In the 65 or so years I’ve played, I’ve never seen anyone use a thumbpick for clawhammer. Never occurred to me to even try it.

The closest I have seen is folks using Fake nails from Ozark banjos

never the thumb though. Feel like it would get in the way any time you arent using the 5th string

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Originally posted by Bill Rogers

In the 65 or so years I’ve played, I’ve never seen anyone use a thumbpick for clawhammer. Never occurred to me to even try it.

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Roscoe Holcomb did use a thumbpick for clawhammer. You can see it in this video; it starts at 4:45 – the first song is up-picking (Little Birdie), but the clawhammer with thumbpick (Hook and Line) starts at 4:45.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DoATcInlYQ&t=155s

So did Lucius Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxOOmEtfkqM&list=RDAxOOmEtfkqM&start_radio=1

I knew someone who used a thumbpick and two plastic finger picks to play what he called drop-thumb frailing.

R D, did he wear his fingerpicks backwards? I have seen someone use a metal fingerpick backward on his first finger to clawhammer. But he didn't use a thumb pick.

I have a friend that uses a thumb pick. That said I'd never try to play clawhammer very much for Irish music with its usual 8 notes per measure, its speed, and changing keys for medleys. For me, I'd end up playing not very good clawhammer or Irish music. Irish songs work great with the banjo which I enjoyed a lot. But, best to you! banjered

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Originally posted by banjered

I have a friend that uses a thumb pick. That said I'd never try to play clawhammer very much for Irish music with its usual 8 notes per measure, its speed, and changing keys for medleys. For me, I'd end up playing not very good clawhammer or Irish music. Irish songs work great with the banjo which I enjoyed a lot. But, best to you! banjered

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What kind of banjo do you play? a tenor banjo with a pick?

I mean, I'd like to think that I'm doing enough upstrumming that it's not really "clawhammer". 

Culloden

Mark:

I met Art Chambers around 1969 or '70 at the Southern California Old-Time Fiddlers Association that met on Signal Hill in Long Beach. Mel Durham, Earl Collins, Ab Goebel, Roscoe and Ossdie White, and occasionally Ed Lowe (Round Peak Charlie Lowe's nephew) would show up. Also a college-aged Tom Sauber.

Art was from Georgia and, as above, used a plastic thumbpick worn as usual, and two plastic fingerpicks, one worn normally with the blade against the fleshy part of his index finger, and the other reversed so that the blade was against the nail of his middle finger.

He called his style "drop-thumb frailing". It was a sort of combination of two-finger and frailing. He used his thumb and index to play two-finger patterns (can't remember now if thumb or index lead, or both- I was 12 or 13 at the time). He used his middle finger for brushing with the thumb kicking off on the 5th string as in the usual "bum-ditty" rhythm.

The fiddler's club was very strict about allowing nothing but fiddle music ( they has some sort of official status with the state of California as their purpose was the preservation of Old-Time fiddle music). The fiddlers would each take turns playing three tunes. There was only one microphone, and that was for the fiddler. Even so, the fiddler was free to choose his own back-up which was usually a guitar(s) and occasionally the piano. Banjoes were not plentiful. Art was just about the only banjo player that was ever invited to provide back-up.

All that aside, there was lots of open jamming outside. It was a really great place to learn and hear music from some great musicians most of whom had immigrated to California from the South and Midwest.  Each meeting would begin and end with all of the fiddlers playing "Liberty" together rotating up to the mike.

Hard to believe that was half a century ago!!!

I'm sure they are out there, but I haven't seen anyone using a thumb pick. I'm just picking up clawhammer and I actually tried a thumb pick, being I'm used to playing with finger picks and a thumb pick, but one of the things that I like about clawhammer is that it doesn't require a lot of accoutrements, so I'm just going to stick with the basic fingers.

I met an old man who was busking outdoors a while ago and he played clawhammer and seeger style with a thumb pick. Said he learned bluegrass first and felt more comfortable with it when I asked about that. I don't see any problem with it, sounded good to my ears.