Banjo Hangout Top 100 Traditional Songs

Merry Christmas! Played by Bob Lanham, in Gm tuning (gDGBbD) on a Bart Reiter Bacophone Plus banjo. My version began with the simple one in "The Banjo Player's Songbook" by Tim Jumper, and then adding my own embellishments.

Fun to play with full chords, like a piano.

A round with banjo and mandolin.

Bonaparte crossing the Rhine as played by "The Old Grey Dogs" I chose to play this out of double C tuning as i love the bottom end of the banjo in this tuning. Hope you all enjoy i.t

Nice tune written by DebbieLee Whelchel.

Learned from a Bill Monroe recording. A polka danced this fast must be easier than playing it.

Learned from Mike Iverson's tab then went a slighty different direction. Song is probably played a lot faster most of the time, but this fit the mood I was in for the night!

I am in the midst of teaching this to my violin student class. There are 3 violin parts for my students and I play the banjo. Weird or what? it works and they are enjoying it. Hope you enjoy AJ

Played on a Morgan Monroe OB and high strung (nashville tuning) Larrive Parlor guitar

In sawmill tuning on an OME Juniper inspired by the McCrae sisters amongst many other.

Learned the tab from the book "The All-In-One Jam Book" by Mary Gordon and Hilary Dirlam from Brevard, NC.

I like how Pete Wernick did this in D. The lyrics can be pretty sad and his version caught some of that with a minor sound. The high G is tuned down to an F#, which sort of fits my unwritten rule about only changing the tune of one string for any given song. Not that re-tuning doesn't produce a great sound...

Played on a Gold Tone Cripple Creek mini in modal tuning. Learned from Miles Krassen's Clawhammer Banjo, based on fiddling of Henry Reed.

Here's a folk tune from India to which I added a bridge. In Hinduism Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. Wooden banjo in gCGCD. No effects, flat EQ, stereo pair AKG-414's.

A happy gospel song.

'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" is a popular Christian hymn with music by William J. Kirkpatrick and lyrics by Louisa M. R. Stead. The lyrics were written in 1882. They appeared in Stead's Songs of Triumph. It is said that Louisa M. R. Stead wrote the lyrics after she watched her husband drown and die. The song is included in many hymnals and has been recorded by many artists.

Wooden banjo. The Breton Tune I've played before regular banjo. The Bashful Swain is an English tune first published in Playford's Dancing Master (3rd vol.) of 1728, but this version has me taking liberties.

I just saw True Grit and this tune was vaguely present in the soundtrack at one point. It just stayed in my head. I remember first hearing this on a Doc Watson album like 30 years or so ago. Bill Van Horn gourd banjo, recorded at my desk on my iphone.