Is any familiar with Clawhammer banjo music? I just discovered it ( I recently got a banjo). Just wondering does anyone know anything about it.
Your link didn't show up. But there's lots of stuff out there on clawhammer banjos, just google it up. This looks like an interesting link: http://www.loudhymns.com/clawhammer.htm
Oh sorry... I didn't even post it..... http://ezfolk.com/audio/play.php?mode=radio&id=63 or you can go to http://www.ezfolk.com/banjo/index.html and scroll down to find the Clawhammer radio... You will probably need some Media Player.
Just in case anyone doesn't know, clawhammer banjo is not a type of banjo, it is a style of playing the banjo. Below is a good description I copied from a website. Note, there are references here to old-time music - not bluegrass. Although clawhammer style is sometimes used in bluegrass, it is most commonly associated with old-time. Also, of interest perhaps, Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, NC (in the heart of old-time music country) has workshops every year in various facets of old-time music including clawhammer banjo playing. See: http://www.mhc.edu/oldtimemusic/ Clawhammer is a method of playing the five-string banjo. Unlike Scruggs style, in which strings are picked individually using the thumb, index and middle fingers, in clawhammer playing the melody string is picked downwards with the nail of the index or middle finger, followed by a strum using the same nail, after which the shorter fifth string is picked using the thumb. Clawhammer and the closely related playing method called frailing are a highly rhythmic and common component of American old-time music. Whether or not clawhammer and frailing are one and the same is the subject of heated debate within old-time music circles.
When most people think of banjo they think of bluegrass. It's a particular style that I find more than a little irritating. Clawhammer is a much bluesier and more melodic style that is pleasant to the ear and easier to dance to. Just my 2 cents.
