Dereliction of Duty

I've been neglecting the blog this week. Sorry. Just been focusing n writing the novel which has started itself again and practicing the chords of this song in a weird key. Its Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah in the key of C#m. I have the moves of the chord changes, just have to get these old fingers to move quick enough. I was going to try to show you that actual finger positions but its too hard and the chord finger I use on the web doesn't select and copy. Anyway, its Eb, to C#m to Eb to C#m to A to B to E to A to B to C#m to A to D to G to C#m to A To C#m to A to E , all in the middle of my fret board around where the fifth string starts.
The E and the Eb is the same finger formation as is the A and the B and C#m to A is moving two fingers. The entire beauty of learning this is figuring out the simplest way to do it.

The banjo teacher gave me tabs to a song Going Down The Road Feeling Bad which I've been singing and performing now for a year. He wrote them out in 5 minutes. He's a very competitive guy: wanted to know what I thought of Fred Sokoloff and Mark Shark as teachers. I didn't really have either for very long to tell. It turns out he had John Schlocker as a teacher as a kid, who I had first, but I gave up because he was an old drunk and kept cancelling me. I'm lessoning with John Rosen.


 
This is my Banjo teacher on the left. Good, huh? I ask him stuff and he tells me. Quick and good guy.