8 Essential Steps to Clawhammer Banjoclawhammerbanjo.net/8steps; breakthroughbanjo.com ; clawhammerbanjo.net

1 LESSON 1: THE BASIC MOTION1.1 THE SHAPE OF THE PICKING HAND

In some respects, everything that you need to know about the right hand, or the picking hand, in clawhammer banjo is in the name itself. You basically put your hand into a claw-like shape, and then you hammer down on the strings. It's our natural inclination, particularly when we're trying to strike individual strings, to try to do so by plucking up with our fingers. This makes sense because we're able to make very precise movements with our fingers.You could teach yourself to become just as accurate at hitting individual strings with the downpicking motion as you can by up picking. And, better yet, what they also probably realized was that using this technique opened up a world of musical, and particularly rhythmic, possibility that you just can't get using the up picking method.So the first thing that I want you to do is start to get comfortable just with the shape that your hand should be in when you're playing clawhammer. And here there are two points that I want you to remember, or to think about.One is that the hand should be very relaxed. Muscle tension in general is the enemy of music, and muscle tension in the hand with clawhammer banjo is going to lead to a lot of pain and frustration. So the first thing is to make sure your hand is nice and relaxed.I think some people get the idea that the strings are set in motion by keeping a very rigid hand through the striking motion. Yet, the reality is the strings are set in motion not from a rigid hand, but from the momentum of the hand that's generated by the movement at the wrist. In essence here the striking finger is really just along for the ride as it moves through the string.Now you'll notice when I play my index finger actually sticks out a little bit. I'm actually striking the strings with my middle finger, so my index finger really isn't doing anything. But the reason it's out there is because that's simply the most relaxed position for my hand. If I were to try to bring it into a more claw-like posture, it would introduce tension into my hand, and I don't want muscle tension.So the point here is not that you should stick out your index finger like I do, but that you should be mindful of how your hand feels, and mindful of the position where it feels the most relaxed.

1.2 THE HAMMER AND THE STRUMOkay, so in clawhammer banjo almost all of the movement you’ll be making is going be at the wrist.And you can think of the wrist as having two primary degrees of freedom. You can either move it side to side, as you would if you’re shaking off some water from your fingers.Most of time, the movement you’ll be making is the hammering motion , or the up and down movement of the hand like you’re knocking on a door. Sometimes, clawhammer is also referred to as “knocking banjo”, or “rapping banjo”, for this reason. And the hammering motion is the motion you’ll be using to strike individual strings.If you’re strumming across multiple strings -- a technique many players use in their playing – then you’ll be moving your wrist in the side to side motion.Now, the question that inevitably arises at this point is: “what finger should I use to strike the strings with?” Clawhammer banjo players are divided equally in these camps. So about fifty percent use the index finger, about fifty percent use the middle finger, and about two percent use another appendage.Personally, I use my middle finger, just because that’s what I find more comfortable. And what I’d recommend you do when you’re first starting out is just experiment. If they feel equally comfortable, then maybe just choose your fate with a coin toss.

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1.3 TWO EXERCISESSo all I want you to do here is just practice the hammer motion on the first string.The first string is the one that’s closest to the floor, the fifth is the one closest to you. And just practice striking down in a hammering motion. Don’t worry here about being accurate. If you don’t just strike the first string, if you hit others, it doesn’t matter. If you miss, it doesn’t matter. Just practice getting the basic idea of the hammering motion down. And one of the things I want you to experiment with as you do this is how much force, or how little force, it actually takes to get a sound out of the string. You’ll probably be surprised at how little effort you have to exert to actually make a sound. And if you can start out with a light touch from the beginning, then it’ll make your life a lot easier down the road with this style.The second exercise that I want you do is to just practice the strumming technique with the hand, which is the side to side movement. Again, don’t worry too much about accuracy here.Okay, so those are the two exercises I want you to practice, the hammer and the strum, until you feel comfortable with it. I think that any time you’re learning a totally new technique or skill, that about fifteen to twenty minutes a day of dedicated and focused practice on it is really all you need to make progress.

1.4 KEY POINTS FROM VIDEO ONE1. The motion picking hand is the defining feature of clawhammer banjo.2. Virtually all of the movement of the picking hand occurs at the wrist, either in an up and down,

or hammering, motion, or in a side to side motion.3. The hammering motion is the one you’ll use to strike individual strings, the side to side motion

is the one you’ll use to strum across multiple strings.

