Your striking finger will now be in position to hammer the next string and repeat this pattern. ‘-Tty': pull off on the fifth string with your thumb.As you do this, allow your thumb to come to a stop on the fifth string. ‘Di-': brush across the strings with the nails on your index, middle and ring fingers.‘Bum': using the nail of your index or middle finger, strike any of the first four strings on the banjo.These movements can be broken down as follows: A Distinctive RhythmĪll clawhammer banjo playing is based on one very simple pattern the ‘bum-ditty', named as such because the three syllables correspond to the three distinct movements you make when performing it. They went on to use it in the popular minstrel shows which toured the country during this time and taught it to their contemporaries, who spread both the instrument and style further across the nation. Emmett would later learn the clawhammer style from these slave musicians. White performers such as Joel Walker Sweeney and Daniel D. Clawhammer banjo of the period was often played as a rhythmic accompaniment to the melodic lead of a fiddler, producing the early dance tunes which we now know as old-time standards. They were still associated first and foremost with their African heritage and their popularity among slave musicians. Slaves played these instruments almost universally in the clawhammer style, although at the time it was more commonly referred to as stroke style, framming or frailing.īy the 1800s, banjos had assumed their familiar 5-string form complete with tuning pegs, but all entirely fretless. First in the Caribbean, then as more and more of the Americas were colonized, black slaves brought these instruments with them to the plantations and mills where they were made to work.
#Claw hammer skin
These featured drums fashioned with animal skin over the hard shell of the gourd fruit, with a stick neck attached at one end, and strings looped over the top to produce various tunings.ĭuring the 1600s and 1700s, the trans-Atlantic slave trade came into full force. There are reports as early as 1620 of banjo-esque instruments being played by the inhabitants of West Africa. So who invented it, and where did it come from? To answer those questions we must look back to the earliest roots of American history, and in particular, the slave trade. It is typically played on open-back banjos, which emphasize its mellow tone and are in keeping with the instruments used by its creators. The term ‘clawhammer' refers both to the shape of your hand as you play (claw-like), and the way that you strike the strings (by hammering them).Ĭlawhammer banjo is most closely associated with ‘old-time' tunes and traditional American music, although the style can be applied equally to contemporary genres and songs. This is in comparison to 3-finger style, where the strings are all plucked individually by the thumb, index, and middle fingers. Simply put: clawhammer describes a method of playing where the strings are struck using the back of your index or middle finger nail, then alternately plucked with your thumb. In the movies, and in popular folk outfits like the Flecktones, or Mumford and Sons, 3-finger style has reigned supreme since Scruggs pioneered it in the mid-1940s.įar older, though now overshadowed by its upstart younger sibling, clawhammer banjo remains an alternative option for those seeking a gentler, more melodic sound. You'd be forgiven for not knowing banjo could be anything else given their dominance in mainstream culture. When most people think of the banjo, they tend to think of Bluegrass, Earl Scruggs, and the 3-finger style.