Minstrel Banjo

For enthusiasts of early banjo

I'm speaking of the 1865 Frank Converse's Banjo Without A Master". I believe it has been tabbed by Joe W, and also selections by Bob F. Are there any notation readers out there facing frustration with the spread out and over explained  format of this book? This book is so valuable for the many classic stroke tunes contained within. This is the next one I will finish up, as there are SEVERAL I missed. If it is of any value to Ning members, I am going to transcribe into notation what is already there, but in a readable format. I guess I don't use some of the tunes because of the page turning issue. Anybody else out there a fan of the "Yellow Book"?      

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I bought this book about two weeks ago along with the Briggs , both tabbed by Joe W. and havn't been able to put either of them down. I find that Tab is so much quicker to read than notation ( for strings ) but I also like to see the notation as I do read music and it is useful if I want friends to play along with me,as they read notation and not Tab. they play whistle, recorders and guitar, amongst other things.

I have noticed that you have some of the tunes in the books on You Tube,and would like to say that it is great to be able to hear how these tunes have to be played.
This was the book that I first used to get a handle on this style -- 20+ years ago.

The first thing I did was write the tunes out in a continuous manner on a single sheet per tune.

I still have a soft spot for the book. It has a number of good tunes. I think its real value is that it presents a very good pedagogical model for learning to play without frets -- either flush or raised.
Here is one page I did for Harpers Ferry. Jim, you have a few to post?
Attachments:
Most of mine aren't so neat. I scribbled them out for my own use before I had notation software.

I do have some that I did for students -- no tab though...
I'll see if I can get some up over the weekend. They're all on my home computer. I'm between classes right now.

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