2 LESSON 2: THE THUMB RESTMost of the movement that you’ll be making with your picking hand in clawhammer banjo is going to be at your wrist. And the main movement is an up and down, or knocking motion. That’s what you’ll be using to strike the individual strings like this.The second movement you’ll make is a side to side movement of the wrist , which is what you use to strum across multiple strings.

2.1 THE THUMB RESTOne of the signature features of the five string banjo is the short fifth string itself, and most of the time in five string banjo playing, that fifth string functions as a drone note. A drone note is simply a note that is continuously sounded in the background in a piece of music.I mentioned earlier that it’s important to always keeping our clawhammer motion going with our picking hand, but, in addition, we also need to make sure we’re always keeping this fifth string ringing as well. So how do we accomplish both those tasks? With the thumb rest, that’s how.So what’s the thumb rest? Each time you make the clawhammer motion with your wrist, whether it’s the up and down hammer motion, or the side to side strum, the flesh of your thumb comes to rest against the fifth string at the end of that movement . The easiest way to make sure you do this is to keep the thumb extended as you play.Here’s how your hand should look at the end of the initial clawhammer movement. Again, notice that the flesh of the thumb is pressed against the fifth string:

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Obrázek 2.1: PalecAs I said earlier, I think the thumb rest is really the key to making sure you maintain a continuous and fluid motion with your picking hand. It’s the glue that maintains the clawhammer stroke as an efficient and compact, two-step, motion.What often happens to beginners is they inadvertently break up the motion into three steps. They’ll strike with picking finger, and then they’ll try to find the fifth string with the thumb, and then move back to the starting position. This ends up making it hard for them to develop speed, and hard to maintain a steady rhythm throughout their playing. And as I said before, keeping a steady rhythm is vital to the sound of clawhammer banjo. And I think it’s this inadvertent failure to develop or learn the thumb rest that probably serves as the biggest impediment most folks face when learning clawhammer banjo.

2.2 PREPARING FOR LESSON 3So what I want you to do before the next lesson is to practice the thumb rest with both movements of the picking hand, making sure that the flesh of your thumb comes pressed up against the fifth string at the end of each movement. Once you get a little bit comfortable doing that, I want you to practice both of these along with the metronome.For these exercises, I want you to play one clawhammer stroke for every two clicks of the metronome, like this:

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICKSTRIKE STRIKE STRIKE

As you’re practicing the thumb rest start with the slowest metronome setting, which is 80 BPM, and practice both the hammer and the strum along with that one. As you get comfortable with it, move to the next fastest one, which would be 90 BPM, and continue to do that until you are able to play comfortably and in time using both the hammer and the strum at the 140 BPM metronome setting. Once you’re able to do that, you’re all set for the third lesson.

2.3 BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONI understand that playing along with the metronome like this may seem a little bit tedious, but as I mentioned before, I think that getting the thumb rest right is one of the most critical pieces early on when you’re learning this style. And I also said in the introductory video that a little bit of patience in the beginning as you’re learning clawhammer banjo is really going to pay off in the long run, which it most certainly will.

2.4 KEY POINTS FROM VIDEO TWO1. A smooth and steady clawhammer picking motion is critical for building speed and a solid

rhythm2. The thumb rest, where the flesh of the thumb comes to rest against the fifth string at the end

of the striking motion, is the key to keeping the clawhammer stroke efficient and compact.3. Practice the thumb rest with the hammer and the strumming motion, first on their own, then

along with the metronome.

3 LESSON 3: STRIKING SINGLE STRINGS3.1 3 GOALS

So in today's lesson, we're going to work on striking the individual strings with our picking finger. And we have three main goals to accomplish when learning this particular skill. We want to be able to:1. Pick each string cleanly2. Pick each string without looking at our hand.3. Modulate the amount of force we use when we strike the string, which will allow us to vary the

volume of our playing.Now, as you begin to work on the skill of striking single strings with your picking finger, you're undoubtedly going to be inaccurate at first. You're gonna miss the strings, you're gonna hit the

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wrong one, you're gonna hit multiple when you're trying to hit one. This happens to everybody when they first get started.

