Some times, usually on a fretless. It works well with the earlier blues forms and 12 bar but why not?

I bought this book about a year ago but haven't done anything with it.

Blues Banjo - Fred Sokolow

Yup - and with a slide.

Anybody do anything with Sokolow's book besides collect dust with it?

Is it a good book?

quote:

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Originally posted by SeanRussell

Anybody playing Clawhammer blues?

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Michael Miles (a professional out of Chicago -- https://www.youtube.com/c/michaeljmiles ), plays clawhammer everything, including lots of Bach.  But he loves to play blues on his Jim Hartle Ashborn reproduction*:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnGKYba9bX0 ,   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NO191r-rBQ .

*regarding the Ashborn replica: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD6rL03jMWI

There's always Gus Cannon -- but he wasn't fixed in how he got sounds out of the banjo...

Thanks for all the responses

I once saw a very talented, professional musician playing blues with a Paramount Style F banjo guitar. Enormous banjo, 18 inch resonator. 16 inch rim is my understanding. It might have been at least 10 years ago that I watched him, probably on YouTube.
I can not remember his name. I believe he was from New York.
Since this is a pretty rare banjo he was playing, I am hoping someone might recognize who It is.

I have the Sokolow book, collecting dust. I skimmed the book and mp3 tracks. I didn't notice any clawhammer, but some could be there.
I find that some of the faster blues work really well with clawhammer. Slow blues tend to have a different syncopated rhythm than clawhammer's bum-ditty or constant stream of note.
Here's three that I've done.

Cliff Wagner (from Mississippi?) had a dynamite honky-tonk band out of San Pedro CA, but I couldn't find anything about him from the past several years.  He entered some sort of national contest.  I found the following description on-line:

"The Old #7 gained nation wide exposure on FOX TVs “The Next Great American Band” and played to over 10 million people each week. Originally the show’s judges insisted that the general public would not accept a “Bluegrass” band and the Old #7 would have a short stay on the show. They not only appeared on six of the final shows but finished 7th out of 8,000 bands who originally tried out for the show. This was due to the huge number of fans who showed their support each week by voting to keep Cliff Wagner on the show."

I've never watched FOX, but I heard the band live several times.  It was well work the nearly one hour drive.

The contest required submission of a music video.  Here's the one from The Old #7.  Lew's Mojo Hand reminded me of it right away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UidZ3tzVJ8s&list=PLQyjDlg5tdDc_lT4Q1ZNMJLiENeKpftAx&index=2

Wagner played banjo, pretty much exclusively -- and mostly bluegrass three-finger style, but this is clawhammer, as requested by the OP.

Sometimes you gotta wait a generation for the badass to really get into the DNA.....

youtu.be/Qjh1CIs34bw

quote:

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Originally posted by Leslie R

I once saw a very talented, professional musician playing blues with a Paramount Style F banjo guitar. Enormous banjo, 18 inch resonator. 16 inch rim is my understanding. It might have been at least 10 years ago that I watched him, probably on YouTube.
I can not remember his name. I believe he was from New York.
Since this is a pretty rare banjo he was playing, I am hoping someone might recognize who It is.

---

I'm assuming it's probably Dom Flemons you're thinking of with the enormous banjo-guitar:
https://www.wunc.org/post/dom-flemons-holds-those-old-time-roots

Chris

Chris, you made my day !
Dom Flemmons.
That is the man.
I forgot his name and I've been trying remember it for years. I googled everything I could think of and couldn't come up with anything.
It's been a long time since I saw what ever it was that made such an impression.
I don't really recall if he played clawhammer, I just remember that it was good.

I have not yet pulled up any of his music. Just wanted to first say 'Thank You' !

You can see and hear him play that banjo on last week's Deering Live video broadcast:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NQEfFN7iSY

I find it works for me, but I had to re-think the right hand rhythms. I had to get comfortable with triplets and/or 6/8 time as substitutes for two-beat patterns, along with skip-beat drop thumbing. I sometimes use a bum-bum-ditty-ditty rhythm to get a backbeat feel.

