Away In A Manger is traditional Christmas Carol, played at a slow tempo in 3/4 time. This chord melody & arpeggio arrangement is in the key of G, has two variations and features the ‘Cradle Song’ melody, being the most popular setting outside of the United States. Both variations are suitable for the advancing intermediate picker, and work equally well in duet with the guitar or played solo. Go to lesson...
‘O Come All Ye faithful’ is a beautiful Christmas carol and in this chord melody banjo lesson, we’ll learn a variation that supports the melody in both 2 & 3 part harmony. In the key of G (standard tuning), the dynamic rises and falls as the harmony moves in and out of 2 & 3 part, creates a lovely sense of contrast to the piece. The Go to lesson...
Colonel John Irwin is an Air, composed by Turlough O’Carolan. There are two parts to the tune, in the key of D and this arrangement is played in the chord melody style. With a very pretty melody, the chord melody structure adds another layer to the mix, giving it great depth and is a tune well suited to the advanced picker. Go to lesson...
‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ is a beautiful Christmas carol and in this banjo lesson, we’ll learn a lovely chord melody arrangement. In the key of G, the melody is supported by 3 & 4 part harmony, with some challenging chord positions, which would be suited too the advanced picker. This version sounds great as a solo banjo piece and is a great addition to your Christmas repertoire! Go to lesson...
‘We Three Kings of Orient Are’ is a beautiful Christmas carol and in this banjo lesson, we’ll learn two verse variations and a chorus variation. In the key of Am, first up, we’ll cover a basic, melodic version of the melody. We’ll then move on to a pretty chord melody version in the open position for the intermediate picker, with a lovely variation of harmony. The Go to lesson...
‘We Three Kings of Orient Are’ is a beautiful Christmas carol and in this lesson we’ll learn two verse variations, perfect for an introduction or solo. In the key of Am, we’ll cover a pretty tremolo version of the basic verse melody for the advanced beginner, then, moving in to a great chord melody verse variation suited to the advanced intermediate picker. Go to lesson...
O’Carolan’s Dream has a beautiful melody composed by Turlough O’Carolan. In the key of Am, this arrangement features the chord melody technique throughout, which enables us to support the melody with the chords we find in the harmony, allowing this piece to sound great as a solo mandolin arrangement. With some difficult fretting hand positions, this piece is suited to the advancing intermediate picker – but, spend some time learning the melody and chord positions, and this piece will certainly be a rewarding addition to your repertoire. Go to lesson...
O’Carolan’s Dream has a beautiful melody composed by Turlough O’Carolan. In the key of Am, this arrangement features the banjo tuning gCGBD, giving us access to the lovely sounding open C on the 4th string – a real feature of the arrangement. Using the chord melody technique throughout, we’re able to support the beautiful melody with the chords we find in the harmony, allowing this piece to sound great as a solo banjo arrangement. Go to lesson...
In this lesson for Amazing Grace on the 5-string banjo, we’ll look at an arrangement that uses a chord melody approach, where we’ll highlight the melody with different chord harmony through out. In the key of D, the banjo is in standard tuning. The beautiful melody is relatively straight forward, but as we support it with the chordal harmony, it does become more difficult, and is suited to the more advanced intermediate picker. Go to lesson...
Learn how to harmonise the melody with this pretty chord melody arrangement of The First Noel. In the key of D, we’ll look at the basic maj/min chord choices when harmonising the major scale, while keeping the melody on top. We’ll also break down the arrangement of the Christmas carol, looking at the different voicing of the chords, some of which are a challenge for the left-hand, so I’d suggest this lesson is for the intermediate student. Go to lesson...