J.S. Bach Cello Suite 1 in G Major Prelude on Banjo (free tab/ notation and mp3)

Second movement here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsnCI4QjntI

Tab and notation here: http://www.hangoutstorage.com/banjohangout.org/storage/tabs/b/tab-bach-cello-...

Mp3 download here: http://www.hangoutstorage.com/banjohangout.org/storage/audio/bach-cello-58709...

Here's the culmination of months of work on this piece, first transposing, then arranging, then practicing it like crazy. I'm still working on it-- I'd like to get to the point where I don't ever grace the head with a finger, don't brush over an unwanted string, etc. But I think this recording turned out pretty well.

This piece lends itself really well to banjo largely because of the tonality and range. The only note I needed to transpose was one low C#, which was a half step out of the range of the standard G-major tuning I used. I transposed it up an octave. I'd encourage banjo pickers to try it out.

Perhaps extraneous info: I'm currently a student at the lovely Berklee College of Music in Boston, and have also learned at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. The banjo I'm playing in this video is a gold tone white ladye, which I've found has a great tone for classical. I recorded this with a shure ksm141. I experimented with mic placement and found that the tone I liked best was about 6 inches away from the neck-rim joint, a bit below the actual joint itself.

I'll be posting some videos of clawhammer arrangements and a couple original tunes soon, so check back!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bach
• banjo
• berklee
• old
• town
• school
• of
• folk
• white
• ladye
• gold
• tone
• fingerpicking
• classical
• baroque
• Johann
• Sebastian
• acoustic

[xxTheGhilliedGhostxx]

FANTASTIC! Could you please, please, PLEASE, do the Godfather theme, with tabs?? :D

[tmoneygetpaid]

@xxTheGhilliedGhostxx Wow, my first request! I'll check it out.

Thanks for watching.

[justwilliam52]

Hi Taylor

Need a little advice from you please. I've got the first page and half of the 2nd learned but, I kinda lapse into the wrong cords at the 12th fret sequence?? Is it just gonna take time and memory power ha ha .

Rgds

Billy.

[tmoneygetpaid]

@justwilliam52 Nice! You're getting there. It's a slow process to get something this big under your fingers and into memory. I did it in 8 bar chunks, arranging and memorizing one per week.

Are you talking about the first line on the second page of the PDF here? That part is really difficult. It's also in D major there, so remember that you have to change your C from G major in the opening section to C# for that long section in D. If that's not the section let me know and I can try to help.

[newbanjo123]

great song im trying to learn it as we speak.... and im still fairly new soo ive been practicing till my fingers hurt... hope to be able to play like that.. in the distant future

[tmoneygetpaid]

@newbanjo123 My teacher suggested that when I play this out, I try to keep one thing in mind at all times (not to focus on too many things as they're happening), and that thing for me is always keeping my left hand loose and fluid. It's hard when you're starting out to just try to do that, but as you get more comfortable and settle into playing more, it's a good thing to keep in mind. It will allow you to play more as you hear yourself playing.

Have fun!

[pbhales]

Hey what happened to the second movement? Did you pull it off YouTube?



[slickrick134]

Good job man, really clean performance. i put my tabledited transcription on banjohangout

[slickrick134]

@newbanjo123

hey man, i wrote a tab to this on tabledit. check it out tell me what you think, i hope it helps

[GwaliaMusic]

Wonderful!

[tmoneygetpaid]

@banjrlynn Barring is still really hard for me. I've played guitar for years and can't do it well. With that measure, you can half-barre from the third to the first strings, which might make it a bit easier.

Thanks!

[justwilliam52]

I keep going back to watch this Taylor for reference. Excellent playing.

[rpashoukos]

Wow, so good and clean. Bravo!

[EmperorHilo]

I have a question here, when your plucking with your index and middle finger, it appears that you are mostly using thumb and middle finger, am I seeing that correctly? I'm learning this piece on banjo because of this video, and was wondering what you found worked best. Thanks in advance.