domjohnson - Posted - 09/01/2012:  10:54:00

I was wondering whether anyone could tell me whether its clawhammer or normal picking (2 finger/3 finger) on City of Refuge? I reckon its probably clawhammer, but not entirely sure...

youtube.com/watch?v=YOxkdM3M-tA

TommyL - Posted - 09/01/2012:  10:56:36

Here is her actually playing the song.

youtube.com/watch?v=RJ78PcrLmII

Jason Wilkerson - Posted - 09/01/2012:  10:58:02

Clawhammer (very good clawhammer, by the way). You can see it clearly in this video

youtube.com/watch?v=RJ78PcrLmI...e=related

(looks like we were posting at the same time, TommyL)

Edited by - Jason Wilkerson on 09/01/2012 10:59:57

Roosterick - Posted - 09/01/2012:  12:52:53

Here's a nice live acoustic solo version.

dbrooks - Posted - 09/01/2012:  13:44:25

Roosterisk's link is to an NPR radio station here in Louisville. Abigail has come to Louisville several times and put on some great shows - with Ben Sollee, with the Sparrow Quartet and lately with Kai Welch. I used that video to create a tab for "City of Refuge" and posted a year or so ago. Here's a copy.

David Brooks

Clawhammer tab eBooks for Kindle

amazon.com/author/dbrooks

 

City of Refuge - Abigail Washburn

dmar57 - Posted - 09/01/2012:  23:16:19

It is round peak "hop high my lulu gal" style.

Edited by - dmar57 on 09/01/2012 23:27:29

drifter - Posted - 09/02/2012:  01:02:32

I notice that she plays on the fingerboard rather than over the head.  I have seen that quite a numbers of players use this position.  In fact some banjos are specifically designed to accommodate this style. I suppose this avoids hitting the head when playing but wonder what the other benefits are?

cookge - Posted - 09/02/2012:  01:38:14

Hi drifter. Playing over the head softens and mellows the tone of the banjo, the strings also feel different there. Also the " cluck " effect is best played in this area. There is lots about playing over the neck, scoops and clucking in the archives. In my opinion it's an area to experiment with, enjoy and find your own way. Good luck!

George

drifter - Posted - 09/03/2012:  12:48:39

quote:

---

Originally posted by cookge

Hi drifter. Playing over the head softens and mellows the tone of the banjo, the strings also feel different there. Also the " cluck " effect is best played in this area. There is lots about playing over the neck, scoops and clucking in the archives. In my opinion it's an area to experiment with, enjoy and find your own way. Good luck!

George

---

I had to look up "Cluck" to see what it was about!  Never heard of it before,  I tried playing a few tunes over the neck but although I liked the sound I found that I could not get under the strings to pluck properly with my thumb.  I suppose that is why they scoop out the neck,  If I ever get a new banjo I might get one with a scoop. 

chadp - Posted - 09/05/2012:  19:15:06

getting your thumb to hit the fifth string over the neck was really awkward for me at first, but you just have to practice and train your thumb to strike it a little differently. you'll get used to it.

magnuscanis - Posted - 09/06/2012:  01:56:38

quote:

---

Originally posted by domjohnson

I was wondering whether anyone could tell me whether its clawhammer or normal picking (2 finger/3 finger) on City of Refuge? I reckon its probably clawhammer, but not entirely sure...

 

youtube.com/watch?v=YOxkdM3M-tA

---

There's plenty of clawhammer banjo players who would probably dispute the contrast between clawhammer and "normal" picking, since clawhammer is a sufficiently established style (or perhaps, family of styles) to not be regarded as abnormal.

A better term for the non-clawhammer styles you refer to would be up-picking.

saw119 - Posted - 09/06/2012:  05:48:24

I recently saw Abigail play at Shrewsbury Folk Festival here in England and her playing was simply sublime. On one particular song her cluck was so fantastic it brought tears to my eyes, plus I was really, really jealous.

asphillips - Posted - 09/06/2012:  09:30:09

saw119, I was at the same festival, I agree, she was absolutely incredible. I was lucky enough to get her to sign my banjo and show me a few things after her set on Sunday,  did you catch Old Man Luedecke by any chance?

saw119 - Posted - 09/07/2012:  10:22:25

I did indeed catch Old Man Luedecke and I thought that he was terrific as well.

oldwolf - Posted - 09/11/2012:  10:15:26

Does anyone know what tunings she is using? I know she plays a cello banjo too, but I'm more interested in her tunings for her regular banjos.
Gene Warner

dbrooks - Posted - 09/11/2012:  16:07:50

I have atabbed a few of her tunes, and she uses most of the common tunings: G (gDGBD), double C (gCGCD), and sawmill (gDGCD). She may use a capo on some of these to change the key. The only unusual tuning that I have seen is for "City of Refuge" where she uses fDF#AD capoed at the 3rd fret for the key of F with the resulting strings at fFACF. No doubt there may be other tunes that I haven't come across with peculiar tunings.

David

csbdr - Posted - 09/12/2012:  10:59:03

I did notice looking at that tab that she seems to be using strings of ASPO's rather than brush strokes. Thanks for the tab, though....good starting place ; )