Music, clawhammer banjo, and more...
<i>Clawhammer Tabs & Instruction</i>
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Clawhammer Tabs & Instruction

As you all know, I took down my tab site three or four years ago after realizing it was in dire need of a rebuild after being online for 15 years. I soon found how daunting this task would be when the first tab I tackled (“Sleepers Wake” by Bach) took me over six hours to update - and I was looking at hundreds of hours to do the same with all my other arrangements.

Once I started down THAT road, I quickly realized that there were other ways I could make my clawhammer instruction site much more effective, if not revolutionary! I also realized that I would need a new platform to host this instruction site as I would no longer be just providing tablature. Each lesson or song would be offered as a “course” with multiple support files, including video and mp3 files, which requires that I switch over to a paid, rather than free, website.

Imagine every tab having a performance video, an instruction video, a video discussing how to effectively backup either the voice or another instrument, and an accompaniment MP3 to practice with. Like I said, this would be “revolutionary”!

Knowing that this task would take months (or even years) I was still optimistic - right up to the point where the notation program I used for writing tabs stopped working when I updated my computer OS! Hundreds of tabs suddenly became uneditable. The owner/programmer of the notation program told me a "fix was on the way”, but that was back in November of 2020 and I eventually became convinced that this would never happen.

To say I was despondent doesn’t come close to describing what I’ve been feeling the last few years.

The good news is that I’ve finally found a replacement software program that gives me the flexibility I need to transcribe my arrangements and I've started the process (again) to get them back online. The bad news is that I can’t just "edit" my tabs, I now have to rewrite every arrangement from scratch! That being said, I am now prepared to work full time on this project to get it up and running as quickly as possible.

If you are reading this, then you’ll notice that the first stage has now been completed - an update of my personal website which will link to my teaching site. So occasionally revisit this page for progress reports.

It’s been a very, very frustrating few years, but I now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks for your patience… Mike

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