Tenor Banjo Tab: Clouds Thicken

The next installment in my tenor banjo tablature series is the tune Clouds Thicken. It was written by Paul Rosen of the Charlottesville-based contradance band Floorplay and is featured on their album Block Party where it is paired with Sweet and Sour Rag. On the Floorplay website Paul graciously includes standard notation - AKA “the dots” – for all the tunes on this album.

Clouds Thicken can best be described as a creepy, minor-key jig (6/8 time). It includes some nice use of a flattened 5th note; in this case Bb.

Click here to listen to a snippet of the actual recording.
Click here to hear my pitiful attempt at playing this fantastic tune. (I don't do it justice!).

My tenor banjo/mandolin tab image is below. I believe everything is pretty much the same as the standard notation. It's kinda hard to see but that 1st note of the 2nd measure is a "1" to indicate a Bb note.

Floorplay covers a variety of styles including southern old time tunes, jigs, waltzes, Klezmer, rags, and contradance numbers. Their album Block Party is a fun, quirky record featuring all original tunes written by Paul Rosen. Clouds Thicken is just one of many great cuts to be found there.

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