Re: Bluegrass-ifying old banjo songs
Couple issues: one characteristic of some of the old-time "modal" (which is a misnomer: all music is in some kind of mode) tunes, is alternative banjo tunings: 2nd string raised to C, 4th string dropped to C, 5th string dropped to F#, etc. In a standard bluegrass jam, banjo players will stay in straight G tuning throughout, so developing "licks" around a tune that, say, never uses the open-2nd-string B, may frustrate them if they're not used to it.
And, as rightly pointed out, the old-time banjo technique often involved a melody or melody variant played against a drone, so there aren't "chord changes" per se. The people who often have a tough time are guitarists and bass players, who are asked to whang away on a single chord throughout the song, or try to fit the chord structures they know around the melodic changes.
Look at some "chestnut" tunes like Old Joe Clark, Shady Grove and June Apple. Modern convention is to liberally use the flat-7 chord (F if playing in G) when the melody seems to call for it. If you listen to the old-time bands, that was much less common. Sometimes the backing chord wasn't changed at all; sometimes the "regular" 7th was played, despite dissonance between the F and the F# in this example.
Some old-time tunes easily make the trip to bluegrass, some don't. I can listen to the Osborne Brothers "bluegrass up" The Cuckoo
and enjoy it, but also notice the complete rebuilding it's undergone since Clarence Ashley
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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