Dueling Banjos
Transcribed for Single Guitar
Eric M. Norcross

“Dueling Banjos” is a musical piece that is often played with an acoustic guitar and a
and the concept is that the two instruments are “dueling.”  In the end the banjo always
 This transcription is exactly how I play it, with one guitar, but to give the 
that the guitar is dueling with itself.  There are a lot of tabs for this piece because a
of people play it differently and in different keys.  This particular transcription is 
with a capo on 2, but can be played without a capo if you don’t have one.

Standard Tuning: EADGBE
Capo: 2nd Fret (capo provides more of a “twang” sound, but can be played without one.)

Take it slow, and strum the tabbed chords.

E|----3~~~~----------------------------------------------------------||
B|----3~~~~---0~~~~---5~~~~---1~~~~---3-3-3-5-3~~~~---0-0-0-1-0~~~~--||
G|----4~~~~---0~~~~---5~~~~---0~~~~---4-4-4-5-4~~~~---0-0-0-0-0~~~~--||
D|------------0~~~~-----------2~~~~-------------------0-0-0-2-0~~~~--||
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------||
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------||

E|-------------------------------------------------------------------||
B|-----------------------0-1-3-0-1---0-------------------------------||
G|-4-5-7-4-5---4-------------------2---0-2~~-------------------------||
D|-----------7---5-7~~---------------------------------4---4---------||
A|---------------------------------------------0-5-5-7---5---7~~-----||
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------||

E|---------2---2-----------------------------------------------------||
B|---3-3-5---3---5~~--------------------------0-1-3-1-0--------------||
G|-2----------------------------------0-0-0-2-------------0-0-0-2----||
D|-------------------------------------------------------------------||
A|---------------------------0-2-3-----------------------------------||
E|---------------------3-3-3-----------------------------------------||

E|-------------------------------------------------------------------||
B|-------------------------------0-1-3-1-0---------------------------||
G|-----------------------0-0-0-2---------------------------0---------||
D|-------------0-------------------------------------0-2-3---3-2-----||
A|-------0-2-3---3-2---------------------------3-3-3-----------------||
E|-3-3-3-------------------------------------------------------------||


E|---------0-1-3-1-0-------------------------------------------------||
B|-1-1-1-3---------------------------------------------0-1-3-1-0-----||
G|---------------------------------------------0-0-0-2---------------||
D|-----------------------------------0-------------------------------||
A|-----------------------------0-2-3---3-2---------------------------||
E|-----------------------3-3-3---------------------------------------||

E|-----------------------------0-2-3-5-3-2---------------------------||
B|-----------0-1-0------3-3-3----------------------------------------||
G|-0-0-0-2-4-------4-------------------------------------------------||
D|-------------------------------------------------------------------||
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------||
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------||

E|-----------------3---------------------------3---------3-3-3-0-3---||
B|-------1-0-----3---3-5-3-----------1-0------3----5-3---0-0-0-1-0---||
G|---0---0-0-----------5-4-------0---0-0-----4-----5-4---0-0-0-0-0---||
D|-0---0-2-0-------------------0---0-2-0-----------------0-0-0-2-0---||
A|-------------------------------------------------------2-2-2-3-2---||
E|-------------------------------------------------------3-3-3-0-3---||

E|------------------|-------------------|----------------------------||
B|-0-1-3-1---0------|-0h1h3-0-1---0-----|-0h1h3-0-1---0--------------||
G|---------2---0-2--|-----------2---0-2-|-----------2---0-2----------||
D|------------------|-------------------|----------------------------||
A|------------------|-------------------|----------------------------||
E|------------------|-------------------|----------------------------||

The Yankee Doodle part-really fast…
E|-----------------|--------------|-------------------------------0--||
B|-----------------|--------------|-------------------------------0--||
G|---0-0-2-4-0-4-2-|---0-0-2-4-0--|-0-0-2-4-5-4-2-0---------0-0---0--||
D|-0---------------|-0-----------4|-----------------4-0-2-4-------0--||
A|-----------------|--------------|-------------------------------0--||
E|-----------------|--------------|-------------------------------0--||

Start strumming chords: C, G, D, G in a bluegrass rhythm and occasionally go back and
the following lick again:


E|-------------------------------------------------------------------||
B|-----------------------0-1-3-0-1---0-------------------------------||
G|-4-5-7-4-5---4-------------------2---0-2~~-------------------------||
D|-----------7---5-7~~-----------------------------------------------||
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------||
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------||

Continue strumming C, G, D, G and continue to throw in bits and pieces of the preceding
as necessary and really fast.  Back and forth over and over again.  This piece
takes practice.  I really don’t have an ending, just kind of make up a different one 
time.  Anyone wanna submit the perfect ending for this particular piece?