Clawhammer

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Clawhammer , sometimes called frail , is a varied banjo playing style and a common component of American old music.

The main difference between the clawhammer style and other styles is the direction of taking. Traditional picking styles (classical banjo), including those for folk, bluegrass, and classical guitars, consist of a pick-up motion by the fingers and downward movement with the thumb; this is also a technique used in Scruggs style for banjo. In contrast, Clawhammer picking is primarily a style that tends to decline. The hand takes shape like a claw and the picking finger remains a bit stiff, striking the rope with hand gestures on the wrist and/or elbow instead of snapping fingers. In the most common form on the banjo, only the thumb and middle finger or the index finger are used and the finger always falls down, hitting the rope with the back of the nail.

Although the traditional banjar banjar game is very rhythmic, it usually plays elements of melody, harmony, rhythm, and percussion. The varied playing styles emphasize these elements to different degrees, sometimes changing the emphasis during a single song's performance. Chances include an audible melodic tone, strumming harmonic chords, picking and plucking to produce rhythmic and percussive effects on strings, and create a percussive effect by brushing or banging your thumb or finger on the head of a banyo or leather. This variety of sounds and musical effects provides artistic solo potential for the banjo cawhammer alongside its traditional role as a rhythmic accompaniment to other musicians. Particularly, the violinist duo who plays melodies alongside the clawhammer clan driving has once played a basic Appalachian dance band, as Ralph Stanley recalls in his autobiography, "Man of Constant Sorrow."

Musicians who use or who have used clawhammer picking styles include Mark Johnson, Ola Belle Reed, Hank 3, Doc Watson, Bob Barbecue, Lee Sexton, JD Wilkes, Old Man Luedecke, Ralph Stanley, Hobart Smith, Neil Young, Bob Carlin, Dwight Diller, Dick Kimmel, Walt Koken, Brad Leftwich, Dan Levenson, Michael J. Miles, Ken Perlman, Leroy Troy, Abigail Washburn, Emily Robison, Julie Duggan, Riley Baugus, and many others. Actor/comedian, Steve Martin, played clawhammer banjo as part of his stage acting in the 1970s and on his 2nd year of music debut CD The Crow: New Songs for 5-String Banjo . Scottish comedian Billy Connolly is also a successful claw banjo player, who was filmed playing his banjo at the North Pole in the BBC "A Scot in the Arctic" travel program. Practitioners include Clarence Ashley, Fred Cockerham, Tommy Jarrell, Uncle Dave Macon, Grandfather Jones, Kyle Creed, David Akeman ("Stringbean"), Kirk McGee, Wade Ward, and Bashful Brother Oswald.

Video Clawhammer

Technology

The general characteristic of the clawhammer pattern is that the thumb does not choose below, as is possible in the typical fingerprint pattern for the guitar. For example, this is a common 2/4 basic pattern:

1. Select a melody tone on the downbeat (not a quarter)
2. On the second tap, pick a few strings with your finger quoting you (roughly not the eighth)
3. Follow immediately (in the second half of this tap), select notes with thumbs, usually a shorter fifth string. (about eighth record)

Here, thumbs play high drones on seconds "and" from "one and two and ". This combined with the middle finger picking gives the sound "bum-bum-bum" banjo the characteristic, whether actually played on the banjo or on the guitar.

Restless hands also come into play in this approach to play banjo. Angry hands can hammer, pull, shift and bend individuals and groups of strings. This can create the illusion that a picking hand does something more than just picking down.

Maps Clawhammer

Clawhammer vs. fragile

While the terms "clawhammer" and " frail " can be used interchangeably, some older players draw the difference between the two. In banjo, fragile most often means always choosing drone strings, while clawhammer allows strumming another string with thumb, which is also called "thumb thumb". Some players more differentiate between "drop thumb" and "clawhammer", in which the thumb plays a thumb rhythm, but a melody in the clawhammer. There is also a known style in which two fingers used brushing down is described as "Knock-Down". There are still more variations in the differences between "clawhammer" and "frail", but they all refer to the same general game style. The term "double thumb" is sometimes used interchangeably with "dropping the thumb", although the double thumb refers specifically to strike the fifth string after each tap than any other beats, while the thumbslide refers to the thumbs down from the 5th drone string to the beat the melody tone.

Confusing the further nomenclature is the term used for the perceived variation in the method. This includes "hitting," "knockdown", "banging," "tapping," "frapping", "hitting," and "clubbing." This reflects the informality of old music in general, as each player develops an idiomatic style.

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On guitar

Although both "clawhammer" and "fragile" are mainly used to refer to banjo styles, the terms appear with reference to the guitar. Jody Stecher was the first guitarist to record in style, as an accompanist for the song "Red Rocking Chair" on the recording, A Song Will Willinger, with Kate Brislin.

Fingerstyle guitarist Steve Baughman distinguishes between frail and clawhammer as follows. In a fragile state, the tip of the index finger is used to pluck the melody, and the middle finger nail is used to brush down rhythmically. In clawhammer, only downstrokes are used, and they are usually played with a single nail like the usual technique on a banjo.

