
• 7th and 9th Position Melodic Licks
• The Fifth String A
• Moveable Chord Forms
• Arpeggios
• Connecting Chord Forms
• Two Seventh Chord Positions
• The Twelfth Fret and Beyond
• Chord Positions Beyond the 12th Fret
• Back-Up in the Key of D
• Up the Neck Back-Up
• Chord Vamping
• Beyond the Major Scale
• The D Blues Scale
• The Twelve Bar Blues
• Travis Picking
• Chromatic Notes
• Beyond the Key of D
• Hot Licks
• Transferring Scruggs Style Solos From G
• Transposing Melody Notes
• Transposing Up The Neck Solos

SONGS

• Arkansas Traveler (Up the Neck)
• Arkansas Traveler (Down the Neck)
• Beaumont Rag
• Cuckoo's Nest
• D Jam Boogie
• Dancing In Her Dreams
• Eighth Of January
• Fisher's Hornpipe
• Flop Eared Mule
• Forked Deer
• Hard Times
• Liberty
• Lonesome Road Blues
• Purple Sage Hornpipe
• Ragtime Annie
• Saint Anne's Reel
• Soldier's Joy
• Waltz Over The Hilltop
• Whiskey Before Breakfast
• Wildwood Flower
• Wood Chopper's Reel
• Wreck Of The Old 97