Y'all should realize that the folk didn't use all these names--if you asked a real folk banjo picker what he was playing, he'd generally respond, "banjo".

The first time I heard the term claw-hammer was in the mid 50s, in Seeger's mimeographed "How to Play the 5-String Banjo". I believe he was describing the hand position for three-fingered (Scruggs) picking. What's generally called claw-hammer today was generallycalled drop-thumbing--a technique that used the thumb twicew in each phrase to play more melody. FRailing (or down-picking) left out more notes, or relied on hammering-on or pulling-off to achieve them.

"Frail", BTW, is a southernism synonamous to "beat", as in "if you don' behave yo' self, ah'm gonna frail you good!"

dick