For clawhammer banjo players who are tired of needing a tab for every single tune
Stop Staring at Tabs and Start Playing by Ear. 14 Days, 20 Minutes a Day. That's All It Takes.
Even if you've tried learning by ear before and felt completely lost
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Still completely lost the moment there's no tab in front of you?
You can play a few tunes. You've got the bum ditty down. But the second someone plays something you haven't memorized from tab, you're frozen. You hear a beautiful melody at a jam or on a recording and think, "I wish I could just figure that out." You've tried watching and copying, tried slowing down videos, tried guessing notes one at a time. Nothing clicks. And the longer it goes on, the more it feels like playing by ear is some kind of gift you just weren't handed.
You've Probably Tried:
- Slowing down YouTube videos and trying to match what you see, only to get lost after the first couple of notes
- Searching for tabs for every tune you want to learn, then hitting a wall when the tab doesn't exist
- Googling "how to play by ear" and finding music theory content about intervals and scale degrees that felt like learning a foreign language
- Sitting with your banjo and just guessing, note by note, until the frustration won out and you went back to the tab
And underneath all of it is this quiet thought: maybe you've just been at this long enough that you should be able to do this by now. Maybe playing by ear is something other people can do, and you're just not one of them.
But what if the problem isn't your ear? What if it's that nobody ever showed you how to use it?
Hear a tune. Pick up your banjo. Start playing.
You hear a tune at a jam, in a recording, from the porch next door. And instead of reaching for your phone to find the tab, you reach for your banjo. You start picking out the melody. Not perfectly, not instantly. But you're doing it. And the song isn't locked behind someone else's work anymore. It's yours to figure out.
Learn any song, not just the ones with tabs
Your repertoire stops being limited to what someone else wrote out for you. Hear a tune you love? Sit down and start working it out. That freedom changes your whole relationship with the banjo.
Hear what's actually happening in the music
Instead of reading notes off a page and hoping they sound right, you start recognizing patterns. Melodies make sense. You hear a phrase and know where it lives on the neck. The music stops being a mystery.
Build real confidence, not borrowed confidence
Playing a tune from tab feels good. Playing a tune you figured out yourself feels completely different. That quiet pride of knowing you decoded it with your own ear sticks with you.
Remember tunes longer and deeper
When you learn a song by ear, you understand it differently than when you read it from tab. It's in your hands, not just your eyes. Tunes stick because you actually heard them into existence.
None of this requires special talent. It requires a specific kind of practice that most banjo players never get shown.
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The reason you can't play by ear has nothing to do with your ear
Most ear training resources start in the wrong place. They teach you intervals on a chart. They quiz you on whether that's a major third or a perfect fifth. They give you theory and hope it eventually translates to your instrument. That approach works for music students in a classroom. But for clawhammer banjo players who just want to pick out a tune? It's like learning to swim by studying fluid dynamics. You end up with knowledge you can't use.
This challenge flips the approach. Instead of front-loading theory, you learn by doing first. Every day, I play you a short phrase. You figure it out on your banjo. The next day I reveal how it works. Along the way, I sneak in just enough practical theory to make everything click: the G major scale (narrows 3,000 frets down to about 12), three chords that cover 90%+ of old-time songs, and a simple trick to find the key of any tune. These aren't scary rules you have to memorize. They're simple shortcuts that make playing by ear dramatically easier.
I built this challenge around the same way I learned to play by ear myself. Not from a textbook. From sitting with recordings, trying to figure out what I was hearing, and slowly getting better at it. I just structured that process so it's not random and frustrating. And the songs you learn this way grow with you — they start simple and get more embellished naturally as your skills develop.
That daily practice-and-feedback loop is the core of everything inside the challenge.
Introducing...
The 14-Day Hear It, Play It Banjo Challenge
Train your ear through daily hands-on practice. Just 20 minutes a day.
I built this challenge for clawhammer banjo players who are done being dependent on tabs. Over 14 days, you'll train your ear through daily hands-on practice, just 20 minutes a day, starting simple and building to real musical phrases with drop thumb, hammer-ons, and syncopation.
Every day follows the same pattern: I play you a short phrase, you spend your practice time figuring it out, and the next day I reveal how it works. No theory lectures. No interval quizzes. Just you, your banjo, and your ear, getting sharper every day. Lifetime access means you can run through the challenge as many times as you want.
