Black Mountain Rag (Key of A): Banjo Lesson

Black Mountain Rag is a popular fiddle tune, commonly played in 3 parts. This is the second version of the tune on the site, this time in the key of A. The first version is in D, and you can move back and forth between the two keys, making it a really fun tune to play! This arrangement is in standard tuning (capo 2 – 5th string spiked at fret 7) and features both melodic & Scruggs techniques and is definitely a lot of fun on the banjo! I’d suggest the arrangement is suited to the advanced picker, fluent in both Scruggs and melodic styles, but as always, in this lesson we’ll break down the tune and look at some helpful tips.