Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?

Subject: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 30 May 20 - 09:09 AM

I've been watching the amazing Molly Tuttle

It looks painful to learn but very effective!!

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 30 May 20 - 09:24 AM

Sounds great.


Dave H

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 30 May 20 - 09:33 AM

Just put my acoustic into Molly Tuttle tuning - it was like picking up a guitar for the first time!

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: GUEST,Don Meixner
Date: 30 May 20 - 09:37 AM

Molly is a force of nature. Here Clawhammer style on the guitar is very much an out growth of her Clawhammer banjo style. Both are brilliant.

Years ago Donovan Leitch played a fingerpicking style that was called Clawhammer guitar but I don't believe it was related in much of any way to what Molly Tuttle plays. There is a great deal of discussion about Donovan teaching John Lennon how to play that style. I think even some YouTube videos cover it.

But I beleive that Molly Tuttle plays the real deal of Clawhammer guitar if it fair to call it such.

Don

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Jeri
Date: 30 May 20 - 09:47 AM

I think she calls it "frailing". I saw her keep up (at least) with Tommy Emmanuel, and it was glorious!

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: GUEST,Don Meixner
Date: 30 May 20 - 10:19 AM

Jeri, there is a video with her and Billy Strings going at, I think, The Black Mountain Rag. Wow. As to whether its Clawhammer or Frailing, I will leave that to experts to determine.

D

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 May 20 - 10:38 AM

clawhammer guitar is easier in open g tuning particularly if you play 5 string banjo, it is not frailing at all it is clawhammer, i have not wtched the molly video, but steve baughman explains clawhammerguitar here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Me42csgzU

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 May 20 - 10:44 AM

what donovan plays is like thumb melody on banjo roscoe holcomb style.or like maybelle carte guitar style , donovan style works in standard tuning using c or shapes. steve baughman style initially usesopen g but it works using thumb melody banjo stle using the top string as a drone in dgdgcd a tuning martin simpson uses.
can we use less confusing terminology frailing is not clawhammer banjo and not thumb melody banjo, frailing is its own style involving bump dity, nic jones used something like that sometimes but in effect damped the drone string

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 May 20 - 10:54 AM

right i have looked at her video it is frailing NOT clawhammer and it is good,it is frailing banjo used on guitar

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 May 20 - 11:03 AM

BONZO the easiest way to learn frailing is get a banjo stick it in g tuning, a good starter is single girl.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 30 May 20 - 11:08 AM

Thanks, I don't have a banjo, but I'll try on guitar in g tuning.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 30 May 20 - 11:22 AM

About a year ago I sat about 6 feet away from Molly while she played her gig at The Greystones in Sheffield. She was phenomenally good, both in terms of her guitar playing - flatpicking, fingerpicking and frailing - her songwriting, and also vocally.

Martin Simpson, Damien O’Kane, and Kate Rusby were also there - they seemed impressed too! When she tours here again, I strongly recommend going to see her, she’s the real deal.

And it’s frailing.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 May 20 - 11:50 AM

bonzo i suggest practisin the bump ditty just on open strings to start and damp the off beat thumb 5 or 6 string, its 1 full beat then two half beats with the thumb on the second halfbeathence bump dit ty

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 May 20 - 12:05 PM

Steve Baughman is probably the best-known practitioner of clawhammer guitar in Northern California. He's got some interesting teaching materials online.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 May 20 - 02:18 PM

Joe, i put up a clip at 10 28

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 May 20 - 02:39 PM

Thanks, Sandman. I usually see Steve in a cappella singing sessions, and did not know about his guitar work until long after I met him. He's an immigration attorney by profession, but his passion is playing instruments. He did a house concert in this area a few months ago, and there was very little singing. And then afterwards, we had an a cappella singing session. And then afterwards, he wouldn't let a few of us leave, and he gathered us into a close circle for harmony singing. He really loves his music, and he has so much fun with it.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 30 May 20 - 02:44 PM

Clawhammer ukulele is also quite popular. Since the fourth (G) string on a uke is usually tuned an octave up, it sounds much like the 5th string on a 5-string banjo.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Jeri
Date: 30 May 20 - 03:23 PM

Molly Tuttle - she starts talking about clawhammer technique at 9+ minutes.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 30 May 20 - 04:03 PM

Clifton Hicks, who has taught banjo styles for sometime, calls it Overhand style because he thinks it is more accurate. I have played what I thought of as Frailing for years. I am not able to do any drop thumb work because of a hand injury and most of what I play is very rhythmic. As I said before, I will rely on the experts to tell me the difference.

