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A Christmas favorite arranged for the banjo.

by Gerald Jones

The holiday season is upon us so I thought I'd arrange a Christmas tune for the banjo. This arrangement is in D minor using G tuning with the fi fth string capoed up two frets at A. Watch the right hand fi ngering carefully. On the second line make sure that the descending bass note (as if a banjo even has a bass note!) sustains for the entire measure. Hold onto these notes as long as you can. The oddest part is the third section. You could play this single string and sound fi ne but I like holding the fi rst and second strings three frets apart to get unison notes that sustain over each other for a less choppy sound. I've used this device for years whenever I wanted to emphasize a melody or in place of octave lines. You will have to do some quick position changes between notes but with a little practice it isn't too hard. A lot more can be done with this tune but the tab below gets the point across nicely. You can listen to the sound file too. Enjoy...