Alec Stone Sweet explains the clawhammer technique in the liner notes to "Tumblin 'Gap: Clawhammer Guitar Solos": "There are five characteristics of how I play clawhammer First, any special note played by the right hand is generated by index finger or thumb. notes that have been picked, each played with a thumb, or by pressing a string with the nail of the index finger.Third, the index finger never plays a beat, and the thumb never plays on the rhythm This clawhammer technique gives heavier music - and, to my ears, more natural - drives than it would be if played, say, like a melody on alternating bass. There is one exception to this rule: variations on common clawhammer bawling lobes (which you can hear on the high climate tone of the second part of Polly Put Kettle Life, and the third part of Joke on Puppies) when the thumb is played during a knock Fourth, for any part, most notes generated by hand, in combination of slides, hammers, and pull-offs; banter can occur on or outside the rhythm. Fifth, I play in some tuning, and sometimes replace the sixth string bass with the sixth high treble string (from the same gauge used for the first string). The banjo player will notice that I use the thumb on the bass strings to get the drone, just like the clawhammer player uses the fifth string of the high banjo; indeed, when I strings the guitar with a high treble in place of the sixth string bass, it's partly to mimic the fifth string of the banjo. In many songs, I save some drones, with different strings. In short, in my clawhammer guitar version, the thumb plays a knock, even when playing a harmonic bass tone or a bass line; no strings ever picked; with respect to the right hand, only the index finger and the thumb notes, but never at the same time. What is remarkable is how much textured sound full of one finger, one thumb, and the humiliation of the left hand can produce. "

Players in this down-picking style include Jody Stecher, Barbecue Bob, Ola Belle ReedAlec Stone Sweet, Steve Baughman, and Michael Stadler.

Another use of "clawhammer" in guitar circles refers to the force in which the little finger or the little finger and ring finger is used to strengthen the hand and the index finger, middle finger, and thumb are used to strum the strings. The forefinger and middle finger is held in claw shape and they resemble two branches of claw hammer, but this is the use of the term "clawhammer" which is rare and arguably untrue. See fingerpicking.

In recent years, clawhammer techniques have been applied to playing bass. Examples include Michael Todd, of Coheed and Cambria, and Steve Parker of the Elements of Refusal.

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On ukulele

The clawhammer banjo technique works pretty well on ukulele in standard GCEA tuning, especially playing in key C or G key. Because, like a 5-string banjo, there is a higher rope pitched on the opposite side. , the same technique produces the same sound.

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Methods of instruction, music, tablature, and further reading

• Costello, Patrick "Patrick Costello On Frailing Banjo Book One: The Crazy Banjra Mechanics" Pik-Ware Publishing 2015 (ISBN 978-0974419053)
• Costello, Patrick "Five Strings Books: Strategies for Mastering Banjo Old Art" Pik-Ware Publishing 2004 (ISBNÃ, 978-0974419022)
• Costello, Patrick "The How and Tao of Old Time Banjo" Pik-Ware Publishing 2003 (ISBNÃ, 978-0974419008) This book is available under a Creative Commons license.
• Carlin, Bob "Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo", Centerstream Publication 1983 (ISBNÃ, 0-89898-227-8) Tab for the song on his Rounder Records (0132) and (0172)
• Erbsen, Wayne. "Clawhammer Banjo for Complete Ignoramus" (Books and CDs). Native Ground Music, 2004.
• Erbsen, Wayne. "Clawhammer Banjo ~ Tunes, Tips & amp; Jamming" (Books and CDs). Original Soil Music, 2015.
• Koken, Walt. DVD "Slo-Mo Banjo". Music Mudthumper, 2016.
• Krassen, Miles. "Clawhammer Banjo." Music Sales America, 1974. (ISBN: 0825601517).
• Levenson, Dan. "Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch: A Guide for the Claw-less!" Mel Bay Publications, 2003. 2-disc DVDs are also available (Old-Time Music, 2008).
• Perlman, Ken. "Clawhammer Style Banjo." Centerstream Publishing, 1989. (ISBN: 0931759331). 2-disc DVDs are also available. (Hal Leonard, 2004).
• Rosenbaum, Art. "Art of Banjo Mountain." Mel Bay Publications, 1999. (ISBN: 0786633786).
• Seeger, Pete. "How to Play 5-String Banjo." Published by author. Beacon, NY. (ISBN: 1597731641). Introducing various banjo styles and techniques.
• Leftwich, Brad. "Round Peak Style Clawhammer Banjo" Published by Mel Bay Publications, 1999 (ISBNÃ, 0786629029, ISBNÃ, 978-0786629022).
• Baughman, Steve. "Claw Power: Complete Course in Clawhammer Guitar" (DVD) CD Baby 2011

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References

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External links

• How and Old Tao Banjo
• The Clawhammer Forum

Source of the article : Wikipedia