3.2 FRUSTRATION-FREE FRAILINGSo don't get frustrated. Remember that most of the changes that occur in the brain to support any new skill are going to happen when you're sleeping anyhow, based on what you've done the day prior. So, the real goal of a practice session is not to improve right then and there, but rather to give your brain the signal that you'd like it to change, and to tell it the way in which you’d like it to change - i.e. the skill that you want it to learn. So, if you put in a little bit of focused effort day in and day out, each day you’ll wake up a little bit better, and I think you'll probably surprise yourself at how quickly you're able to learn something that at first may seem impossible.To begin with, just try striking each individual string by itself - the first string, second string, third string, and fourth string - with your picking finger. Almost certainly, you're going to find that striking the first string is the easiest, simply because it only has one string next to it. And as you work on striking each individual string, there are a couple of things that I'd like for you to keep in mind.1) Start out with a very light touch, and then gradually increase the

amount of force you give to the string. As I said in an earlier video, you'll probably be surprised at just how little effort it takes to get a sound out of the string. If you're able to develop a light touch from the beginning it's going to make your life a lot easier down the road, particularly as you try to develop speed, and it also will allow you to vary the volume in the playing of any given tune.

2) As you get a little comfortable with this technique, start experimenting some with not looking at your picking finger when you play. Remember, ultimately we want to be able to strike the strings with our picking hand without having to look at it at all. It may seem somewhat counterintuitive, but you'll actually be able to develop accuracy more easily and more quickly if you don’t look at your hand than you will if you do. You don’t have to do this right away; however, over time as you get a little comfortable with it, start playing out around with not looking at your hand as you're trying to strike the individual strings, until you ultimately reach the point where you no longer have to at all.

It turns out that your brain is actually quite good at monitoring the position of your body, including the position of your hands, without any visual feedback whatsoever. And in fact these “body to brain” feedback loops operate a lot faster than the vision to brain loops do, which means they're a lot better suited to playing a musical instrument.The other thing that not looking helps with is in getting you in the habit of using your ears as your primary means of feedback, as opposed to your eyes. We're playing music, so we really want to judge how we're doing by what we hear, and not by what we see. And so starting to do this early on is a great habit to get into.So go ahead and practice a bit trying to strike each of the individual strings with your picking hand using the hammer motion. And don't forget about the thumb rest. - make sure that the flesh of the thumb ends up pressed against the fifth string at the end of the stroke.

3.2.1EXERCISE ONEIn this exercise we’ll strike each string four times, starting with the first string, progressing up towards the fourth string, and then back down towards the first string. And I once again recommend playing this along with the metronome.For these exercises, start with the lower metronome setting of 80 BPM, and then as you get comfortable playing along with that continue to move up by 10 BPMs until you can play comfortably at around the 100 or 110 BPM setting. I don’t think you need to be able to play these any faster than that to get to where you need to be at this point. Here’s the first exercise in tablature. Once again, play one stroke for every two clicks of the metronome:

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Obrázek 3.2

3.2.2EXERCISE TWOFor the second exercise, we're going to strike each individual string one time, starting with the first, and then moving back up to the fourth, and then back down to the first:

Obrázek 3.3

3.2.3EXERCISE THREEFor the third exercise, we're going to follow a pattern similar to exercise one, but instead after each hammer we're going to throw in a strum:

Obrázek 3.4

3.2.4EXERCISE FOURFor the last exercise, we’ll use a pattern similar to the second exercise, but once again insert a strum after every hammer.

Obrázek 3.5

4 LESSON 4: RINGING THE FIFTH4.1 DOUBLE DUTY

The short fifth string functions as a drone note in clawhammer banjo playing, meaning that it's a note that's continuously sounded in the background in our music. Yet, in order for us to continuously ring a drone note, our picking hand must engage in two simultaneous tasks.On the one hand, we have to pick out the melody note on the first through the fourth strings with our picking finger. And on the other hand, we have to keep ringing the fifth string with our thumb.

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4.2 PLUCKING AROUNDBefore you start picking the fifth string with your thumb in the context of the clawhammer stroke, first just practice plucking the fifth string with your thumb on its own. Press the pad of your thumb up against the fifth string and press forward until your thumb rolls off. Remember that your nail isn't involved at all in sounding the string.Practice plucking the fifth string a few times so you get the feel for it, and then move on to practicing it as part of the clawhammer stroke.Now we're going to do that same exact thing, except we're going to do it at the end of the hammer motion. To do so, just strike down on the first string using the hammer motion, have the flesh of your thumb come to rest against the fifth like we've worked on, and then pluck the fifth string with your thumb like you just did. It should almost feel as if you're squeezing the fifth string towards your palm as you pluck it.

