On my guitar page  I just now uploaded a video of how I attempt to play Darin Aldridge's guitar arrangement of 'The Last Thing on His Mind' by Dennis Duff.  (Videos are in alphabetical order).   I also added there a video in which I very slowly play the introduction to the song and another video in which I very slowly play a couple of other parts of the song.  It turned out to be pretty difficult (for me) to quickly learn to play this song at normal speed using a flat pick like Darin does, since I am not really a bluegrass guitar picker (but you don't have to be a bluegrass picker to master it).  So on the full speed video I wore my banjo picks and played it 3-finger style.  I am still learning to play the song correctly even that way, but hopefully these videos can help you also learn to play it.  If some parts of it seem to difficult for your current level of ability, just try to simplify what you are doing.  It is mainly a vocalist's song, so the guitar doesn't have to do a lot of complicated stuff to make it a great song.  Often "simpler" sounds "better" anyway.


As a reminder, I also put the words and chords to this song down at the bottom in my music and tab section (which is in alphabetical order).




Merry Christmas!
Butch

A week or so ago I first heard this wonderful song written by Dennis Duff and beautifully sung by Darin and Brooke Aldridge.  It is called "The Last Thing on His Mind".  I typed out the words and chords and posted them in the tab section at the very bottom of this blog (tabs are in alphabetical order).  (The words I found various places on the Internet were all full of errors).   I may also make and add a slow video of my attempts to replicate some of Darin's beautiful guitar music as he plays it on this song.

Today I uploaded a video to the guitar page of how I play Michael Card's beautiful song, "The Gentle Healer."  This is based on the arrangement by Selah, which has a key change half way through.  The first 2 verses are in A and the last 2 are in B.  Our Praise Band recently led worship using this arrangement.  Because our piano player was away for a few weeks, I tried to duplicate a lot of the Selah piano part on the guitar.  To help you out with learning the song, I also uploaded the chords that I play, which includes some diagrams of what I do in the transition between verses.  This is at the bottom of the blog, where my tabs are located.  Songs there are in alphabetical order.


Butch

Happy New Year - 2015 !!!


I hope that you and your family had a great Christmas. 


I got a request for banjo tab for the Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin song, 10,000 Reasons.  So I created a quick and dirty arrangement and posted it here for anyone who may also be interested in seeing it.


My tabs are down at the bottom, and they are in alphabetical order, so Ten Thousand Reasons is currently next to the last.


I created the arrangement in the key of G, but our Praise Band sings it in the key of A.  If you want to play it in the key of A, just add a capo at the 2nd fret.  Also, I did not test this draft arrangement by playing along with the song, so it is possible that it won't work exactly right.  But hopefully it will be enough to help you figure out how to play the song. 


Enjoy!
Banjo Butch

Our church's Praise Team is learning an old hymn with new music provided by Aaron Hurst so that we can sing it in 2 weeks.  At the link below Aaron tells where the song came from and shows how he plays it on the guitar.  The song title is "My Savior, My God."  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtiE6vaPZK0

Today I uploaded some more banjo instructional videos.  I recently created a slow arrangement of "There is a Fountain" with some neat chords in it (major 7ths, minors, etc.).  That is one of the videos that I just uploaded.  The others are "Waiting for the Sunrise," "The Bells of St Mary's," and "Soldier's Joy."   Enjoy!

Today I added 3 banjo instructional videos:  Arkansas Traveler, Ragtime Annie, and Whiskey Before Breakfast.  I also added a guitar video of Under the Double Eagle.  It has been a long time since I was able to add to this blog, because I have been working out of town for a few years, but I am currently out of work until I get a new contract, so that gave me some time to work on the banjo again after a long period of very little playing.

On 8/4/13 I added the tab to the very bottom of my blog for "Whiskey Before Breakfast".

Scruggs tablature

Fairly often somebody asks where to find the tabs for one of my videos of how to play an Earl Scruggs tune.  Most of them I learned from the Earl Scruggs book that is shown on the Musician Resources page of this blog, and I play them identically, or sometimes almost identically, to the way that they are tabbed in that book.

Butch Bost

"Humble King" by Brenton Brown

I just now added a video on how to play a really worshipful song called "Humble King" by Brenton Brown.  It is on the page of guitar instructional videos and is played by my good friend, Kenny Garren.

Butch

New Job

I started a new job two weeks ago and have been traveling.  The good news is that it is to Raleigh, NC and I have picking buddies up there.  The bad news is that I have not had much time to add to my blog.  However, while in Raleigh I made one video of my close friend Kenny playing a neat praise song that I had not heard, and he and I made an mp3 of our medley of "In the Garden" and "There is a Fountain".  I hope to get those on my blog this weekend.

Butch

Live Playing Videos

Today I added some live playing videos to my blog, so that you can see I actually do get out sometimes and don't just sit in my living room making instructional videos all the time.  :  )    Check the page for Live Playing videos.

