Big Mon Banjo Tabs
Bill Monroe
Big Mon Banjo Tablature: One Song, Many Styles
Recomended level: Intermediate
"Big Mon" is both the nickname of the Father of Bluegrass, and the title of an instrumental written by the man himself: Bill Monroe. Big Mon is a blast to play on any instrument. Here, you'll find a lot of inspiring arrangements for the banjo.
Listen. Listen a lot to "ingest" the tune and learn how it's supposed to sound. Listen before practicing. Listen after a shower, and in the car...Live with it for a while. You can listen in Tunefox anytime. Make a playlist with multiple versions of this tune. It's fun to hear different interpretations of the same tune, and hear what they have in common. This is also good for developing your musical ear.
When learning a new tune it's best to get a sense of the chord progression, some basic backup, and the melody. For those reasons you may want to start with Forward Thinking, Vamping, or the Scruggs Style - Basic version. The "Forward Thinking" arrangement is a basic rolling backup that uses only forward rolls! The forward roll is a cornerstone of bluegrass banjo playing. There's so many great sounds and licks to explore with just that one roll type. The Scruggs Style - Basic version of this tune can be used as a lead and would also sound great as backup behind a fiddle. Vamping is a classic backup style that sounds great behind a mandolin player, another banjo player or a guitarist.
For the more experienced players we have a few options: Scruggs Style, or Modern Style. The Scruggs style version of Big Mon for the banjo uses a host of classic Earl Scruggs licks. With the Tunefox lick switcher you can customize your arrangement even further and learn some great bits of bluegrass banjo vocabulary that can be used in other songs. The "Modern Style" version combines multiple banjo picking styles: Scruggs, Single String, and Melodic. The licks here can really open your eyes and ears to some cool new possibilities.
For the adventurous and accomplished players there are a couple of cool banjo versions of Big Mon to check out: Single String Style and Melodic Style. The Single String style brings a flurry of notes that would make a mandolin player blush. The Melodic Style arrangement is challenging. It goes up the neck, requires some 5th string fretted notes, and is modeled after the playing of the one and only Kenny Baker. Kenny played with Bill Monroe, Josh Graves, Don Gibson and many others. He is revered in the world of Bluegrass as one of the all-time greats.
Learn how to play Big Mon on Banjo with this selection of tablatures:
-
LearnForward Thinking
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 75 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
This take on Big Mon is all about the forward roll on the banjo, hence the title: "Forward Thinking". The basic forward roll pattern will be used on a few different string sets to c...
-
-
LearnScruggs Style - Basic
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 75 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
With just a few roll patterns and pinches we have devised a banjo arrangement of Big Mon that works great as lead or backup. The banjo roll patterns you'll need to have well practic...
-
LearnScruggs Style
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 80 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
Big Mon on the banjo - Scruggs Style! This one uses a ton of classic Scruggs Style banjo vocabulary to highlight the "big" important melody notes in this tune. Read the banjo tablat...
-
LearnModern Style
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 80 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
Combine multiple picking styles to play "Big Mon" for Bluegrass banjo! Melodic, Single String, and Scruggs Style all make an appearance. The original melody and spirit of the tune i...
-
LearnSingle String
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 85 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
Learn "Big Mon" for the banjo in the Single String style! This style allows us to accurately capture the intricacies of this awesome fiddle-tune style melody as it is usually played...
-
LearnMelodic Style
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 80 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
Big Mon in the melodic style is a blast to play on the banjo. This version is based on the legendary fiddling of Kenny Baker. It's challenging, but it's authentic and sounds very co...