4.3 AN ADDED BONUSOne of the neat things that happens here is that after you pluck the fifth, your hand is going to naturally recoil a little bit and come back towards the place where you started. So regardless of whether you decide to sound the fifth string or not after the thumb rest, your hand is basically doing the exact same thing. In essence, you're able to sound the fifth string with your thumb as an added bonus with the stroke.After practicing plucking the fifth string after the hammer stroke for a bit, try it with the strum.Strum across the strings, have the flesh of your thumb come to rest against the fifth, and then pluck the fifth again just as you've been doing.Practice both of those strokes a little bit, and once you've got the basic idea of it, move on to the following exercises, which I’d recommend practicing along with the metronome.

4.4 THE EXERCISESIn the exercises in this video as demonstrated, I’m playing one stroke per click of the metronome. In the previous videos, however, we’ve been playing one stroke per two clicks. This means that an eighty beats per minute setting will a good bit faster to you than it did in the other videos. I'd recommend that you for these exercises you start around the fifty beats per minute mark, and then increase by ten beats per minute until you can play along with the eighty beats per minute setting.

4.4.1SET ONEIn this first set of exercises, we'll play a hammer stroke, and then follow that with a hammer + thumb stroke. Do this first on first string, which in tab looks like this:Exercise 1.1

Obrázek 4.6Now, repeat that same pattern on the second string, then the third string, then the fourth string, as shown below:Exercise 1.2

Obrázek 4.7Exercise 1.3

Obrázek 4.8Exercise 1.4

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Obrázek 4.9

4.4.2SET TWOFor the next set of exercises we're going to again play a hammer on the first string, and then follow that with a strum + thumb stroke, as shown below:Exercise 2.1

Obrázek 4.10Once again, repeat this same pattern on the second string, then the third string, then the fourth string, as shown below:Exercise 2.2

Obrázek 4.11Exercise 2.3

Obrázek 4.12Exercise 2.4

Obrázek 4.13

4.4.3SET THREEFor the next exercise, we're going to use the same pattern that we did in the first set of exercises, but then we'll move it sequentially up the strings. So we're gonna start on the first string, play the hammer and hammer + thumb pattern four times, move to the second string, then the third string, then the fourth string. Here's what it looks like in tab:Exercise 3

Obrázek 4.14

4.4.4SET FOURIn the fourth exercise, we're going to be using the same pattern we did in the second exercise, the hammer followed by a strum thumb, and again take that pattern and move it from the first string, to the second string, third string, fourth string, just like we did in the last exercise. Here's what it looks like in tab:Exercise 4

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Obrázek 4.15

4.4.5SET FIVEFor the last exercise what we're going to do is follow every hammer stroke with a thumb, and we're gonna start by doing that on the first string. Here's what it looks like in tab:Exercise 5.1

Obrázek 4.16Once again just like in the first two sets of exercises, I'd recommend you do that same pattern on the second string, the third string, and the fourth string, like this:Exercise 5.2

Obrázek 4.17Exercise 5.3

Obrázek 4.18Exercise 5.4

Obrázek 4.19

5 LESSON 5: BASIC FRETTING AND PICKING PATTERNSI'd argue that the fretting hand is called upon to do more in clawhammer banjo than it is with your typical stringed instrument, and that's largely because of the clawhammer stroke itself.I've said before that one of the most important things to do when you're playing clawhammer banjo is to make sure you're always keeping that clawhammer motion going with your picking hand.But always remaining in that set pattern introduces a constraint. There will be times when you’d like to play a note with your picking hand, but that doing so would require you deviate from the pattern (which we don't want to do). So, the way you get those notes is oftentimes with the fretting hand.

5.1 TUNE EXERCISESThe tune we’ll be playing is “Skip to My Lou.” It's a fairly straightforward melody, and it lays out nicely on the banjo in standard G tuning.

5.2 THE BASIC MELODYHere it is in tablature (without any clawhammery stuff added to it):

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Obrázek 5.20I should mention here that when we're fretting notes, we also want to be efficient with the movement of our picking hand. This means that, whenever possible, we want to keep our fretting hand in one spot, and use different fingers to fret different note (rather than move our entire hand up and down the neck).

