'Shady Grove' — Doc Watson's clawhammer D-Dorian and a 400-year melody

'Shady Grove' — Doc Watson's clawhammer D-Dorian and a 400-year melody

Chance McCoy plays Doc Watson's clawhammer banjo 'Shady Grove' in modal D-Dorian (pull-offs, drop-thumb at speed) and traces the minor melody to Jean Ritchie's father in Viper, Kentucky, and back to Child Ballad #81, 'Matty Groves'. A deep lineage lesson in one tune.

• Child Ballad #81 shows how stable folk melodies can stay over centuries • Learn Doc Watson's version for drop-thumb and pull-off technique in D-Dorian • The minor melody came via Jean Ritchie; trace sources before settling on a version

Banjo D Dorian modal tuning, clawhammer, drop-thumb

This was a gateway tune for me—one of the first ones I ever heard when I was starting to get interested in Bluegrass and old-time music. • After I got deeper into playing traditional folk, I kind of left this tune behind. I never really learned a definitive version; it was just a jam tune I’d occasionally play. • But like many traditional tunes, there was something much deeper waiting to be discovered behind this iconic folk melody. I decided to dive into Doc Watson’s version recently and boy, am I glad I did! • This is the way he played it on clawhammer banjo, and it absolutely blew my mind. His old-time playing is phenomenal—a driving, intricate melody full of pull-offs and drop-thumb at lightning speed in modal D-Dorian. • It was a revelation, and I wanted to know where he learned his v…