Clawhammer is a highly
rhythmRhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events.-Rhythm in linguistics:...
ic banjo playing style and common component of
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
old-time musicOld-time music is a form of North American folk music, with roots in the folk musics of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. This musical form developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre...
. The principal difference between clawhammer style and other styles is the picking direction. Traditional picking styles, including those for
folkThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
, bluegrass, and
classical guitarThe classical guitar is a plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones. It traditionally has 3 plain gut bass strings and 3 gut wound silk core treble strings and the modern adaption typically has 6 nylon strings .The basic characteristics of the shape of the...
, consist of an up-picking motion by the
fingerA finger is a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates.Normally humans have five digits, termed phalanges, on each hand . The first digit is the thumb, followed by index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger or pinky...
s and a down-picking motion by the
thumbThe thumb when a person is standing in the medical anatomical position is the lateral-most digit of the hand. The Medical Latin English adjective for thumb is pollical.-Bones:The thumb consists of three bones:* Distal phalanx...
; this is also the technique used in the
Scruggs styleScruggs style is the most common style of playing the banjo in bluegrass music. It is a fingerpicking method, also known as three-finger style. It is named for Earl Scruggs, whose innovative approach and technical mastery of the instrument has influenced generations of bluegrass banjoists ever...
for the banjo. Clawhammer picking, by contrast, is primarily a down-picking style.
Clawhammer is a highly
rhythmRhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events.-Rhythm in linguistics:...
ic banjo playing style and common component of
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
old-time musicOld-time music is a form of North American folk music, with roots in the folk musics of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. This musical form developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre...
. The principal difference between clawhammer style and other styles is the picking direction. Traditional picking styles, including those for
folkThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
, bluegrass, and
classical guitarThe classical guitar is a plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones. It traditionally has 3 plain gut bass strings and 3 gut wound silk core treble strings and the modern adaption typically has 6 nylon strings .The basic characteristics of the shape of the...
, consist of an up-picking motion by the
fingerA finger is a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates.Normally humans have five digits, termed phalanges, on each hand . The first digit is the thumb, followed by index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger or pinky...
s and a down-picking motion by the
thumbThe thumb when a person is standing in the medical anatomical position is the lateral-most digit of the hand. The Medical Latin English adjective for thumb is pollical.-Bones:The thumb consists of three bones:* Distal phalanx...
; this is also the technique used in the
Scruggs styleScruggs style is the most common style of playing the banjo in bluegrass music. It is a fingerpicking method, also known as three-finger style. It is named for Earl Scruggs, whose innovative approach and technical mastery of the instrument has influenced generations of bluegrass banjoists ever...
for the banjo. Clawhammer picking, by contrast, is primarily a down-picking style. The hand assumes a claw-like shape and the strumming finger is kept fairly stiff, striking the strings by the motion of the hand at the
wristIn human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...
and/or elbow, rather than a flicking motion by the finger. In its most common form on the banjo, only the thumb and middle or index finger are used and the finger always downpicks, hitting the string with the back of the fingernail or a pick.
Musicians who use the clawhammer style of picking include
Hobart SmithHobart Smith was an American old-time musician. He was most notable for his appearance with his sister, Texas Gladden, on a series of Library of Congress recordings in the 1940s and his later appearances at various festivals during the folk music revival of the 1960s...
,
Neil YoungNeil Percival Young, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and film director. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 1995 and also as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 1997....
,
Bob CarlinFor the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation member of the Ontario legislature see Robert CarlinBob Carlin is an American old-time banjo player and singer.Carlin performs primarily in the clawhammer style of banjo...
,
Dwight DillerDwight Diller is an American banjo and fiddle player and teacher. He is considered to be one of the most prominent exponents of the clawhammer banjo tradition....
,
Eric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream, and as a solo performer, being the only person ever to be inducted three times...
, Mark Johnson,
Dick KimmelDick Kimmel is a bluegrass/oldtime musician and biologist. He is best known for being the leading member of Dick Kimmel & Co....
,
Mark KnopflerMark Knopfler OBE is a British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer....
,
Brad LeftwichBrad Leftwich is a prominent American old-time fiddle and banjo player and teacher. He is originally from Oklahoma.Leftwich was a founding member of the Plank Road String Band in the mid-1970s...