5.2.1Exercise 1For the first exercise, we're going to be playing the same melody from above, but we're going to be inserting a strum-thumb stroke after the melody notes. This is usually referred to as a "bum ditty" type of pattern (the “bum” referring to the note played by the fretting finger, and the “ditty” referring to the strum-thumb that follows):

Obrázek 5.21

5.2.2Exercise 2In this second exercise, we're going to again play the same melody, but we're going to be playing hammer-thumbs (instead of strum-thumbs) after the melody notes. This pattern makes for a sparser sounding arrangement than the one with the strum-thumbs:

Obrázek 5.22

5.2.3Exercise 3For the third exercise, we're again going to be playing the same melody, but this time we’re adding a thumb stroke after every downstroke with our picking finger. This gives it somewhat of a staccato, machine gun, type of sound, and is oftentimes referred to as a "ditty ditty" pattern:

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Obrázek 5.23

6 LESSON 6: HAMMERING ON6.1 THE HAMMER ON

6.1.1Hammering on the Same StringIf I strike the open 4th string with my picking finger, and then hammer onto the 4th string at the second fret with the middle finger of my fretting hand, I've used my fretting finger to change that note from a D to an E.So go ahead and give that a try on each of the strings. Try playing the open 4th and then, while the string is still sounding that note, fret the string at the 2nd fret with the middle finger of your fretting hand. Then try doing the same on the 3rd string - play it open and then hammer onto the 2nd fret with your middle finger. Then try playing the open 2nd, and then hammer onto the 1st fret with your index finger. Then play the open first, hammering on again at the 2nd fret with your middle finger.

6.1.2Hammering onto a Different String (alternate string hammerons)One of the cool things you can do with hammer ons, which works particularly well on the banjo, is to strike a note with your picking finger, and then hammer onto a different string with your fretting hand. This is often referred to as an "alternate string hammer on".For example, I can strike the open 2nd string with my picking finger and then hammer onto the 3rd

string at the second fret. Once again, the string I'm hammering onto with my fretting hand is different than the one I just struck with my picking hand (though the technique is the same).So now give this try. Try striking the open 2nd string, then hammer onto the 3rd string second fret. Then strike the open 3rd, and then hammer onto the 4th string second fret.

6.1.3Exercise OneIn tablature, a hammer on onto a string you’ve just struck is typically represented with an arc joining the two notes together, with a capital “H” over the top (standing for “hammer”). An alternate string hammer on, on the other hand, is represented by a number underneath the tablature, which refers to the finger of my fretting hand I usually use to execute the hammer on.For example, in the fourth measure of the example below there’s a “2” underneath the tab. Here, I’m striking the open 2nd string with my picking finger, and then hammering onto the 3rd string (at the 2nd fret) with my 2nd finger (a.k.a my middle finger; 1=index, 2=middle, 3=ring, 4=pinky).

Obrázek 6.24

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6.1.4Exercise TwoIn this last exercise, we'll be playing the A part of the tune "Turkey in the Straw." It's a very "notey" tune, and I've chosen it because it's one of those tunes where the use of hammer ons allows us to play more melody notes than we would be able to if we were just to use the picking finger of our picking hand. So this exercise gives a nice illustration of what this technique allows you to do.Here’s the tab:

Obrázek 6.25Practice it along with the metronome starting with perhaps the 40 bpm setting and then slowly working your way up from there.

7 LESSON 7: PLUCK OFFFretting hand techniques that allow us to steal extran notes from the banjo without breaking the clawhammer motion. Last time it was the hammer on, this time…the pull off.

7.1 THE PULL OFFWhat you're really doing here is plucking the string with your fretting finger - instead of your picking finger - to play a note.So, before you go any further, go ahead and just try plucking the first string with the index finger of your fretting hand. Try to do it so you get a clear note that rings out. Then try that same thing using your middle and ring finger.

7.1.1Plucking Off on the Same StringNow, just as we did with the hammer on, the first thing we're going to learn is pulling off on a string we've just struck with our picking finger. For example, if I fret the first string at the second fret with my middle finger, then strike that string with my fretting hand, and then pull off the string after¨ I've struck it, what I've done here is used my fretting hand to change the note from an E to a D.So now go ahead and practice pulling - or plucking - off the 1st string at the 2nd fret with your middle finger after you strike it with your picking finger. Then try the same thing at the first fret of the second string using your index for the pull off. Then try a pull off on the third string, second fret with your middle finger. And lastly, try pulling off the fourth string, second fret with your middle finger.

