Hi guys
I've been a guitarist several years but very new to banjo, absolutely loving it so far but only just getting into the clawhammer style.
Just have a couple of very basic questions if you don't mind that I can't find explained in enough detail, or in a close up enough camera angle, to answer. The problem I'm having at the moment is when trying to get enough sound out of the hammer motion, where I'm trying to hit an individual string rather than a strum, I'm finding it really hurts the skin just above my nail (going towards the back of my hand, rather than the skin under the nail).. The reason being that although my nail is hitting the second or third string and getting enough sound, I find that the skin around that area is hitting the string above the one my nail is hitting and is becoming really sore. Am I doing it wrong?
I've seen several videos, some saying to keep a very rigid claw shape, and others saying to have no tension at all, and I'm also a little unsure of whether I should be hitting the string, like a high impact "bounce" by which I mean hitting the string and then coming away, or whether I should be attempting to strike *through* the string. Can anyone help!
Apologies for any spelling/punctuation mistakes, I'm trying to type this on mu