We’re going to consider a particular way of comping on You Are Too Beautiful. First let’s look at one of the chords used, a Gm9 in drop-C tuning:
If you’re a thumb-over 5th string player, you’ll need to adjust to a position a little more akin to the one used in the following video by Edinburgh banjoist (and all-around string wizard) Rob McKillop to be able to make this. https://youtu.be/l3rMQAEI6Rw
Here are some illustrations I made for my electric bass method. The point is to allow your fingers access to as wide a span of frets as possible. Don't think of it as "stretching," rather get the feeling of straightening out your fingers along the strings.
Experiment with your own mitts. For one thing, you'll notice that spanning mostly comes from the index and little fingers. The middle two pretty much stick together. This is anatomical, so don't try to force them apart. The composer Robert Schumann is said to have wrecked his hand that way!
In the next two pics, notice the space that is being created between your hands and the neck/fingerboard.
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3
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5
If you’re a thumb-over 5th string player, you’ll need to adjust to a position a little more akin to the one used in the following video by Edinburgh banjoist (and all-around string wizard) Rob McKillop to be able to make this. https://youtu.be/l3rMQAEI6Rw
Here are some illustrations I made for my electric bass method. The point is to allow your fingers access to as wide a span of frets as possible. Don't think of it as "stretching," rather get the feeling of straightening out your fingers along the strings.
Experiment with your own mitts. For one thing, you'll notice that spanning mostly comes from the index and little fingers. The middle two pretty much stick together. This is anatomical, so don't try to force them apart. The composer Robert Schumann is said to have wrecked his hand that way!
In the next two pics, notice the space that is being created between your hands and the neck/fingerboard.
And here are some habits that will raise hell with your technique.
And here are two habits that are very hard to break.
If your banjo happy place is more in line with these no-no's, that's fine; you can switch back and forth as needed. You just need to be able to NOT do them.
OK, to the tune! Here are the changes in a simple form (imho the best way to present changes):
Here's what I did behind the guitar solo, starting at about 3:20 - https://soundcloud.com/jocko-macnelly/you-are-2-bfl-72618-832-pm Even if you choose to stay in standard tuning, do observe how I tried to make the chords form a simple (SIM.PLE!) melody behind the soloist.
Never forget, good comping is Love in action.
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