Banjo75 - Posted - 09/28/2008:  17:01:08

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After a week of picking up the banjo and staring blankly at Pete Seeger's book "How to Play the 5 String Banjo" and going pick, pluck, pick, pluck, pick, pluck, twerrang....

the most wonderful sound erupted from my fingers... bum di-tty, bum di-tty, bum di-tty... MAGIC!!!!

Now, if Pete will just show me a few more chords than F, C, and G7, I would be good to go!

I can't even voice how happy I am at this moment.



This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.
Playing folk on my banjo since 2008.

slabounty - Posted - 09/28/2008:  17:06:11

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Glad to hear you're enjoying it. There's a big old world of clawhammer out there. You might want to also check out some other material out there including Dan Levenson's and for free Old Woodchuck's. Both are here on the Hangout.



Scott LaBounty
Orange, CA

pernicketylad - Posted - 09/28/2008:  17:18:41

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Hee-hee....another one bites the dust!
It's a long road with no turning!

There are three types of people in the world.....those who can count and those who can''t!

Banjo75 - Posted - 09/28/2008:  17:23:32

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This website has been a huge help. I've been listening to some of the forum members clawhammer pickin' and that was extremely helpful. As silly as this sounds, to hear people who aren't professional musician's clawhammer helped me break it down and understand it. This website is an amazing wealth of knowledge.

woo-hoo... off to practice for a final hour before the neighbors kids go to bed. (I live in a townhouse condo with shared outer walls)

This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.
Playing folk on my banjo since 2008.

Banjo75 - Posted - 09/28/2008:  17:35:37

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the funny thing is at the start of this I was like why do all those people need fingerpicks. I mean my god... don't their hands toughen up....

er, so how much do those things cost? My fingers are gettin' pretty beat up!


This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.
Playing folk on my banjo since 2008.

mrphysics55 - Posted - 09/28/2008:  18:08:15

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Welcome to the ClawHammer!

MrP



Do you need a Fiddle Player to Practice With 24/7? Go To http://www.fiddletunes.net

brokenstrings - Posted - 09/28/2008:  19:29:44

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That's bum dit-ty, divided exactly in the middle. Most clawhammerers don't use picks, and if they do, it may not be the same kind that bluegrassers use. Check in the advice cols. at the top of the Forums page for more advice. And welcome!

Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

bluemule_77 - Posted - 09/28/2008:  21:45:06

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quote:

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Originally posted by brokenstrings

That's bum dit-ty, divided exactly in the middle.
Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

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A syllable is a syllable. I have yet to hear a banjo up and say "bum ditty" or anything remotely resembling that anyway. Call it "plink putty" or "whang doodle," if you wish, but mostly, play the banjer and forget about irrelevant nonsense like where to split the syllables in a written form of an onomotapaeic representation of that particular rhythmic pattern.

Sheesh.

BM

ZenPickin - Posted - 09/29/2008:  03:06:20

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Welcome to clawhammer world! Yep, this site is a wealth of info and help.

Congratulations on your first bum ditty!

chip arnold - Posted - 09/29/2008:  05:04:49

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Brokenstrings has a point. Just looking at the word "bumditty" as a description of a rhythm pattern makes it look like 3 equally spaced beats. Bum dit-ty is even more confusing. Jessy was just clarifying that the bumditty pattern gets as much time value on the bum as it does on the whole ditty. Important since readng or being told about the bum ditty (or whang doodle) doesn't always make that clear. I've encountered more than one beginner, not used to clawhammer banjo rhythms, who has counted it out like a waltz.

**********************
Take what is given
Give what is taken

Chip Arnold

Helix - Posted - 09/29/2008:  05:15:39

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For goodness sake, don't confuse the guy,he just did the neatest thing, he taught himself.
THAT'S fantastic, way to go.

It's Boom Rest Did He! But he's already got it don't you think? He said so.

It's so much fun to see a new player emerge.

By the way 'professional' musicians sometimes get their butts kicked by unknowns who live and work and play around the homestead. Some play awful and some play awful good.


(_)====''===::}

chip arnold - Posted - 09/29/2008:  05:16:12

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Banjo75, I'm guessing that since you're learning a bum-ditty stroke from Seeger's book, you're probably picking UP on the bum, brushing DOWN on the dit and then hitting the 5th string with your thumb. This is a valid old time style still played by a lot of people including some here on the Hangout. But it's not really clawhammer style. Some will argue that it's a varient of clawhammer. But the foundation of clawhammer is ALL downstrokes. The fact that you're wearing out your finger tips makes me think you're up-picking, not down-picking. If you're wanting clawhammer information, have a look at the sources provided by slabounty above. Don Zepp's "clearhead" videos will give you a great, free visual. http://zeppcountrymusic.com/frameset.htm

**********************
Take what is given
Give what is taken

Chip Arnold

chip arnold - Posted - 09/29/2008:  05:28:53

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Whoops! If I've confused you I didn't mean to. I remember very well how I felt the first time I did something that sounded like music on the banjo. I didn't do clawhammer and still don't. There are many valid Old Time styles. And we can invent our own too if we want. I really am happy for you and I sure don't want to be a stumbling block by confusing you. Disregard all I posted if it's not helpful.