7.1.2Pulling Off onto a Different String (alternate string pull offs)Just as was the case with the hammer on, one of the cool things we can do with this technique is pull off a string other than the one we've just struck with our picking finger. The technique here is the same as pulling off the same string in that we’re just plucking a string with a fretting finger - the only difference being we’re doing this on a string other than the one we just struck with our picking finger. And what this allows us to do is play another note without having to break the clawhammer motion.One more important thing to note here is that it actually doesn't matter where on the fretboard you pluck off the string. Regardless of whether you pull off up towards the peghead or way down by the banjo head, the note you play will be the same.So go ahead and give that a try. Strike the second string open with your picking finger, then pull off the first string with your index after doing so. Give this pull off a try with

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your middle and ring finger as well. You may ultimately find one finger feels more comfortable for these pull offs, and might become your “go to” finger for this technique in the future.7.1.3Exercise OneIn this first exercise, we're going to use a little picking pattern to work on these two pull off techniques. You'll note here in the tab that, similar to the hammer on, a pull off is represented by an arc joining the string you strike with your picking finger to the note you pull off to with your fretting finger, with the letters "PO" over it to signify a pull off.Alternate string pull offs are denoted by a number underneath the tab, which refers to the fretting hand finger I typically use to execute the pull off. So you'll see there's a "2" underneath the tab in measures 3 and 4, indicating that I'm pulling of the first string in each of those spots using my 2nd, or middle, finger.The tuning for this exercise is standard G (gDGBD).

Obrázek 7.26Once again, I’d encourage you to practice these exercises along with the metronome. Start out at the slowest setting and only move to faster speeds once you can comfortably play along with the one you’re on.

7.1.4Exercise TwoSo in last week's second exercise, we played the A part of the tune “Turkey in the Straw”. Naturally, I thought it fitting we conclude this video with the B part, which, as it turns out, also provides a good workout for our pull offs. Just like the hammer ons did for the A part, the pull offs here allow us to get melody notes in this tune that we wouldn't have otherwise been able to get without breaking our clawhammer motion. Once again, you may find this a little challenging right now, and that's perfectly fine. Just use it as motivation to push yourself to get better.

Obrázek 7.27You’ll note in this tab in measures 3 and 4 that there are spots where the number “5” is on strings 1, 2, and 3. Here, you’re executing a brush stroke, and you do so while laying your index finger of your fretting hand across the strings at the fifth fret (so that you’re simultaneously fretting all 3

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strings and the 5th fret). This is referred to as a “bar” position for the fretting hand (the finger is functioning as a “bar” over the strings).

8 LESSON 8: SLIDING INTO HOMEThe last of what I consider the fundamental fretting hand techniques....the slide. The slide is a common device used by clawhammer banjoists. As you’ll discover, it's another great tool for adding another layer of interest to your music, and they’re not too difficult to learn!With the slide, as with the hammer on and pull off, you're once again using your fretting hand to produce a new note. In the case of the slide, as with those other two, you're changing a note that was struck by your picking hand to a new note; however, in this case, you're also sounding all the notes in between on your way there.In my opinion, the slide allows you to better mimic what we oftentimes do with our voice when we move from one note to the next. We don't typically move discreetly, but rather we tend to “slide” up from the first note to the second. I'll cover this again in a bit.So, to execute the slide, your start with the fretting finger on the starting note, then strike the string with your picking finger, then, while still holding the string down with your fretting finger, move to the new note. Try doing this first on the 3rd string. Start by fretting it with your middle finger at the 2nd fret. Then strike the middle string with your middle finger, and after you’ve struck it, slide your fretting finger from the 2nd fret to the 4th fret (holding the string down with your fretting finger the entire time). This slide on the 3rd string from the 2nd to 4th fret is probably by far the one used most in clawhammer banjo.After getting comfortable with that slide, trying sliding on the 4th string from the 4th to the 5th fret, again fretting with your middle finger. And, lastly, try sliding on the 2nd string from the 2nd fret to the 3rd fret.Exercise OneYou'll note here in the tab that slides are represented in the tab with a line joining the note you start the slide on with the note you end on, with the letters “Sl” over it.The tuning for this exercise is standard G (gDGBD).

Obrázek 8.28

Practice these exercises along with the metronome. Start out at the slowest setting and only move to faster speeds once you can comfortably play along with the one you’re on.8.1.1Exercise TwoNow we're gonna work on slides in the context of a tune, specifically the A part of the song “Bile Dem Cabbage Down”. Here, you’ll note that the slide on the 3rd string helps us to better capture how we’d sing this song with our voice.

