Shackles and Chains Banjo Tabs
The Stanley Brothers
Shackles and Chains Banjo Tablature: One Song, Many Styles
Recomended level: Intermediate
Shackles and Chains is a classic country song that has been recorded and performed by many renowned bluegrass artists such as the Stanley Brothers, Earl Scruggs and Tom T. Hall, and even Billy Strings. It was written by James Davis.
This is a slow and mournful ballad. Start by learning and memorizing the Melody. Learning some simple banjo chord changes or Vamping is important if you plan on playing with others. It also helps you to learn the fretboard and exercise those fingers. Checkout Vamping and Closed Position Chord Shapes to learn the basic banjo chord shapes for vamping, or you can dive into the Backup Banjo learning path for some in-depth study.
Étude is a french word for study. It's used in the classical music world to describe a short musical piece that helps you focus on a certain technique or musical concept. Here, the étude is a study of common chord shapes used when playing up the neck lead and vamping backup.
Étude #2 navigates the lead and backup over the same chord changes and melody in a different way. For this one, you'll use "double stop" chords and banjo rolls in the lead, and move to simple rolling backup down the neck.
A "double stop" is simply a two note chord. "Pentatonic" refers to a 5 note scale. The chord progression, or order of chords, for this song is what's known as a "1-4-5" in the key of G. The 1-4-5 uses the most common chords in a given key. In the key of G, those chords are G, C, and D.
Lastly, we have a few "transcriptions" these are almost note-for-note what Earl Scruggs himself played. Studying solos by master players can give you invaluable insight to the way they thought. You'll also learn common patterns and vocabulary they would use. Try to notice the full and partial "vamping" chord shapes that are being used or "played out of". Yes, even Earl himself thought in this way!
Learn how to play Shackles and Chains on Banjo with this selection of tablatures:
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LearnÉtude: Up the Neck Lead & Vamping
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 100 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
This étude is a study in playing up the neck lead & vamping for banjo. You'll use common chord shapes, roll patterns, "licks" and "walks" to play through the chord changes and melod...
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LearnÉtude: Double Stop Lead & Rolling Backup
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 100 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
This étude uses the chord progression and melody of the song "Shackles and Chains" as a vehicle to study "double stops" and rolling backup. Double stops are simply 2 note chor...
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LearnEarl Scruggs Style
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 100 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
This is a transcription of Earl Scruggs' playing on "Shackles and Chains" for the banjo. That means it is almost note for note what Earl played. This one comes from a recording he m...
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LearnEarl Scruggs Style #2
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 100 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
Here's another transcription of Earl Scruggs' playing from a recording he made with Tom T. Hall. It's from their album, "The Storyteller and the Banjo Man". This transcription...