I dont know what style you would call it, but lately I have been just playing and trying to immulate the sound of clawhammer banjo with a flat pick to get the melody notes and then strumming the chords in between beats on just simple folk songs...probably blasphemy to the banjo world, but I am having fun trying it out. I have played Scruggs style for 25 to 30 years off and on, and while I enjoy that style, sometimes to my ear it is a little "busy". So between the frustration of trying to learn clawhammer, I decided to do some experimenting and drawing from my 55 years experience on the guitar, have been messing around with this "style"....others tell me it sounds fine, but I dont know how to put a sample out here for you to critique, and am not sure its necessary anyway, but am curious if others do something similar to this. I am having fun with it, so I guess thats really all that matters.
I know several people who play Plectrum and or Tenor banjos strummed with a flatpick in a style similar to Carter Style guitar strumming with melody notes in between chordal strums. It makes an effective and simple method to create a fairly full sound and does sound somewhat similar to clawhammer if you do a down/up strum. As for 5 string banjos, I feel the 5th string gets in the way when strummed with a pick but that is only my opinion.
On the other hand why not learn to play clawhammer? The Patrick Costello books are available for free download and might be just the thing for the kind of tunes you are talking about.
Yes I have seen Cynthia play at the banjo festival in Guthrie..she is amazing ! Yes you are right about the 5th string, so I just tune it down so low it doesnt sound as I strum. I guess what I am doing
is really called Chicago tuned banjo, but rather than playing it in a strict 4 string style as Eddy Peabody, I just play it more folky. I guess I just dont want to take the time to learn clawhammer style...I play the pedal steel guitar and the non pedal steel and play Chet style guitar, and work daily on those (have for over 40 years) so just not interested in clawhammer per se.
Nobody remembers, but the banjo player for the Smothers Brothers, played 5-string with a flat pick, he played scruggs that way, he played everything there was, who was he?
Well...there was a VERY famous strummer who played with great character.....TAYLOR SWIFT! We all at BHO commented on her great playing abilities when she first burst upon the scene. .....Just joking! I believe as mentioned above that strumming could be a way that you really understand the fret board. And, not only that, it will give give you confidence in play a few songs. Confidence is one of the greatest tools in your quiver. It will help you achieve other goals in your banjo playing. AND you will in turn have a lot of fun in this journey!!!!!!!! I really wish you the best in playing the banjo. The sound of a banjo is unique as it is addictive. You will hit walls they may detour you, but, that is what we ALL experience. That's part of the journey of fun! Keep clawing and picking and focus on having the time of your life! Playing the banjo is special...........!!!!!!!!!! Good luck and most of all HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!
My first banjo was a 5 string which I played with a plectrum, in fact I used it just like I use a guitar, to accompany myself singing. I got it in about 1975, when I was 25 years old, and my intention was to use it for Irish songs and tunes. At that time the only banjo players I'd seen on TV were Pete Seeger, Tommy Makem and Luke Kelly. They all played 5 string, so that's what I got. I'd heard Foggy Mountain Breakdown of course - loved the Bonnie & Clyde movie, but I never had any interest in learning to play Bluegrass. When I tried to learn a couple of Irish tunes, I discovered I'd got the wrong instrument (Tom Hannaway would have a different take on that!) so I tootled about with Tenor banjos and mandolins too. Now aged 66 I've finally started to take an interest in Bluegrass style and do a little bit of practice with thumbpick and 2 fingerpicks, but my natural inclination is to still use a plectrum on 5 string. I always learned just enough techniques to get me through on various instruments - spent my working life as a chef and I was studying soups, sauces, pastry and suchlike, so the music was an enjoyable hobby. I eventually started getting bookings as a semi- pro entertainer and found chef jobs where I didn't have to work nights. Now I was building up a repertoire of country and oldie material and getting to familiarise myself with electric guitar,(got my first electric guitar when I was 40, first fiddle then too) drum machine, backing tracks, effects pedals, still kept on playing 5 string with a plec. Now I'm retired I've got a bit of time to spare, so I'm trying to get familiar with the picks! Also trying to learn Traditional Irish dance music on fiddle. Songs are relatively easily picked up, but reels, jigs, highlands and such like are a tougher proposition!
Nobody remembers, but the banjo player for the Smothers Brothers, played 5-string with a flat pick, he played scruggs that way, he played everything there was, who was he?
Some 5 string players use a flatpick and get incredible speed and accuracy... I played a 6 string banjo for a couple of years cross-pick style and one can become quite adept at the flat-pick technique, even mimicking the 5 string sound...
I play with a guy who also plays banjo (in addition to guitar), and we wanted to play In The Summertime (Mongo Jerry) using two banjos. Never sounded right till he just decided to try using a flat pick and hard strumming. Fit the song perfectly! He hasn't used the flat pick since then, but at least we know that we can get that washboard sound if we need to.