**********************
Take what is given
Give what is taken

Chip Arnold

g-hog - Posted - 09/29/2008:  05:50:54

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Congratulations on your first bum-ditty! And, as someone else said, Welcome to the Wonderful World of Clawhammer; there's no way back out now that you've stepped inside... and, stepped inside of WHAT, exactly?

Well, the more you read on these posts, the more you see what kinda world you HAVE stepped into... no turning back, but, given time, your concept of Bum-ditty, or whatever it is banjos say when we play, will evolve, change, you will hear something different and then re-learn, and think of it differently... and in time you will end up either playing 15 kinds of bum-ditty alone, or settling into one pattern that just lives in your soul and so you put the blinders on.

It's a big world, clawhammer, and you'll find many roads and paths to follow or ignore... just stick with it, enjoy it, and let your heart find its way!

vernob - Posted - 09/29/2008:  06:30:30

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I knew a guy who played three finger style with finger picks on and could play the rhythm of down picking so that it sounded a lot like clawhammer. It amazed me. I couldn't do it. I also could not understand why anyone would want to do it that way. I'm sure there are banjo players that use all manner of variations, some would call wrong, and still get music out of the thing.

Bruce Vernon

"A gentleman is a man who knows how to play the banjo, but chooses not to." - Mark Twain

"Don''t worry about mistakes. There aren''t any." - Miles Davis

Banjo75 - Posted - 10/01/2008:  03:13:11

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I finally got some time away from work to respond. I am playing the hybrid sorta Pete Seeger version of the clawhammer and intend to stick with that. Pete got me into the banjo when I spoke with him at the Clearwater a few years back. It only took 3 years to act on this urge. HA!

But yeah, Pete Seeger style. Up-pick on the bum, brush on the dit (appraently it has to break here) and then thumb on the remaining -ty. I am now getting to play songs in the appropriate rhythm, etc. This land is your land is a big one for me right now. I am still in the C tuning but with David Holt's video have done a few things with a G-tuning. I kinda prefer C but I like being able to strum the open strings with G. I hope to be able to switch between both in time. I need a banjo capo. I need an open back banjo. I need more time to play!

This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.
Playing folk on my banjo since 2008.

Jim Yates - Posted - 10/01/2008:  09:55:07

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Pete played a lot of clawhammer style as well as up-picking as anyone who's seen his old Rainbow Quest shows will know. In a Johnny Appleseed Jr. column in Sing Out! some years back he said that if he were to rewrite the old red book that so many of us learned from he'd start out teaching down-picking.

Jim
www.myspace.com/jimyates
www.myspace.com/kirbyandyates
www.myspace.com/kirbyyatesmazurek

Banjo75 - Posted - 10/01/2008:  15:01:00

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he also mentioned starting in the key of G tuning... GRRRR!!!

I am learning that now.

This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.
Playing folk on my banjo since 2008.

banjo_brad - Posted - 10/01/2008:  16:53:28

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Sounds like you're into more of the "folk music" scene than the old time scene.

If so, you might like to check out some of Patrick Costello's stuff. I don't have any links, but I think if you search for "How and Tao of Old Time Banjo" you'll find his stuff.


Brad
------------------
www.PricklyPearMusic.net
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/5/ My ezFolk page
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/3371/ Tucson Old Time Music Circle page on ezFolk
http://www.totmc.org Tucson Old Time Music Circle Homepage

brokenstrings - Posted - 10/01/2008:  18:58:50

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quote:

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Originally posted by Jim Yates

Pete played a lot of clawhammer style as well as up-picking as anyone who's seen his old Rainbow Quest shows will know. In a Johnny Appleseed Jr. column in Sing Out! some years back he said that if he were to rewrite the old red book that so many of us learned from he'd start out teaching down-picking.

Jim
www.myspace.com/jimyates
www.myspace.com/kirbyandyates
www.myspace.com/kirbyyatesmazurek

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That old red book was green by the time I got a copy. Seems to me it has a chord chart in back too. But, lissen, Banjo75, there's a neat little Banjo Case Chord Book, a slim little book that gives you the chords in various tunings.

Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

fernando - Posted - 10/02/2008:  01:07:45

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I'd thought I recommend Patrick Costello tuition stuff half way down the posts column, then I saw Banjo Brad's Post, so I print some links. Do check it out, he started many of us on the banjo .

His blog:
http://tangiersound.wordpress.com/
and some of his books:
http://www.archive.org/details/TheH...OldTimeBanjo
http://www.archive.org/details/ABookOfFiveStrings
and you tube tuition videos,
http://uk.youtube.com/user/Dobro33H

Jim Yates - Posted - 10/02/2008:  08:46:51

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quote:

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That old red book was green by the time I got a copy. Seems to me it has a chord chart in back too. But, lissen, Banjo75, there's a neat little Banjo Case Chord Book, a slim little book that gives you the chords in various tunings.

Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

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...and it was probably white before I got my first copy. Wonder what colour it is these days Jessy.

Jim
www.myspace.com/jimyates
www.myspace.com/kirbyandyates
www.myspace.com/kirbyyatesmazurek

banjo_brad - Posted - 10/02/2008:  11:05:39

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My copy is blue - 3rd edition Revised, 2002.

The chord chart is still there, for standard C tuning.

Brad
------------------
www.PricklyPearMusic.net
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/5/ My ezFolk page
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/3371/ Tucson Old Time Music Circle page on ezFolk
http://www.totmc.org Tucson Old Time Music Circle Homepage