listen and watch...??

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clawhammer curmudgeons

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a place where old time banjo players can discuss setup, playing techniques, tune histories swap tales and lies.

458 Members, Created 1/27/2011 -

Administrators: Bob Buckingham (owner)

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From cheekee on 2/12/2011 10:44:57 PM

...not much of an opportunity for that around here. :(

i went to a workshop in the fall and saw some clawhammer banjo playing and thought...yeah! i could learn to do that. it makes sense!

and it does sort of. i'm working from a ken perlman book...and it is making sense so far and i'm able to get through the beginner tabs i've found pretty well. but YES! i want to see./watch and hear some good players...and i cannot find em. there were about 4 clawhammer players at this workshop, but they live FAR. like...2-4 hours and they're not too interested in sharing.

so, for now, it is the internet. i've found some good sounding stuff. but too often, a guy says he's teaching something, but then you can't see what he's doing and it's so fast i just laugh and wonder what i'm supposed to do with that. i didn't grow up hearing this stuff so i don't have an ear developed for it yet. but i like it and its fun.

does anyone here have a fave youtube channel for learning you'd like to suggest?

5 Comments
	PGP says: 2/13/2011 3:46:09 AM Try Rocket Science banjo. Old Woodchuck is an excellent teacher and the MIDI tabs are very helpful. He also provides a good lead in to Ken Perlman. You may also want to consider purchasing a DVD to go with the Perlman book if it is available. Good luck. Pete
cheekee says: 2/14/2011 11:11:55 AM great! thanks. i'll definitely look into it. its funny. i realize there is tonnes of stuff available online, but sometimes it takes a long time to weed out crappy stuff, from good but unhelpful stuff and from the stuff that is actually both good sounding and good to learn from. and sometimes, i may not know the difference since i'm pretty unfamiliar with it all as a whole.
	Steve Jeter says: 2/15/2011 10:22:33 AM rpeek has some neat vids on YT show basics . i too am new to this. The banjo I always heard was scruggs stylle.
	Urban Hillbilly says: 3/1/2011 9:19:31 AM I learned how to play by watching Patrick Costello's truly awesome FREE lessons dailyfrail.com (look for the beginner ones on youtube), from David Holt's dvd's, and the Murphy Method's clawhammer DVD's. Just know that the bum-ditty sounds easy but takes about 5 months to really get. Then about 5 months more to jump around on the fretboard and actually hit the right damn string every time! Just apologize to your girlfriend, boyfriend, or housemate in advance and keep at it.
	lukeaskance says: 3/1/2011 4:17:23 PM Hi Cheekee - I started playing banjo with a bluegrass book a little over a year ago, then when I realised that clawhammer could be better for song accompaniment and for accompanying my ole paw with his guitar etc., I started looking at clawhammer/frailing. I've just got hold of a Ken Perlman book too (Old Woodchuck recommends it in his Rocket Science intro), but started out with Rocket Science and Patrick Costello's online books - right at the start I went to his Outlaws and Scallywags book, which is good for getting some basic well-known songs down pretty quickly - at least, with a few weeks' training, I was able to play Stagger Lee with my Paw when he came to visit me in France last summer (not many banjo players round here either...). Still playing around with bluegrass, but loving being able to play and sing with other musicians suddenly now that I'm clawhammering... I'm from Cornwall, UK, and love how banjo opens you up to such a musical crossover between so many histories (including Celtic and old English) that met up in the US. Enjoy yourself - Luke
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