I don't know that Sokolow book, but I'm sure whatever he has to say about blues scales and harmony are good. He is a very good three-finger/melodic style player.

quote:

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Originally posted by davidppp

You can see and hear him play that banjo on last week's Deering Live video broadcast:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NQEfFN7iSY

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On the Deeering broadcast, Dom played a variety of styles on multiple types of banjos. The man can play a banjo !

At one point, Dom played John Henry, on a gourd banjo, most definitely clawhammer style. 

I remember that he was good, but I am amazed with his versatility as an artist.

I was equally impressed with Dom's knowledge of banjos, as well as his knowledge of banjo history. His appreciation and passion for both is inspiring.

quote:

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Originally posted by John Gribble

I find it works for me, but I had to re-think the right hand rhythms. I had to get comfortable with triplets and/or 6/8 time as substitutes for two-beat patterns, along with skip-beat drop thumbing. I sometimes use a bum-bum-ditty-ditty rhythm to get a backbeat feel.

I don't know that Sokolow book, but I'm sure whatever he has to say about blues scales and harmony are good. He is a very good three-finger/melodic style player.

---

I'm not familiar with skip beat drop thumbing. Could you explain what that is, or maybe provide any kind of example ?

Thanks

Several years ago I went through a jag of relearning open D blues tunes on the banjo in the same tuning. ie. Robt. Wilkins "Prodigal Son," Blind Blake's "Police Dog Blues," and so on. They worked out surprisingly well in both finger style and clawhammer.

quote:

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Originally posted by Leslie R

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I'm not familiar with skip beat drop thumbing. Could you explain what that is, or maybe provide any kind of example ?

Thanks

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Sure. It would be MTxT, a downstroke, thumb, (nothing,) thumb. The count is one and (two) and.

davidppp Thanks for posting! This guy's song even sounds a bit like Mojo Workin.

quote:

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Originally posted by banjot

Several years ago I went through a jag of relearning open D blues tunes on the banjo in the same tuning. ie. Robt. Wilkins "Prodigal Son," Blind Blake's "Police Dog Blues," and so on. They worked out surprisingly well in both finger style and clawhammer.

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You know, I did that too, in open D Tuning, about 50 years ago.  I was playing with a guy who played bottleneck style on a National tri-cone guitar.  We played Police Dog Blues, Statesboro Blues, Fuller Blues, I can't remember what else.  Lately I've gotten back to it some, playing some John Hurt country blues type stuff.  I do think finger style makes the syncopation much easier.

I really like Jim Arkus's banjo blues. It's been awhile since he's posted anything on the banjo, wish he did more. Some is up picked, some is downpicked.

Stevie Ray Vaughn - Texas Flood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBhCpCWoqiM

Kokomo Arnold - "Milk Cow Blues" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvhqD0KBmIA

"Baby Please Don't Go"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKpIef6KfvE

"Someday Baby Blues"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhUk3epmniE

Lightnin' Hopkins - Short Haired Woman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8v3MXdCY8Q

Cedell Davis - "She Got the Devil In Her"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu0dXNALWfo

"You Don't Know My Mind"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7jNiPxbjOw

Junior Wells - "Messin' With the Kid"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHN3orEIOQQ

Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ih2tRl_hEQ

Howlin' Wolf - How Many More Years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBt5nnffBd4

RL Burnside - Skinny Woman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f417ZgwBJLA


 

Taj Mahal

Dan Walsh does some neat funky stuff on banjo clawhammer. Not exactly blues but related. There’s a basic video here:

youtu.be/N-tqP9vrNFc

And he does this tune as well

youtu.be/ALCXM_pTt9s

The original post here asked about CLAWHAMMER blues. Mostly people are citing finger picking blues. I keep being disappointed by these posts, although I appreciate the quality of some of the pickers.

Here’s one of my tunes, I don’t know of it is Blues, surely in has a bluesy feel... and I think it’s clawhammer....
Hope you enjoy