Celtic & New England Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo

Solos on Irish, Scottish and New England Fiddle Tunes

This book was originally published by Chappel Music Co. as “New England & Irish Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo: Jigs, Reels & Hornpipes Arranged for Melodic Style in Clear Tablature.” It was then picked up by Mel Bay Publishing; at first they published it as Basic Clawhammer Banjo; but eventually Ken persuaded them to adopt the current title version.

Celtic & New England Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo

Mel Bay Publications

Original title, New England and Irish Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo; also published for several years by Mel Bay as Basic Clawhammer Banjo.

36 pages, 30 tunes. A set of recordings featuring all the tunes in the book played by Ken is part of this package. In the newest edition these recordings are available on-line through the Mel Bay website via a special access code.

19.95

BOOK w/ CD

Reviews for New England and Irish Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo

Fretwire Magazine (U.K.)

Contains lucid and comprehensive instruction… I would recommend this book to anybody who can play basic banjo and wants to make his playing more intricate.

Bluegrass Unlimited

Pickers like John Burke and Art Rosenbaum set the stage for the melodic clawhammer style in the 1960s, leaving room for folks like Ken Perlman to refine and perfect playing complex melodies on the old time banjo. Ken Perlman is the author of what is quickly becoming known as the definitive volume in the style, Melodic Clawhammer Banjo… For the clawhammer player who thought it couldn’t be done, Perlman provides better than a half-dozen tabs in jig-time (6/8) and waltz-time (3/4)… The book is well worth the price for clawhammer players into some fancy tunes.

Banjoist’s Broadsheet (U.K.)

Mr. Perlman’s main contribution [is] that he has refused to alter the tunes and manages to frail melodically elaborate tunes by the use of well-thought out left hand techniques…The tunes are well selected and all are delightful.

Historical Note

Here’s the original cover of the book, designed by my college friend Victor Curran. It had all the elements – green background color – and a map – for Ireland, a fiddle ,and a banjo. What could be more descriptive of the contents? The book was originally intended to be a much larger collection, but was cut way back when the publisher got cold feet about the viability of the clawhammer banjo market. Many of the tunes I had to cut found their way into Melodic Clawhammer.