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Obrázek 8.29***

Great First Clawhammer SongsDear fellow fan of the five-string,The following clawhammer banjo tabs are intended to serve as an extension of the “Clawhammer Banjo in 8 Essential Steps” course.These arrangements, only utilize the techniques covered in the series, and are tailored specifically for those who are still fairly new to the clawhammer style.All of the tunes here have very strong melodies, and sound great in standard G tuning (gDGBD) on the banjo, making them great first tunes.All of these tunes also have words, and this is deliberate (záměrný), as learning the words can really enhance the learning process.I encourage you to listen to the video demonstrations of each of these before getting started (at clawhammerbanjo.net/firstsongs – seznam je třeba rozbalit),

and get to where you can either hum (pobrukovat) or sing the melody, even if it’s just in your own head (I’ve included the words to help encourage you).Lastly, don’t fall into the common trap of thinking that simpler arrangements are necessarily inferior.Remember, the simplest arrangement of a great melody played with good technique and timing will always sound far better than a complicated one played sloppily (nedbale). I promise that if you play these arrangements well, peoples’ ears will perk up (zvednout náladu).

9 BILE DEM CABBAGE DOWN

VERSEWent up on the mountain; Just to give my horn a blow

Thought I heard my true love say; Yonder comes my beau

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CHORUSBile dem dabbage down, down; Bake them Hoe Cakes Brown, Brown,

The only song that I can sing is; Bile dem cabbage down.

10BURY ME BENEATH THE WILLOW

VERSE (same melody as chorus)She told me that she dearly loved me; How could I believe it untrue

Until the angels softly whispered; She will prove untrue to youCHORUSBury me beneath the willow; Under the weeping willow tree,

So she may know where I am sleeping; And, perhaps she’ll wait for me.

11 CRIPPLE CREEK

VERSEI got a gal at the head of the creek; Goin up t' see her 'bout the middle of the week,Kiss her on the mouth, just as sweet as any wine;Wraps herself around me like a sweet potato vine.CHORUSGoin' up Cripple Creek goin' in a run; Goin' up Cripple Creek to have a little fun.Goin’ up Cripple Creek goin’ in a whirl; Goin’ up Cripple Creek to see my girl

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12DARLING NELLIE GRAY

VERSEThere's a low green valley on the old Kentucky shore

There I whiled many happy hours awayA sitting and a singing by the little cottage door

Where lived my darling Nelly GrayCHORUSOh my poor Nelly Gray, they have taken you away

And I'll never see my darling any moreI am sitting by the river and I'm weeping all the day

For you've gone from the old Kentucky shoreAdditional Verses:When the moon had climbed the mountain and the stars were shining too

Then I'd take my darling Nelly GrayAnd we'd float down the river in my little red canoe

While my banjo sweetly I would playOne night I went to see her but she's gone, the neighbors say

The white man bound her with his chainThey have taken her to Georgia for to wear her life away

As she toils in the cotton and the caneMy canoe is underwater and my banjo is unstrung

I'm tired of living any moreMy eyes shall look downward and my songs shall be unsung

While I stay on the old Kentucky shore

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13LONG JOURNEY HOME

Lost all my money but a two dollar bill; Two dollar bill boys, two dollar billLost all my money but a two dollar bill; I'm on my long journey home

14WORRIED MAN BLUES

It takes a worried man to sing a worried song; It takes a worried man tossing a worried song,

I'm worried now but I won't be worried long!

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15WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN

VERSE (melody same as chorus):I was standing by my window; On one cold and cloudy day

And I saw the hearse come rolling; For to carry my mother awayCHORUSWill the circle be unbroken; Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye

There's a better home a-waiting; In the sky, Lord, in the skyAdditional Verses:Oh, I told the undertaker; Undertaker, please drive slow;

For this body you are hauling; How I hate to see her goI followed close beside her; Tried to hold up and be brave

But I could not hide my sorrow; When they laid her in the grave

16YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE

VERSE (melody same as Chorus):The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping; I dreamt I held you in my armsWhen I awoke, dear, I was mistaken; So I hung my head, and I criedCHORUSYou are my sunshine, my only sunshine; You make me happy when skies are greyYou never know, dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away ***

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