,
Dan LevensonDan Levenson is an American old-time musician and storyteller. He sings and plays the five-string banjo, fiddle, and guitar, specializing in the music of Appalachia....
, Michael J. Miles, Ken Perlman,
Leroy TroyLeroy Troy is a banjo player from Goodlettsville, Tennessee. His banjo style is the clawhammer or frailing style, distinct from more commonly found Scruggs style banjo playing in modern bluegrass. He often performs humorous or comedy songs from the old-time music genre...
,
Abigail Washburn
Abigail Washburn is an American clawhammer banjo player and singer. She performs and records as a soloist, as well as with the old-time bands Uncle Earl and Sparrow Quartet....
, and many others. Actor/comedian
Steve MartinStephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician, and composer. He was raised in Southern California in a Baptist family, where his early influences were working at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm and working magic and comedy acts at these and...
played clawhammer banjo as part of his stage act in the 1970s and on his 2009 musical debut CD
The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String BanjoThe Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo is an album published in 2009 by Steve Martin, featuring Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Earl Scruggs, Tim O'Brien, Tony Trischka and Mary Black. It features 15 songs and is the first album featuring Martin as a musician...
. Early practitioners include
Clarence Ashley"Tom" Clarence Ashley was an American clawhammer banjo player, guitarist and singer. He began performing at medicine shows in the Southern Appalachian region as early as 1911, and gained initial fame during the late 1920s as both a solo recording artist and as a member of various string bands...
,
Tommy JarrellTommy Jarrell was an American fiddler, banjo player, and singer from the Mount Airy region of North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains.-Biography:...
,
Grandpa JonesLouis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones was an American banjo player and "old time" country and gospel music singer...
, Kyle Creed, and
Wade WardWade Ward was an American old-time music banjo player and fiddler from Independence, Virginia. He was especially renowned for his clawhammer banjo playing. He was a frequent winner at the Galax, Virginia Old Time Fiddler's Convention. His instrument, a Gibson RB-11 5-string banjo, is now housed...
.
Clawhammer technique
A common characteristic of clawhammer patterns is the thumb does not pick on the downbeat, as one might in typical fingerpicking patterns for guitar. For example, this is a common, basic
2/4The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
pattern:
- Pick a melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
note on the downbeat (quarter noteA quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note . Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem usually points upwards if it is below the middle line of the stave or downwards if it is on or above the...
)
- On the second beat
The beat is the basic time unit of music, the pulse of the mensural level, also known as the beat level. However, since the term is in popular use, it often connotes the tempo of a piece or a particular sequence of individual beats, the meter, rhythm or groove...
, strum a few strings with your strumming finger (roughly an eighth notethumb|180px|right|Figure 1. An eighth note with stem facing up, an eighth note with stem facing down, and an eighth rest.thumb|right|180px|Figure 2. Four eighth notes linked together....
)
- Immediately following (on the second half of this beat), pick a note with the thumb, usually the shorter fifth string. (roughly an eighth note)
Here, the thumb plays the high
droneIn music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.-A musical effect:A drone...
on the second "and" of "one and two
and". This combined with the middle finger strumming provides a characteristic "bum-ditty bum-ditty" banjo sound, whether actually played on a banjo or on a guitar.
Banjo players often also use the left hand, the fingering hand, to pick. Using a motion similar to a pull-off, the left hand picks up at the top of the neck, usually on the second half of the first beat. The result is a change from the "bum-ditty" sound to a "bum-pa-ditty".
Clawhammer vs. frailing
While the terms "clawhammer" and "frailing" can be used interchangeably, other old-time players draw a distinction between the two. On the banjo, frailing most commonly means always picking the drone string, while clawhammer allows the picking of other strings with the thumb, which is also called "drop thumbing". Some players further distinguish between "drop thumb" and "clawhammer", in which the thumb plays rhythm in drop thumb, but melody in clawhammer. There are yet more variations of the distinction between "clawhammer" and "frailing", but they all refer to the same general style of playing. The term "double thumbing" is sometimes used interchangeably with "drop thumbing", though double thumbing refers specifically to striking the fifth string after every beat rather than every other beat, while drop thumbing refers to dropping the thumb from the 5th drone string down to strike a melody note.