I think it makes a lot of sense to play with a flatpick, actually. I strum a lot, but I usually just use my bare hand (fingernails for downstroke, thumb for upstroke). But that bare-hand rhythm is hard for some people to follow (again, not talking about clawhammer, just a strum), and you don't get to pick out the individual notes. I've thought about trying to switch to a flatpick for that kind of playing, but it's a little too brash of a sound for my taste. But a soft pick and/or a more deft hand probably could improve that.
For singing and playing, I think it's a good approach for sure. Keep it up. I'm surprised more people don't do it.
While I don't normally play banjo with a flat pick, when I play with The Maple Leaf Champions Jug Band, I will often use a flat pick to get a tenor banjo sound, as did both Bill Keith and Bob Siggens when they played with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band.
Hey there is nothing wrong about using a pick on a 5 string banjo.I use it sometimes too. I think the banjo player of trampled by turtles uses a pick to play his banjo.I don't know if you immulate clawhammer with a pick,but I know it is a great way to fake bluegrass Scruggs style banjo.
Well, I finally bought a banjo (Deering Goodtime) on Friday. I'm really enjoying it! More to the point, I enjoy playing it with a flatpick (a Dunlop Jazz III) to be precise. It sounds great, chords, lines, double stops, arpeggios, with or without droning the fifth string. Hybrid "pick and fingers" style, a common guitar technique, also works very well.
I wanted to add my two cents to this topic because I've seen some really strong opinions researching things, to the effect that you shouldn't use a flatpick on a five string, just get fingerpicks and learn some rolls and do "Cripple Creek," the five-string banjo doesn't sound like a banjo unless it's played either Scruggs-style or claw hammer, etc. In a way, that's discouraging to read; it's kind of intimidating. But I'm going to press on and embrace the heresy of five-string flatpicking. I may never play "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," and certainly not correctly. I may never fit in at jams and festivals. But I'm going to enjoy playing!
In about 20 minutes, I'll be starting my weekly musical wallpaper gig: Two hours of jazz inflected improv at a Manhattan coffee house. Today is different, because I'm playing banjo and not guitar. I've had the banjo a week. I've played guitar 33 years... Flatpicked 5-string is actually fun. I'll see how the regular crowd here takes to hearing it; post gig report (and a clip I hope) coming soon.
Count me in. I'm a long time plectrum player who also own a five string. As you might have guessed, I do sometimes take the 5th string down to play plectrum style. (I've been know to noodle around in the bluegrass genre too.) Then in the past, if someone really wanted to hear a bluegrass piece, I could give them a short history lesson while I just repositioned the 5th string, tune it up and put on finger picks. Generally, I just have it very lose and off the fret board, unless I wanted to take a five string to a traditional jazz jam session. Then I just pull the 5th peg off the neck entirely, so it was functionally a plectrum banjo at that point. BTW, thanks for listening to my variation on Perry Bechtel's Donkey Serenade. I'm glad you liked it. I've posted a lot of plectrum stuff. I'll look forward to your post of some music in the near future.
I used to flatpick some on my Reiter Whyte Laydie. When RA messed up my hands I went to the GoldTone BT-2000 6 str. Had to create a thumb pick to use as a flatpick due to lack of strength and fine motor control in my hands.
Well...there was a VERY famous strummer who played with great character.....TAYLOR SWIFT! We all at BHO commented on her great playing abilities when she first burst upon the scene. .....Just joking! I believe as mentioned above that strumming could be a way that you really understand the fret board. And, not only that, it will give give you confidence in play a few songs. Confidence is one of the greatest tools in your quiver. It will help you achieve other goals in your banjo playing. AND you will in turn have a lot of fun in this journey!!!!!!!! I really wish you the best in playing the banjo. The sound of a banjo is unique as it is addictive. You will hit walls they may detour you, but, that is what we ALL experience. That's part of the journey of fun! Keep clawing and picking and focus on having the time of your life! Playing the banjo is special...........!!!!!!!!!! Good luck and most of all HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!
Yes! It is true. I also heard about it. Taylor Swift Played banjo @ iHeartRadio music festival 2012. Banjo is indeed nice! I witness one online who played it with the song "Shake it off". It sounds great!
Playing five string with a flatpick isn't a new thing, and it's your banjo so go for it. You don't need any critique or oersmission to play what you want. If it sounds good, then it is good. It isn't real clawhammer but you know that anyway. If you enjoy it, do it.
.....Just joking! I believe as mentioned above that strumming could be a way that you really understand the fret board. And, not only that, it will give give you confidence in play a few songs. Confidence is one of the greatest tools in your quiver. It will help you achieve other goals in your banjo playing. AND you will in turn have a lot of fun in this journey!!!!!!!! I really wish you the best in playing the banjo. The sound of a banjo is unique as it is addictive. You will hit walls they may detour you, but, that is what we ALL experience. That's part of the journey of fun! Keep clawing and picking and focus on having the time of your life! Playing the banjo is special...........!!!!!!!!!! Good luck and most of all HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!
