Clawhammer banjo, or frailing, traces its roots back to West Africa and was introduced to the American Colonies by African slaves. By the time of the American Revolution, this style of playing had become firmly established as a staple of American plantation music. In the early nineteenth century, it became an integral part of American minstrel shows, a form of entertainment that parodied southern plantation life. These shows, performed widely in both the New World and Europe, were responsible for introducing clawhammer banjo to the world.
Clawhammer banjo is played using a downward strumming motion over the strings. Typically, the melody of a song is played by striking one string, quickly followed by a strum of two or three strings. Unlike clawhammer, bluegrass banjo avoids strumming altogether. Instead, fingerpicks are used on the thumb, index and middle fingers; the strings are plucked in the same manner a classical guitarist plucks the strings of a guitar.
Earl Scruggs is generally considered to be the originator of this style of banjo playing. Scruggs simply borrowed ideas from these pickers and synthesized them into a more refined, flashier style.
Scruggs also had the advantage of being the first banjo player to showcase this style of playing to a wide audience through his work with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys at the Grand Ole Opry. Unlike clawhammer banjo, whose melodies tend to be fairly discernible, in bluegrass banjo the melody of a song can often become lost in a tidal wave of other notes which is why this style of playing is so ear-catching.
Specifically, it depends on how much time you devote to practicing and the quality of your practice sessions. After all, every instrument and style of playing has its own quirks and idiosyncrasies, making comparisons from one to another somewhat tricky. My suggestion would be to listen to examples of the two styles. Go to YouTube or, even better, attend a live music event.
Find out which style calls to you and moves you on an emotional level. Maybe both? Hopefully, this information will make the task of deciding which banjo style to learn a little less daunting. Exciting, huh? You might also enjoy our breakdown of open back banjos vs banjos with resonators post useful. I got very frustrated playing Bluegrass. It seemed like most of the tunes were geared for such a fast, hard driven pace. I couldn't play that fast.
I know there's some really pretty stuff played 3-finger style, but in my opionion clawhammer has it beat. If you like to sing, and play, I think clawhammer is your best bet. The only downfall to clawhammer, that I can think of at this time, is jamming. Most times they don't have the patience to keep it in one key awhile before changing. But, ahhhhhh, when you find that oldtime jam.
When I first started playing clawhammer I was afraid I would not be able to learn all the different tunings, but it comes pretty easy now. I don't know if clawhammer is necessarily easier, but it would probably be wise to pick one and stick with it. I agonised over this for quite a while. Most of the reasons for coming down on the side of clawhammer are covered by folks above.
One thing I feel must be said is that if you attempt both you risk getting way out of your depth. Bluegrass is a very demanding style of playing, but clawhammer has masses of scope for development there is no ceiling here either. Unless you are extremely talented and have lots of practice time you will find it hard to play both styles well at the same time. Someone on this forum said they are so different you might as well think about them as you would two different instruments.
There are also some significant cultural differences between the two styles and it isn't really true that bluegrass banjo emerges organically out of old time clawhammer Dwight Diller makes this point forcefully on his site. Musical taste is a very personal matter, but ultimately this should be the deciding factor as it was for me. There are aspects of bluegrass I don't care for, but I love all old time.
The music you like best, will be the music you play best, regardless of the technical challenges. Debbie, Haven't I seen you playing up in the square before? I thought I recognized you from when I was up there a few months ago and there was a bunch of ya under the trees outside city hall. Neither, play the fiddle!
Another idea; use the jukebox feature on the BHO and really listen to the top Oldtime and top bluegrass mp3s; and see which music appeals to you more. Match that against the music you enjoy at home from your record collection. If you find yourself preferring one type of music to the other, explore the one you prefer first. Hi Mike!
Go to bluegrass events and clawhamer events and see which ones you seem to enjoy the most. If you cant decide,then flip a coin. You cant go wrong with eather one and at least your fretting hand will be happy with eather of them. Happy playing! Frank rider. For me personally, I find the clawhammer style to be easier, I guess everyone has a style that fits them better. You can always clawhammer bluegrass.
The most powerful music in this world and the next. For those who don't know it, Chuck is a fine fingerstyle player himself. Players like Uncle Dave Macon could and did go from strong, driving rhythm to sweet melody and back in a short line of music. Clawhammer too can be extremely melodic or extremely rhythmic. This kind of rhythmic versatility in the OT styles makes them much better suited to singing backup and solo picking. You can listen to some of my 2-finger playing on my homepage.
Some is unaccompanied, some has Tish on guitar and Sally Ann has fiddle, guitar and 2nd banjo. It was an easy choice for me. When I first started taking lessons I learned bluegrass first. I hated finger picks and didn't care for the repitition of playing patterns. When I discovered clawhammer I fell in love with it. It just seemed more natural to me. I think you should try both with an open mind. You'll know which one you prefer! I don't think the hard bluegrass sound can be had without them.
I don't. Same is true for "repitition of playing patterns". Some OT finger picking is pretty repetitive, some not repetitive at all. Which gives me a fine reason to direct one and all to the website of the greatest OT 2-finger picker in the world: Mr Will Keys.
Have a listen to the sound clips on the site. Will used no finger picks and no repeated patterns. Thank you, Chip, for that link! Coming from a background of fingerstyle guitar no fingerpicks here I have been looking for ways to adapt that style of playing to the banjo, along with the traditional clawhamer style I love so much. Is there any good tab available for old time banjo fingerstyle playing that you would recommend?
He covers thumb lead and index lead 2-finger as well as some OT 3-finger styles. If you like Will's style of playing and get where you can play 2-finger style comfortably, I have more avanced tabs which I can send to you. Just curious, did you pose the same question in the BG forum? Manage consent. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website.
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