John Hardy banjo tabs
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Tablatures
Scruggs Style
This version of John Hardy is loosely based on Bela Fleck's arrangement on Tony Rice's Cold on the Shoulder Record. It's super driving!
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Melodic Style
A melodic version of John Hardy featuring both melodic and single string styles to give you a technical and flashy break.
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More about John Hardy
"John Hardy" is a traditional American folk song based on a train worker's life in the spring of 1893 in McDowell County, West Virginia. It is assumed that the legendary John Hardy got into a drunken fight during a craps game held near Keystone, and a man named Thomas Drews was subsequently killed. In the first degree, Hardy was found guilty of murder and was hanged on January 19, 1894, reportedly witnessed by 3,000 men. It is assumed that Hardy had made peace with the Lord by being immersed in a stream the day before his burial. The track was attributed to Eva Davis for Columbia in 1924, to Ernest Stoneman for Okeh in 1925, and to Buell Kazee for Brunswick in 1927 by various musicians from the 1920s through the present. Lyrics differ from edition to version, as with many other traditional folk songs. The ballads of John Hardy and John Henry were misunderstood by early folk historians. This has contributed to a combination of Hardy and Henry-related stories. The real John Henry was simply a truck maker, not a train operator.
Learn 3 different versions of John Hardy, which are all shown on this page. We recommend that you get started with the Scruggs style version, where you’ll learn basic roll pattern and left hand articulations like slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs. Next, move on to the Melodic arrangement to learn how to play the melody for John Hardy using scales and up the next positions. Lastly, you can check out the Backup arrangement, which shows you how to play behind others while they are soloing. In every Tunefox tablature arrangement you'll find measures where you can switch out licks to see different options to use for your improvisation. This featu...re is called the Lick Switcher. How do you find the Lick Switcher? Look for text that says "Original Measure" over different measures in the John Hardy tab you are learning and click on that text. It'll open up the Lick Switcher where you can select a substitute measure for that spot in the song. You'll find that there are different styles of licks like Scruggs, Melodic, Bluesy, and more. Want to see a completely different version of this song? Click on "Shuffle Licks" on the bottom of tool panel to randomly shuffle the licks in the song. You'll also find some useful tools which will help you to learn how to play John Hardy on banjo. For example, you can use the "Hide Notes" feature, which will hide some notes for you so you can learn parts of the melody by ear. The "Memory train" tool will progressively hide notes each time you play through a section or the entirety of a song. Take your speed to the next level with the "Speed Up" feature. This tool will automatically increase playback speed each time you loop the song. Using backing tracks for practice should be an essential part of every musician’s routine. With Tunefox, you can practice John Hardy as fast or as slow as you want and mix the volume of the tracks with the instrument to your liking. There’s also a metronome so you can always feel the pulse of the song with or without the band track playing along. Members can also export all of their banjo John Hardy arrangements into PDF files.
John Hardy lyrics
Traditional
Now John Hardy was a desperate little man,
Strapped on his guns every day.
Shot down a man on the West Virginia line.
You oughta seen John Hardy gettin'Â away,
You oughta seen John Hardy gettin'Â away.
Well he run up to Virginia around the eas...is hand,
Said Johnny come along with me,
Johnny come along with me.
Now John Hardy had himself a little woman.
The dress she wore was blue.
And she hollered on out to Johnny as he rode out of Town,
Said Johnny, I'll be true to you,
Johnny, I'll be true to you.
Now his legend had traveled from the East to the West,
From the North to the South end of town.
But when the sun comes up tomorrow, they'll take John Hardy down,
And show him to his hangin' ground.
They'Âre gonna let John Hardy swing down.
Now John Hardy was a desperate little man,
Strapped on his guns every day.
Shot down a man on the West Virginia line.
You oughta seen John Hardy gettin' away,
You oughta seen John Hardy gettin'Â away.