Squirrel Hunters banjo tabs
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Tablatures
Single String Style
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Difficulty
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Key
D -
Tempo
110 bpm -
Tuning
aDGBD
Squirrel Hunters is a fun tune, but deceptive. The first chord is A, so you may be tempted to think it is in the key of A, and maybe it is. However, the other chords are G, and D. That would lead us to think it's in the Key of D. It's all about perspective. We could still say it's in A, and the G chord is a flat 7. But for our purposes we are saying it's in D, because that is the scale you should go to first when soloing or using backup on this tune. This type of ambiguity in the chord structure is called modal. Which means different modes, or keys can be used. The scale degrees, especially the 3rds, and 7ths, are not always defined clearly.
Learn -
Difficulty
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Melodic Style
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Difficulty
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Key
D -
Tempo
110 bpm -
Tuning
aDGBD
The A part here is straight forward and relatively simple. Made to lie easily under your fingers while still capturing the beauty of this great melody. The B part may be a little trickier, especially if you are not comfortable using your pinky. If not, you definitely need to work on this tune to strengthen your pinky and your comfort level with melodic style in D. Use your pinky as an anchor point in the B part, covering the 8th fret with your ring finger, and reaching back to the fifth and seventh frets with your first finger(which will lay on the side of the finger tip) and second finger. Only lift your pinky when you need to play the open G string.
Learn -
Difficulty
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Backup
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Difficulty
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Key
D -
Tempo
110 bpm -
Tuning
aDGBD
This is a great backup arrangement of Squirrel Hunters for a fiddle. We've got up the neck playing for the A part. Our note choice focuses in on the 1st and 5th chordal tones, that way we are in line with the modal sound. Since the A part melody is usually played in the lower register of the fiddle, the up the neck backup provides good contrast, and stays out of the way. Both the lead, and the backup in this arrangement flip-flops in the B part.
Learn -
Difficulty
More about Squirrel Hunters
One thing that this song can boast of is being known as one of the most widespread and ramifying of British Isles melodic families. The ancient tune can be traced back to being Pennsylvania "stop-beat," even though Bayard identified it as a trendy tune. The old family of tunes has various forms and innumerable versions sang in different folk modes, both in quick and slow tempi. Some versions exist in 2/4, 4/4, 6/8, and 3/4 time. All these variants have a close similarity making it challenging to differentiate between each of them. Bayard arbitrarily agrees that he assigned Nomen "Welcome Home to this specific family and list a few recurrent old-county tittles members. They include The Oyster wives Rant", "The Haughs of Cromdale", "Wate You How the Play Began", "The Hillside", "Welcome Home" and "(Fare Thee Well) Sweet Killaloe", and in his notes to this tune, he cites numerous other references.
Learn 3 different versions of Squirrel Hunters, which are all shown on this page. We recommend that you get started with the Single-string style version. Next, move on to the Melodic arrangement to learn how to play the melody for Squirrel Hunters 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 feature is called the Lick Switcher. How do you find the Lick Switcher? Look for text that says "Original Measure" over different measures in the Squirrel Hunters 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.
Be sure to check out all of the great learning tools that Tunefox has to offer such as "Hide Notes", "Memory Train", and "Speed Up". These tools can be found in the "Tools" menu at the bottom right of your screen. Want to learn some of Squirrel Hunters by ear? Use "Hide Notes" to hide some or all of the notes in the tablature. Once you’re finished learning with the tab use the "Memory Train" tool to commit the song to memory. Then practice with "Speed Up" to improve your technique and speed in no time.
Each Tunefox banjo Squirrel Hunters tab contains real-sounding backing tracks. These backing tracks allow you to practice the arrangement you’re learning with an entire band and you can change the volume of the band, banjo and metronome to suit your liking.
Once you’ve settled on an arrangement of Squirrel Hunters using the Lick Switcher, export your arrangement to a PDF file so you can print it out and take it with you. This is a member-only feature.