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Here's How the 14-Day Challenge Works
14 days of daily video lessons, each built around the Teaser + Reveal format
Days 1-2
Your First Melodies by Ear
You start with tunes you already know — like Will the Circle Be Unbroken and I'll Fly Away. I play a short phrase, you spend 20-30 minutes picking it out. Next day I reveal the tab and show you why open strings are your best friend for finding melodies. By Day 2 you're already humming tunes and finding them on the neck.
Days 3-4
The G Major Scale (Your Secret Weapon)
I sneak-teach you the G major scale without you even realizing it. This one simple tool narrows down the 3,000+ frets on your banjo to about 12 notes that cover 90%+ of songs in the key of G. Cripple Creek, Boil Them Cabbage Down, Amazing Grace — they all live in this scale. Suddenly you know where to look.
Days 5-6
Hearing Chord Changes
You learn the G, C, and D chords — the three chords that make up 90%+ of old-time songs. I teach you to hear when the chord changes by feel: when your G chord suddenly sounds wrong, you've got a 50-50 shot between C and D. You'll work through phrases from tunes like Half Past Four, learning to hear these shifts in real time.
Days 7-8
Embellishments and Ear Tricks
Now I throw you a proper challenge: phrases from Tom Dooley and Bill Cheatham with hammer-ons, slides, and pull-offs. I even give you a phrase with a missing measure and let you fill it in yourself. You learn that embellishments are just decorations on top of the melody — and once you have the melody, you can decorate it however you want.
Days 9-10
Longer Phrases with Drop Thumb
The phrases get longer and more complex now — excerpts from Shortnin' Bread with drop thumb, syncopation, and all the embellishments I'd use in real life. You learn to reduce any complicated-sounding phrase to its simple, hummable melody. Once you have that, the rest is just filler you add as you see fit. This is the biggest "aha" moment for most players.
Days 11-14
Different Keys, Different Scales, Complete Independence
Tunes like June Apple and Cherokee Shuffle push you further. You learn to handle songs that break the rules (the Mixolydian scale), use the capo to play in different keys, and figure out what key any song is in using a simple bar chord trick. Day 14 sends you off with a lifetime challenge: go learn songs on your own. And you'll know how.
By the end of 14 days, you'll have foundational ear training skills you can use for the rest of your playing life. Tab becomes a reference when you want it, not a crutch you can't play without.
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Built Around Real Music. Not Textbook Exercises.
Each day you'll work on a short phrase pulled from a real tune. I'm not teaching you the full song — I'm using these phrases to build specific ear training skills.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Phrase used for: melody + open strings
I'll Fly Away
Phrase used for: hearing the melody
Half Past Four
Phrase used for: chord changes
Tom Dooley
Phrase used for: G, C, D chords by ear
Bill Cheatham
Phrase used for: quick chord changes
Shortnin' Bread
Phrase used for: embellishments + slides
June Apple
Phrase used for: Mixolydian scale
Cherokee Shuffle
Phrase used for: minor chords + embellishments
By Day 14, You'll Know How To:
Trusted by 9,000+ banjo players across all BanjoSkills courses
Here's What People Say About Learning with Jack
9,000+ banjo players worldwide
"Not only did it help me get my fundamental technique to a level where I'm confidently playing tunes, I also learned a whole lot about what makes clawhammer banjo unique, and how to bring out that clawhammer flavour instead of sounding like a guitarist with a banjo."
Ron S.
BanjoSkills Student
"Thanks Jack. I found the course invaluable, especially as it covered many practical aspects that other instruction doesn't. Your way of teaching is excellent and a credit to you. Keep up the good work and thank you again."
John
BanjoSkills Student
"Thanks so much for the video! Been collecting dust on my new banjo for 3 years now and you're motivating me to finally get started!"
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30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Take the full 30 days to work through the daily Teasers and Reveals. Try picking out the phrases on your own. See how your ear develops day by day. If you don't feel like your ability to hear and play melodies has genuinely improved, just email me for a full refund. No questions asked. No complicated process.
Where Will You Be Two Weeks From Now?
If nothing changes:
- Still reaching for the tab every time you hear a tune you want to learn
- Still limited to songs that happen to have tutorials or tablature available
- Still guessing note by note when you try to figure something out, then giving up
- Still wondering if playing by ear is just something you can't do
After the 14-Day Challenge:
- Hearing a melody and starting to pick it out on your banjo, without needing the tab first
- Learning any song you love, not just the ones someone else wrote out for you
- Recognizing patterns in music that used to sound like noise, and knowing where to find them on the neck
- Knowing that your ear works just fine. It just needed the right kind of practice.
