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New CD "Tracks from the doghouse" by Old Yeller Dog.

Every banjo player needs to develop a good sense of solid timing. Practising on your own at home does not develop this unless you use a timing reference such as a metronome. I developed the back up arrangements presented here as a practice aid, to use instead of a metronome. It's a lot more fun playing along with a "band" as you practice your latest tune.

These arrangements were created with "Band-In-A-Box". If your don't have BIAB then you can download the free midi player from vanbasco. This allows you to adjust the tempo, which is important when you're learning a new tune. Set the tempo to a comfortable slow speed, then gradually increase the tempo as you improve. Always practice a new tune SLOWLY with good SOLID timing. All arrangements are in the key of G unless otherwise stated. The arrangements do not contain any melody - it is your job to play the lead.

The complete collection of back up midi arrangements can be downloaded in the single file allmid.zip . Right click on the link and select "Save Target As" in the dialog box. Navigate to the folder where you wish to save the file and click "Save". You will then need to unzip the file using Winzip.

If you own Band-In-A-Box then I recommend that you download the

complete set of "sgu" files in allsgu.zip instead of allmid.zip. After

saving and unzipping the sgu files, you will then be able to select

each tune from within BIAB and use my custom bluegrass style file

5string.sty and variations of this style.

Tabs to most of the tunes can be found at Banjo Newsletter.

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Dave Marshall - last updated 21 January 2010