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 Playing Advice: Clawhammer and Old-Time Styles
 ARCHIVED TOPIC: Who is your favorite Clawhammer player/ teacher / band on Instagram?


Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/387257

Comtngal - Posted - 12/05/2022:  05:17:54


Hi folks! Looking for folks to follow. Share your favorites, please!

A few of my favs are Chris Coole, Brad Kolodner, Andy Thorn.

cevant - Posted - 12/05/2022:  06:09:04


Joseph Decossimo

lapsteel - Posted - 12/05/2022:  06:09:16


David Holt

srrobertsiii - Posted - 12/05/2022:  06:37:41


Though I'm not sure he's on Instagram, I follow Frank Lee on Facebook and YouTube. I also follow Kim Johnson and Dwight Diller on those sites.


Edited by - srrobertsiii on 12/05/2022 06:48:07

jduke - Posted - 12/05/2022:  07:57:42


There are so many great old and contemporary clawhammer / old time players I enjoy listening to, but if I could play like one of them, it would be David Holt.

jacot23 - Posted - 12/05/2022:  08:53:47


She's not on Instagram and likely won't ever be, but I follow my friend Mandy Tyner(BanjoLemonade) on Facebook and YouTube.

banjo bill-e - Posted - 12/05/2022:  09:22:44


I'm not on Instagram, but my favorite online player/teachers are Tom Collins and Clifton Hicks.

overhere - Posted - 12/05/2022:  09:24:00


right here on banjo hangout....several but marycox stands out for sure check her out

banjered - Posted - 12/05/2022:  12:14:16


What's Instagram? Is it another CIA/FBI data collection program disguised as social media? You just don't know when they'll use it to come by and confiscate our banjos. For our and everyone else's safety, of course. banjered

bretterb - Posted - 12/05/2022:  16:50:05


My current YouTube favorites are (in no particular order):




  • Tom Collins

  • Benny Blue

  • Steve Plays Banjo

  • Meredith Moon



-Brett

Comtngal - Posted - 12/05/2022:  20:34:09


Ooh, thanks all for your replies! And banjered , yes!


Edited by - Comtngal on 12/05/2022 20:34:45

johnebike - Posted - 12/06/2022:  08:30:51


That's an easy one. Chatham Rabbits is my favorite band on Instagram. If you want to see what they are all about, check out the 3-part PBS documentary "On the Road with Chatham Rabbits". I'm sure you will all enjoy it.

jenorma1 - Posted - 12/06/2022:  08:38:10


My buddy Kyle Upton (@jugglemank) posts a lot of great stuff on instagram. He plays really impressive (super clean and notey) arrangements of fiddle tunes on a 6-string (low bass added) banjo and recently got a great sounding gourd banjo as well.

roadkingjimmy - Posted - 12/06/2022:  21:40:59


Clifton Hicks is very good

roadkingjimmy - Posted - 12/06/2022:  21:42:56


Oh and Jack Buetlin here on the hangout…hope I got your last name right Jack.

Comtngal - Posted - 12/07/2022:  04:42:18


Some great recommendations here! Thanks tons. Keep them coming! 


Edited by - Comtngal on 12/07/2022 04:42:43

Jim Yates - Posted - 12/07/2022:  11:09:42


I'd have to say that I've learned the most from Cathy Fink's records and have enjoyed her live shows immensely. An amazing clawhammer player.

Since I don't use Instagram, I don't know if she does.


Edited by - Jim Yates on 12/07/2022 11:11:02

Jack Baker - Posted - 12/07/2022:  12:53:10


There are too many great clawhammer and two finger players out there to pick just one...Jack




Originally posted by Comtngal

Hi folks! Looking for folks to follow. Share your favorites, please!



A few of my favs are Chris Coole, Brad Kolodner, Andy Thorn.






 


Edited by - Jack Baker on 12/07/2022 12:53:28

banjo bill-e - Posted - 12/07/2022:  15:27:24


The two are not always linked. While it makes a lot of sense to try to play like who you enjoy hearing play, some great players are not the best teachers and some good teachers are not gifted players. So even if you like a player, if their instruction is not working for you do not assume that you are the problem. Try another, there are many.

Jack Baker - Posted - 12/07/2022:  15:33:57


Yes...Jack


quote:

Originally posted by banjo bill-e

The two are not always linked. While it makes a lot of sense to try to play like who you enjoy hearing play, some great players are not the best teachers and some good teachers are not gifted players. So even if you like a player, if their instruction is not working for you do not assume that you are the problem. Try another, there are many.






 

writerrad - Posted - 12/13/2022:  18:53:57


Myself.



I cannot think of another clawhammer player for whom I have purchased 9 banjos at the cost of thousands of dollars, for whom I have bought strings, and capos and cases for at the cost of more thousands of dollars, for whom I have paid thousands of dollars for lessons on and off for 23 years.



 



I cannot think of another banjoist clawhammer  for who, I have changed strings for on a bunch of banjos about one banjo every month.



I cannot think of any other clawhammer banjoist for whom I have carried banjos for, sometimes two sometimes three banjos to festivals, old time camps, performances, or visits not just around where I live or all over the USA, but to Europe, Africa, Mexico, India, Nepal,  Russia,  and Guatemala.