Butch

Watch a quick video of my short term mission trip to Spain

Today I added a short video about my short term mission trip to Spain in May. The video is at the top of my page called "The Youth Camp in Spain". I think you will like it.
Butch

More free banjo videos added

The other day I added a dozen new banjo videos to my blog. As with the rest of the music on my web page, these are all completely free, but if my blog helps you, please consider making a small donation to the L'Arcada Camp or to my church's missionary support fund. Thanks in advance.

Butch Bost

Added more videos

I added more videos today.  I have been reworking my blog to get it a little neater.  Now I have separate pages for my banjo and guitar videos rather than having them all on the same page.  Once I got the pages in place I could FINALLY get around to doing what I have been wanting to do, which is to upload more videos!    Butch

How my blog works.

The way my blog works is that all of my music, instructional videos, and tablature, etc. are free.  However, if you would like (as a token of thanks) to make a small donation to one of my sponsored strategic missions, please do!


Thank you

Butch

Finished adding my tablature sheets.

It took a lot longer than I expected to upload the tablature for 8 of my banjo arrangements, but I "gotter done!"  They are at the bottom of my blog and are in alphabetical order.  You can also use "Edit" . . . "Find on this page" to search for a word in the song title.  Enjoy!

That is all I will try to do for today.  I have already uploaded all of the "pretty" tabs that I made a decade ago, and one fairly "rough" tab from one of the two books where I write down my arrangements and my original music.

As with the rest of the music on my web page, the tabs are all completely free, but if my tablature helps you, please consider making a small donation to L'Arcada or to my church's missionary support fund.  Thanks in advance.

I hope that my tabs and videos make it easier for you to learn a song!

I figured out how to add my tablature!

I just now figured out how to add the tablature of my arrangements!  They are currently at the bottom of my blog in alphabetical order.  This will work for now.  You should be able to easily read them from your computer screen.  Later on I will try to figure out how to make them easier for you to print.

There is obviously no cost to you to use my tablature, since you can see it for free.  But if any of my music helps you, please consider giving a small donation to one of my featured ministries, or at least remember to use my Amazon Searchbox to make your next Amazon purchase.

Thanks in advance for your support!

My Guitar and Banjo Videos

I hope to soon make it easier for you to see a list all of my free music videos directly from this page, but for now the best way is to click on any of my YouTube links on this page.  Once you are at one of my YouTube videos, to see the whole list just click on my name, which is below the video and it will take you to the page that lists all of my videos.  It only shows a few of them until you click on the drop-down button.

The goal of my videos is to have the camera close to my left hand so that you can see what I am doing.  Occasionally I also show my right hand so that you can see what it is doing.  On my banjo videos I also try to play them slowly to make it easier to see what I am doing. 

In the future I hope to add places to get a sheet with the words and chords.  Since that is copyright stuff, I can't post the ones I have.  I will ask my Praise Band leader where he gets ours.

There are lots of great videos that you can watch to learn to play Praise Music and Banjo.  I plan to also add links to those on my blog. 

I also want to create and upload more videos on how to play church music on the banjo.  When I was first learning I searched and searched for a good book of Scruggs style banjo playing hymns, like "Are You Washed" and "Power in the Blood."  I know how to play lots of them now and several years ago I created some beautiful tablature for quite a few of them.  I plan to post them on my page and ask you to give a small donation to one of my sponsored ministries for each one that you download.  I will probably also post some tabs that are not so nice, but hopefully they will be readable.

I hope my videos make it easier for you to learn songs.

Don't lose your finger picks!

When I was first learning to play the banjo around December 1973, I bought some National brand finger picks.  I think they may have been a dollar each.  Shortly after buying them, I lost them and had to go back for more.  This time I bought extras.  But I also made a little bag out of denim and hung it on my banjo.  I always put my picks in the bag when I take them off.  Consequently, I have never lost any, other than those first two.  Somebody told me that the National picks that I bought then are now worth about $50 each, so I don't plan to sell my extra ones in case I need them sometime.  My pick bag has lasted all these years.  You can see it hanging from my banjo in my photo taken by the Cow Pasture River near Clifton Forge, VA.  My wife's family has reunions there.

The Banjo that Butch Built.

As a preschooler I loved for my mom to read "The House that Jack Built," so I titled this posting "The Banjo that Butch Built."  As a college student, I couldn't afford an expensive banjo, so I got the idea of building myself a nice quality banjo.  But it was a few years later, after I was married and started having kids that I finally got around to it.  I was inspired by the instructions to build a banjo that are found in Earl Scruggs

I bought the fret wire from Elderly Instruments.  I designed the pearl inlays.

I found a used tone ring at a local junk store (no longer in business).  I got lucky.  It has a great sound.  The other metal parts came from Elderly Instruments.

The body of the banjo is out of multiple woods and crossed with veneers similar to what is illustrated in the Earl Scruggs book.

Clear mylar heads are pretty common on banjos now.  Got mine from Elderly Instruments.

A man in my hometown (Newton, NC) helped me get started by giving me some curly maple and showing me HOW to put a rod in the neck of an instrument to apply tension to offset the tension of the strings.

The back is curly maple inlayed with various other woods.

The neck is two pieces of curly maple with 3 layers of veneer between to make the stripes on the back of the neck.