The possibilities include sounding individual melodic notes, strumming harmonic chords, strumming and picking to produce rhythmic and percussive effects on the strings, as well as making percussive effects by brushing or thumping the thumb or fingers upon the banjo head or skin. This diverse range of musical sounds and effects gives clawhammer banjo its artistic solo potential in addition to its traditional role as a rhythmic accompaniment to other musicians. In particular, the duo of a fiddler playing melody alongside a driving clawhammer accompanist once served as a basic Appalachian dance band, as recalled by Ralph Stanley in his autobiography, Man of Constant Sorrow. Musicians who use or who have used the clawhammer style of picking include Mark Johnson, Pete Seeger, Ola Belle Reed, Hank 3, Doc Watson, Rhiannon Giddens, Barbecue Bob, Lee Sexton, J.D. Wilkes, Old Man Luedecke, Ralph Stanley, Hobart Smith, Neil Young, Bob Carlin, Dwight Diller, Dick Kimmel, Walt Koken, Brad Leftwich, Dan Levenson, Michael J.

Miles, Ken Perlman, Leroy Troy, Abigail Washburn, Alo Ver, Sarah Jarosz, Emily Robison, Julie Duggan, Riley Baugus, Jim Connor and many others. Actor/comedian Steve Martin played clawhammer banjo as part of his stage act in the 1970s and on his 2009 musical debut CD The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo.

Scottish comedian Billy Connolly is also an accomplished clawhammer banjo player who was filmed playing his banjo at the North Pole in a BBC travelogue programme 'A Scot in the Arctic'. On the second beat, strum a few strings with your strumming finger (roughly an eighth note).Pick a melody note on the downbeat ( quarter note).For example, this is a common, basic 2/4 pattern: Early practitioners include Clarence Ashley, Fred Cockerham, Tommy Jarrell, Uncle Dave Macon, Grandpa Jones, Kyle Creed, David Akeman ('Stringbean'), Kirk McGee, Wade Ward, and Bashful Brother Oswald and Lily May Ledford.Ī common characteristic of clawhammer patterns is the thumb does not pick on the downbeat, as one might in typical fingerpicking patterns for guitar. Immediately following (on the second half of this beat), pick a note with the thumb, usually the shorter fifth string. Here, the thumb plays the high drone on the second 'and' of 'one and two and'.

Using tabledit for clawhammer banjo