The only difference between these two paths is 14 days and 20 minutes a day.
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. No questions asked.
"I'm not sure I have a good enough ear for this."
...and other questions you might have
I'm not sure I have a good enough ear for this.
That's exactly who this challenge is for. If you can hum a tune — even badly — your ear works fine. The reason it feels like you can't play by ear isn't your ear, it's that you've never been given a structured way to practice the skill. This challenge starts so simple (a basic melody from Will the Circle Be Unbroken on open strings) that you almost can't fail on Day 1. From there it builds gradually. You don't need a "good ear" to start. You build one.
How much time does this actually take?
Each day's practice is designed for 20-30 minutes. You get a Teaser video, you spend your practice time trying to pick it out, and the next day you get the Reveal. It fits into a morning coffee session or an evening wind-down. And if you miss a day, no stress. You have lifetime access and can pick up right where you left off.
Do I need to be able to read music or know music theory?
Not at all. This challenge is 100% practical. There are no interval quizzes, no scale degree exercises, no theory lectures. If you can play the basic bum ditty stroke and a couple of tunes from tab, you're ready. Everything builds from there.
How is this different from free ear training content on YouTube?
Free content gives you tips. This gives you a structured, 14-day progression that builds your ear training skill day by day. The Teaser/Reveal format means you're actually practicing every single day, not just watching someone explain concepts. Scattered tips don't build the skill. Progressive daily practice does.
How quickly will I start hearing results?
Most people surprise themselves on Day 1 or 2. The first Teasers are simple enough that your ear can grab onto them right away, and that early win builds real momentum. From there, each day builds on the last, so the progress feels natural rather than forced.
How long do I have access to the challenge?
Lifetime. You can go through the challenge once, twice, or as many times as you want. Many people find it helpful to repeat the challenge after a few months. The phrases hit differently once your ear has had time to develop.
What if it doesn't work for me?
You're covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. Work through the Teasers and Reveals, give it a real shot, and if you don't feel like your ear has genuinely improved, just email me for a full refund. Simple as that.
I've tried to learn by ear before and couldn't do it. Why would this be different?
Trying to learn by ear without a structure is like trying to learn clawhammer without knowing bum ditty. It's not that your ear doesn't work. It's that random attempts don't build the skill. This challenge starts so simple you almost can't fail, then builds gradually so your ear develops without you even realizing it.
What if I fall behind the 14-day schedule?
Go at your own pace. The daily emails keep rolling, but the content isn't going anywhere. You have lifetime access, so there's no penalty for taking longer. Some people do a day every other day. Some take weekends off. It still works.
About the Instructor
Hi, I'm Jack
When I started playing banjo 14 years ago, tabs were my crutch. I couldn't imagine hearing a song and just picking it out on the banjo. I honestly didn't think it was possible for me. I thought you had to be born with it.
The fact was I was just going about it the wrong way. When I figured out a structured way to practice listening, it all started to click. And because of that, banjo got way more fun. I found it so much easier to memorize songs, build my repertoire, and feel like a real musician.
I built this challenge because it's the thing I wished someone had given me. Instead of random trial and error, it's a structured daily practice that builds your ear from scratch. I've been teaching banjo online to thousands of players, and this is the question I hear the most: "How do I play by ear?" This is my answer.
Ready to Start Playing by Ear? Here's Everything You're Getting.
The 14-Day Hear It, Play It Banjo Challenge includes:
- Days 1-2: Your First Melodies by Ear / Will the Circle Be Unbroken, I'll Fly Away, and learning to hum the melody first
- Days 3-4: The G Major Scale / Narrow 3,000 frets down to ~12 notes that cover 90%+ of songs
- Days 5-6: Chord Changes / Learn the 3 chords that make up 90%+ of old-time songs and how to hear them shift
- Days 7-8: Embellishments + Ear Tricks / Phrases from Tom Dooley, Bill Cheatham with hammer-ons, slides, and pull-offs
- Days 9-10: Longer Phrases + Drop Thumb / Excerpts from tunes like Shortnin' Bread with full embellishments
- Days 11-14: Complete Independence / Different keys, capo tricks, and a lifetime challenge to keep learning on your own
- Lifetime Access / Repeat the challenge as many times as you want, whenever you want
All backed by a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. No questions asked.
$127
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. No questions asked.
You're one click away from finally hearing a tune and knowing what to do with it.