I cannot think of another clawhammer player that for the past 10 years that I have taken every 2 or 3 weeks to a nail salon to get acrylic nails for. not just where I live, but hunting down nail salons in Germany and trying to explain how to do my nails for clawhammer to a Vietnamese person (yes even in Germany they are all Vietnmese) who knows German which I do not know much but not English.



I do not know any banjoist for whom I have had to maintain a constant struggle whenever I have credit cards in my wallet, not to purchase more banjos, not to purchase banjos that cost more than some cars I have owned. not to make banjo purchases that would cause my dear wife to kick me out.



My favorite down picker is me hands down!  I wouldnt do this for any other banjo player.


Edited by - writerrad on 12/13/2022 18:59:16

writerrad - Posted - 12/13/2022:  19:04:08


quote:I am an enormous fan of Frank Lee.  He has seemed to recede from general public knowledge since the demise of the Freigh Hoppers, but he has actually become a much better banjoist.   He has tried to develop his own approach and transfer other techniques from his other music making in guitar and bluegrass banjo to clawhammer and has some startling and interesting insights on playing,   He is a dedicated person and deserves more recognition.   He is a good guy,  I hope more people will hire him to teach at camps and play at festivals and check him out   I have become sort of friends with him over the past couple years and he really an unsung hero.   Curiously he credits a lot of his banjo life to having been an art student at the U of Georgia and had the luck of having the late great Art Rosenbaum as one of his art teachers!

Originally posted by srrobertsiii

Though I'm not sure he's on Instagram, I follow Frank Lee on Facebook and YouTube. I also follow Kim Johnson and Dwight Diller on those sites.






 


Edited by - writerrad on 12/13/2022 19:12:10

writerrad - Posted - 12/13/2022:  19:07:29


quote:Yes even though I have encountered Mandy Tyner(BanjoLemonade)  late in my banjo career, I really enjoy her stuff on YouTube and often return to it to clean up my act.  I do love that she  presents herself as a normal down to earth working person and does not talk to you like you need a 10k banjo. 


Of course, all the great ones like myself have a Gold Tone WL-250 in their arsenal as she does,  She is an unsung banjo heroine!


Thanks for putting in a word for her.  And if you see her tell her I am a fan!




Originally posted by jacot23

She's not on Instagram and likely won't ever be, but I follow my friend Mandy Tyner(BanjoLemonade) on Facebook and YouTube.






 


Edited by - writerrad on 12/13/2022 19:13:34

Rusty - Posted - 12/16/2022:  09:11:33


I love all mentioned on the previous posts, I will add Dan Levenson, ClawDan.

writerrad - Posted - 12/16/2022:  10:45:38


Yes I cannot say too much good about Dan Levenson. When I started out trying to play clawhammer in the last year or two of the previous century, I had every misconception that someone who had played guitar behind clawhammer banjo players since around 1963 could possibly haves wrong about how to play clawhammer banjo. I am glad to say that a friend who is an experienced banjoists told me to get one of Dan's Video Cassettes (younger people can find out what that is on Google or by speaking with their grand parents) got me a video that really opened the door.



He does something intelligent I urge every banjo teacher or person showing a friend how to play clawhammer to do. He teaches all the strokes including the drop thumb at the same time. Most teachers or instruction gets a person to practice bum diddy full stroke first and learn it as I did.  Then what happens is the player spends weeks, months, practicing bum diddy and identifies that solely with claw hammer By the time a person gets to learning double thumbing and drop thumbing, the person has built up such an attachment to the basic stroke that drop and double thumb are hard to do. 



Dan is really a clear thinker and is very realistic about where people are. I remember about 20 years ago he got Deering to give him a bunch of Good Time banjos, so he could have first-timers not need to have a banjo to come to these sessions he did all over the country.



He is a generous soul, but also a very wonderful player.


Edited by - writerrad on 12/16/2022 10:49:37

GerryH - Posted - 12/16/2022:  13:45:04


Adam Hurt - although I am not sure if he is on Instagram since I do not have an Instagram account.



Adam is a remarkable student, player, and teacher of the banjo and a fine fellow too.

Gh


Edited by - GerryH on 12/16/2022 13:47:54

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 12/16/2022:  13:51:35


Noah Cline.  Right here on BHO. 

In 50+ years, about the best I've ever heard. 

sdpicker - Posted - 12/17/2022:  00:25:13


I can't speak about Instagram, but I can say the most productive period of my banjo-playing life occurred when I had the good fortune to take private clawhammer banjo lessons (in person) with Dan Levenson. He has a wealth of instructional material, and he is incredibly dedicated. He gives lessons over Skype/Facetime/Zoom if you're not near the Tucson area. I met with him for an hour every two weeks, and those lessons were definitely a highlight for me. I made so many advances in my repertoire and technique!

eichhofener - Posted - 12/26/2022:  01:29:18


Josh Turknett for sure
Tom Collins
Clifton Hicks
Zac Sokolow (but I cannot learn from him as his playing is too advanced :-) )
Meredith Moon

eichhofener - Posted - 12/26/2022:  01:33:29


JanetB of course!

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