Well, lots of good grist for the mill here. Some comments, plus an embedded ad.

One question was about the tuning or pitch at which you play the five-string and a question about "kinds of banjo." Originally, the five-string was about the size of the modern instrument, but, as "banjo orchestras" were invented and became extremely popular, the inventors and makers devised specialized instruments for the different musical voices, from soprano to bass. That piccolo banjo mentioned early on in this thread was the lead instrument, the soprano voice, and the "normal" banjo was re-designated the "tenor" banjo (which causes some confusion with the later invention of a cello-tuned four-string plectrum instrument now called the "tenor banjo.") Luckily, the folk players didn't get so caught up in the urban banjo orchestra craze, and just played the thing.

Clawhammer playing is generally identified now* as what the old-timers called "knocking," "frailing," "beating," "rapping," and several other names. The tendency to require names for styles seems a folkloric trait, and lorists deserve what they get in these cases. Someone once asked old-timer Buell Kazee what he called his style. His answer: "I've been playing since I was five years old, and I'm nigh onto seventy now. As long as I can remember, we always called it 'picking' the banjo."

* I once read a book, published in the '50s, which called the three-finger Scruggs-oriented style "clawhammer," so the term has been applied to both styles at one time. That usage has pretty much died out, it seems.

The hard part about the knocking style is to get used to realy striking the strings instead of plucking them, even if you use the nail. The hand comes down in a striking motion, hitting individual strings or groups of strings, depending on what's needed. The basic pattern is strike/pause/brush/thumb, giving a ONE and-a beat (i.e., two repeats per measure of 2/4 fiddle-tune rhythm). I always think of Pete Seeger's mnemonic "Bum-titty, bum-titty" for a measure of banjo playing. That pause is when the hand rebounds for the next down stroke, and the thumb after the "tit" part is NOT a pluck in terms of moving the thumb, but is instead a lift of the whole hand, the thumb having come to rest on the 5th string at the end of the down brush of the hand. In other words, the thumb, by lifting the hand, helps get the hand ready for more down-strokes and incidentally sounds the tumb string (it does pluck the string, of course, but it's not a "fishing expedition" or actually separate motion).

Old-time banjos up until about 1920 were strung with gut strings (with a wound 4th string, not a metal string as such), but are typically nowadays strung with wire. Some folks still prefer the gut (or its replacement, nylon) string sound. I have five banjos -- two gut-strung, two steel-strung, and one interchangeable. One each of the gut- and steel-strung instruments is fretted, the other is fretless. So I can get the sound I want from the banjo that matches it.

Commercial advertisement -- I am the publisher and writer of "The Old-timey Banjo Book," which I still have copies of. I'll sell 'em for $7.50 postpaid. Email me at rjclayton@aol.com for a mailing address. A few 'catters have the books, and I hope they have been helpful (the books, not the 'catters).

This has gotten long enough that I will stop now. I'll check back on the thread later to see if there are any other unanswered questions (like "You didn't mention drop-thumb playing.").

Bob Clayton rjclayton@aol.com