Confusing the nomenclature further are the terms that are used for perceived variations on the method. These include "flailing," "knockdown", "banging," "rapping," "frapping", "beating," and "clubbing." This is reflective of the informality of
old-time musicOld-time music is a form of North American folk music, with roots in the folk musics of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. This musical form developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre...
in general, as each player develops an idiomatic style.
Some have noted a general tendency towards more traditional and rhythmically-oriented frailing styles in the South, particularly in North Carolina, and a general tendency towards more melodically intricate styles in New England. The clawhammer banjo style of Boston banjo virtuoso Ken Perlman, for example, is highly melodic and uses the thumb extensively to play long single-note lines that use the drone string more for melody notes than for rhythmic accent. Some clawhammer banjo aficionados (including Perlman) have argued that melodic clawhammer banjo techniques are more traditional and ancient than many advocates of the frailing style suppose.
Clawhammer on guitar
Although both "clawhammer" and "frailing" are primarily used to refer to banjo styles, the terms do appear with reference to guitar.
FingerstyleFingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking or strumming all the strings of the instrument in chords...
guitarist Steve Baughman distinguishes between frailing and clawhammer as follows. In frailing, the index fingertip is used for up-picking melody, and the middle fingernail is used for rhythmic downward brushing. In clawhammer, only downstrokes are used, and they are typically played with one fingernail as is the usual technique on the banjo. Players in this down-picking style include Baughman, Jody Stecher, Michael Stadler, and Alec Stone Sweet.
Another usage of "clawhammer" in guitar circles refers to a style in which the pinky finger or the pinky and ring fingers are used to brace the hand and the index finger, middle finger, and thumb are used to pluck the strings. The index and middle fingers are held in a claw shape and they do resemble the two prongs of a
claw hammerA claw hammer is a tool primarily used for pounding nails into, or extricating nails from, some other object. Generally, a claw hammer is associated with woodworking but is not limited to use with wood products...
, but this is an uncommon and arguably incorrect usage of the term "clawhammer". See fingerpicking.
Mark KnopflerMark Knopfler OBE is a British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer....
of
Dire StraitsDire Straits were a British rock band, active between 1977 and 1995. The band was formed by Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers , and managed by Ed Bicknell...
used a variant of the clawhammer technique.
In recent years, the clawhammer technique has been applied to playing bass. Examples include
Michael ToddMichael Todd or Mic Todd is the bassist for progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria. Todd left the band in August 2006 because of personal issues, but officially rejoined the group on April 25, 2007. Upon the time of his initial departure, he had been with the band for ten years...
, of
Coheed and CambriaCoheed and Cambria is an American rock band from New York, formed in 1995. The band was originally named "Shabütie"; however, the name was changed to "Coheed and Cambria" when drummer Nate Kelley departed...
, and Steve Parker of Elements of Refusal.
Clawhammer on ukulele
The clawhammer banjo technique works quite well on a ukulele in the standard gCEA tuning, especially playing in the key of C or the key of G. Since, like the 5-string banjo, there is a string that is higher pitched on the opposite side, the same exact technique results in the same sound.
Further reading
- Costello, Patrick, The How and the Tao of Old Time Banjo, Pik-Ware Publishing, 2003 (ISBN 0-9744190-0-1). Instruction in frailing banjo. Available online under a Creative Commons license on several web sites
- Costello, Patrick, A Book Of Five Strings, Pik-Ware Publishing, 2004 (ISBN 0-9744190-2-8). Advanced frailing banjo tutor. Available online under a Creative Commons license on several web sites
External links
- Recordings of clawhammer banjo CDs of the older masters of clawhammer banjo (Fred Cockerham, Lee Sexton, Tommy Jarrell, etc)
- The Daily Frail Daily frailing banjo exercises.
- OldTime Banjo Examples of Clawhamer Banjo with full tunes played by Julie Duggan
- Frailing Banjo Frailing banjo instructional video series on archive.org.
- Old Time Banjo Two and a half hour video workshop on frailing banjo with Pat & Patrick Costello. Frailing banjo instructional video series on archive.org.
- ClearHead Donald Zepp's ClearHead (TM) demonstration of basic clawhammer techniques. Includes .wmv video files requiring Windows Media Player.
- Mike Iverson's Clawhammer Banjo Tabs Popular online collection of clawhammer banjo instruction and tablature with accompanying sound files.
- Charles Kelly's Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo The complete book of 217 tabs is available for free online.