My brother the trout sent me a simple arrangement of the tune Old Molly Hare and I’ve started to learn it on the can. I have to start somewhere and this seems to be as good a place as any. The can has a unique sound, sort of like a regular banjo and yet different. I guess it should be different, being made of an oil can and all.

The arrangement is for double C tuning, but since I have a short scale neck and would normally tune to A instead of G, for this tuning, I’m in double D rather than double C. All I can say is that it sounds way different than the open A tuning I initially tuned the can to. My brother sent me this song because it’s simple – most of the melody resides on the first string – but at the same time can be jazzed up some too. I need simple at this stage.

I’ve been able to more or less play it well enough that it sounds like a tune, and even build speed a little and try a couple pull-offs. I’ll work on this one for a while, commit it to memory and as I get better, I’ll add to it and see how nice I can get it to sound.

I wanted to hear how other people play this tune so I turned to the YouTube machine. Here are some examples of how people who know what they’re doing play Old Molly Hare.

and a twin fiddle version…