It's Magic
My seven year old great niece came to visit recently and as it happened i was on the porch playing a little clawhammer banjo. She sat all bright eyed and watched intently. When i finished the tune...
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Struggling with Darling Corey
I recently ran into some Youtube vids of Darling Corey, specifically by Clifton Hicks, Cedrick Watson, and Sarah Nichols, and really liked them. I like the driving rhythm of the tune the way they play...
View ArticleHow to overcome stage jitters
I picked up the banjo not even a year and a half ago. I practice nearly every day but now that I've started playing out about twice a month with some other guys I've grown frustrated that once I get in...
View ArticleWhat style is this?
Deering just sent around one of their regular emails, and it featured a video by a performer named Mean Mary, who played an old-timey mournful mountain ballad in a style that sounded a bit like...
View ArticleTOTW 8/12/16 - Snake Chapman's Tune
Today's Tune of the Week is Snake Chapman's Tune, which - not surprisingly - comes to us from Kentucky fiddler Snake Chapman. Or at least it sort of comes to us from Chapman - more about that later. I...
View ArticleTune of the Week
This week's Tune of the Week will be posted sometime this weekend. Sorry about the delay!
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TOTW 8/12/16 - Snake Chapman's Tune
So, this Tune of the Week appeared for about 15 minutes last night. As is the case with many old-time tunes, it has more than one title, and after posting it I thought to myself "I did remember to...
View ArticleC tunes for clawhammer...... ?
I'm relatively new to old time music but I recently stumbled across Farewell Trion which has become my favorite tune. Anybody know of any other good C fiddle tunes?
View ArticleConsistent thumb rest?
I'm practicing thumb rest along with trying to hit all of the strings individually. Unfortunately when I get to the low D I can hardly get my thumb to properly hit the string. Any advice?
View ArticleGreg Adams; fretless w/capo
A great example of outstanding fretless banjo playing with a capo by Greg Adams. The stagehands who ran sound for this performance deserve a hand too. https://youtu.be/IoSNV1inoc0
View ArticleTwo finger thumb lead question
I've discovered recently that the two finger thumb lead style comes more naturally to me than Scruggs style or clawhammer, however I've been playing it with middle and thumb rather than index. I guess...
View ArticleBenton Flippen plays two finger banjo
Here's a real nice little video of fiddling legend Benton Flippen playing very expressive Old Time finger style banjo. Hope I can do this when I'm 82 years of age. Benton Flippen is a true Old Time...
View ArticleTOTW (OT) 19th August 2016: Salmon Tails Up The Water
For this tune of the week I have chosen an English Polka called "Salmon Tails Up The Water". It's a really simple tune to learn, but a lot of fun to play - in my opinion. The tune comes from...
View Articlehearing clawhammer banjo over fiddles
does anybody have any problems hearing their banjo over a fiddle. have just recently started playing with a fiddle player and i find it hard to hear the banjo.. any one any advice on this subject...
View ArticleThumb Lead Leads
It seems at times that the old-time world is over-saturated with clawhammers/frailiers. Or maybe I'm just in a funk and need to shock the system. Regardless, I've become increasingly interested in...
View ArticleBanjo Blues Songs/Improv
Hey banjoists,I found this page here http://banjotabs.org/scales/blues/ which goes over some blues scales for banjo. How would you arrange that into a tune/improve using the clawhammer style? ( I know...
View ArticleNew music soon from Dwight Diller
I'm really excited to announce that Dwight Diller recently recorded a number of his favorite WV tunes in my recording studio. He and his good friend, Terry Richardson, played 2 sets in my live room in...
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Clawhammer Uke Tunings and Strings
I'm interested in getting a uke to mess around with but I don't want to learn anything new! By that I mean I have already memorized lots of songs and I would like to play them on a uke without needing...
View ArticleIntermediate to Advance - where to go after the basics....
So I've been playing for a few years, I've learned the basic techniques - drop thumb, double thumb, etc - and I've learned many a traditional folk tune as well. Now I'm looking to get to the "next...
View ArticleDifferent repetoires for two-finger index vs. thumb lead
Does the nature of playing two-finger index vs. thumb lead result in different repetoire's amongst players. It would seem that the mechanics of playing one way or the other would naturally lead to...
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