Don

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 30 May 20 - 04:48 PM

Don,

Re Donovan Leitch

I don't know if he took lessons from Peggy Seeger in the late fifties early sixties but I believe it was she who used the phrase incorrectly to describe her fingerpicking guitar style that she was teaching us in London.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 30 May 20 - 05:06 PM

Thanks Hoot,

Even if that doesn't solve the riddle it adds to the puzzle. Success isn't as important to me as is a good tale to tell.

Don

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 31 May 20 - 01:11 AM

hootenanny, yes some people used to call travis style clawhammer
Travis Picking" is a syncopated style of guitar fingerpicking rooted in ragtime music in which alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are simultaneously plucked by the index finger
Donovan does not play like that, he plays thumb melody which is generally known as carter style. he wrongly calls it clawhammer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3tWkyYXcLc it does not sounds if peggy was his teacher from this interview

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 31 May 20 - 01:55 AM

After trying a basic clawhammer exercise for 30 minutes after the SpaceX launch last night, my right hand aches this morning - will that excuse me from gardening?

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 31 May 20 - 02:07 AM

bonzo it is importantto not overdo a new movement like frailing 15minutes max at a time

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 31 May 20 - 03:05 AM

"Ma Carter took a banjo style and transposed it" ? and he still appears to be as modest as he never was.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: GUEST
Date: 31 May 20 - 03:13 AM

Yes, there has been a tendency to call Travis style picking here in the UK clawhammer picking, which confused me a bit when I first took up five string banjo in the late 70s. However, I disagree that Donovan only played bass melody style guitar picking, on songs like Ballad of a Crystal Man, Ballad of Geraldine and (if I recall correctly) Try for the Sun, he played rock solid Travis style fingerpicking, which he later introduced to the Beatles for songs like Blackbird, Julia, Here Comes the Sun, etc.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 31 May 20 - 05:03 AM

ok guest i havent looked at the three you mention, my comments were bsed upon colours.and the impression he gives in the interview
Maybelle was taught it by lesley riddle, and it s a banjo style, one used by roscoe holcomb, tune is played by thumb. maybelle occasionally used another style, but she is genarlly associated with thumb melody,plus the bump ditty of frailing
Donovan turned up at a festival i organised he appeared modest pleasant and unassuming

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 31 May 20 - 05:56 AM

Sorry, that was me above, but yes he used ‘Carter’ style as well on a lot of stuff like Colours, etc. I have to say the frailing guitar style in the right hands seems to be a good development of the bluegrass flatpicking style, because the latter relies largely on other instruments providing the chord backing to my mind. The beauty of Travis picking is that you can provide your own rhythm and bass lines as well as the melody, plus you are not tied to either just standard tuning or an open tuning (in the case of frailing).

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: gillymor
Date: 31 May 20 - 06:34 AM

Al Petteway uses DADGAD capoed at the 5th fret to replicate clawhammer banjo style played in Sawmill tuning on the guitar. It's not too difficult to learn if you already play some clawhammer banjo (although to play it as well as Al is another matter). His style involves an up stroke on the high D string (G capoed) for the drone string.

Al Petteway

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 31 May 20 - 09:49 AM

Tuning explained by Molly Tuttle is DGDGCD which sounds quite modal.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 31 May 20 - 09:57 AM

That’s the sawmill tuning, or mountain minor, traditionally used on the banjo, without the low D (and the high G).

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: gillymor
Date: 31 May 20 - 10:23 AM

Petteway uses DADGAD capo V to get the Sawmill tuning sound and I've found that tunes I play in Sawmill on the banjo like Little Sadie, Maggie Walker Blues and Pretty Polly transfer fairly easy to Petteway's method. He does a section on it in his Appalachian Folksongs For Fingerstyle Guitar in DADGAD Tuning DVD.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 31 May 20 - 01:14 PM

Up until I can hear what I want to play, but my right hand will not do it - practise, practise, practise for weeks it seems!!

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: gillymor
Date: 31 May 20 - 01:25 PM

Getting that bum ditty stroke down can take awhile.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 31 May 20 - 02:05 PM

yes it takes a while on banjo, but heres a suggestion
up pick the first note with your index then do a strum down and then thumb to get the bump diity its easierand is vrtually the same as frailing but the first pick is up, its seeger style?there is hardly any difference in sound, as a guitrist you might find it easier.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 31 May 20 - 02:13 PM

personally i find it easier to hit the 6 string as if it was the high string and then i damp it

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: babypix
Date: 31 May 20 - 03:05 PM

Alec Stone-Sweet plays excellent clawhammer guitar.

Subject: RE: Does anyone play 'clawhammer guitar'?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 31 May 20 - 04:35 PM

Wait a minute, why am I not hearing any bass string notes played by the thumb?