As a clawhammer banjo player, how do you “fit in” outside of OT music?
As I have been learning to play the banjo clawhammer style, I’ve been mostly content to go my own way: I’ve tried to learn and have mostly memorized a variety of OT tunes based entirely on tab, not ear. (However I have experimented and have resorted to “Franken-tab” – a mix up of tabs from different sources with my own embellishments.) Seldom does a day go by that I do not pick up my banjo, if even for a few minutes, and play some of what I know and continually try to learn something new. I try to take to heart the advice I see on BHO. Learning to play music has been a considerable challenge for me; I’ve expressed my limitations on my homepage blog. What I now play is probably recognizable, but not very good – and I do want to get better.
Playing with records or YouTube hasn’t been practical for me. Not having a goal to play in front of others has probably worked against me, for it allows me not to be “accountable” to anyone. And so I’ve noticed that I have to continually remind myself not to get sloppy in technique or timing. The playing advice that is often stressed is that to improve I really should seek to play with others.
Therefore I asked one of our church music leaders if he would mind coming over and give me some of his time for me to learn to play along with him. Tuesday night he brought his Taylor guitar and was here for about 2 ½ hours and it was great.
He’s a few years younger than me. A gifted guitar player and singer, he is able to pick up on a song after hearing it once or twice and play it back. He started music very early in life. He says 49 years for the guitar. He also played bass in bars when he was as young as ten. (If you know southern Missouri you know this is not far-fetched). His sister once dated Narvel Felts, whom he described as “a rowdy character”; and he also met Larry Sparks who suggested to him to take up the mandolin, which he did. More recently he has formed his own bluegrass-tinged group that has performed in paid venues such as the “Branson Belle”. But I digress....
As we sat down to talk he told me he knows nothing about the banjo. I gave a short discourse on basic Scruggs style vs. clawhammer and the various tunings. And then I played some of what I knew and he followed along. Of course he knew Cripple Creek, but to my surprise he wasn’t familiar with Boil Dem Cabbages Down. However he was able to quickly adjust and play along with whatever I came up with. And as I was a little nervous I was not always able to hit the note or rhythm I needed; however earlier I had told my dear wife that the key to this is to “not be afraid to be bad in front of people.” This was really a lot of fun for me.
After this he began playing and singing some of his songs - old ballads, often in a minor key. To play along he would name the chord change and I would “bum-ditty” along. Towards the end I demonstrated that it seemed to sound a little better if I put my banjo into Sawmill Tuning. And a little later he asked whether I could just strum the chords in time and not play the 5th string or the single note, which I did. He asked me to learn more than the three chords I most often used.
Which brings me back around to my question at the top. Perhaps I am over-thinking this. I am not a purist; I have been learning tabs that have been the easiest for me to access. What I have been memorizing and playing has been a mix of single note melody with the 5th string, and also tunes and songs with the entire “bum-ditty.” I try new songs/tunes that incorporate pull-offs, hammer-ons, and more recently drop-thumb. If I was playing Scruggs style I suppose I could just roll the chords in the back ground, but in playing clawhammer style, how do I fit that in with ballads and country music and gospel and hymns and people singing? Perhaps for all that I have read I still realIy don’t know what clawhammer banjo is? Is it just mostly meant for single note melody with a drone and sometimes a chord thrown in for the rhythm? I’ve read that clawhammer players don’t need to learn very many chords. My friend asked me to learn additional chords than just the I, IV, V and sometimes VI in G tuning. What do other clawhammer banjo players do when they are in a jam that is not the kind of Old Time I see at McClurg or those great Old Time retreats?
I have a lot of respect for the vast amount of knowledge here on BHO and I would really appreciate some perspective. Can you help me get me back on the path? Thanks.
P.S. - We’re going to get together again. I asked if he had a song he would like for me to work on and he suggested “The Old Rugged Cross.” I have Dan “Clawdan” Levinson’s Gospel Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo and so that is my starting point – maybe. What would be your approach to it?