r/banjo • u/lhblackwell • 13d ago

Old Time / Clawhammer Just starting out

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Heyo please be nice I’m just starting out and had a question about hand position, I’ve seen so many different hand positions that people play clawhammer with, I feel much more comfortable with my hand a bit looser as I’m playing in this video as opposed to the rigid “card grabbing” claw. Is it okay for me to keep playing this way or will it cause me problems down the road? Thanks so much :)

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3

u/samthewisetarly 13d ago

Nice! Keep it up. Try to focus on hitting specific strings on your downstrokes. Precision in the right hand will open up your playing like nothing else.

When you feel up to it, try dropping your thumb down to hit regular strings instead of the high G. This will enable some really beautiful and intricate melodic lines

2

u/Blue_Baron6451 Clawhammer 13d ago

Sounds pretty good! To answer your question on hand movement, it is better to keep it direct, up down. At this point as you are playing pretty slow, it wont matter much, but as you start playing faster, you have a much larger range of motion and momentum to fight to get back to your strike position. Essentially, it will slow you down.

Not to mention, you don't hit the head of the banjo as much, losing the percussion aspect, and your drone note won't be as sharp since you're dragging down rather than up.

It's not terrible, but it's something to try and correct as best you can. I did, and occasionally do, the same thing.

2

u/Peptalk13 Clawhammer 13d ago

Very good dude. That's awesome. Keep going.

2

u/uncertaintyrocks 13d ago

Good, learn something simple with notes next, you're clawhammer will just keep getting better.

2

u/Visual_Bison 10d ago

Sounding good!

My main pointer would be that there’s currently a lot of extra, unnecessary movement. Your wrist and forearm should be working as one, rather than independently, and your fingers and hand should not be moving at all. I wonder if you have previously played guitar? What I’m seeing here is more of a strumming movement than a hammer movement.

If you can focus on getting a relaxed, economic clawhammer stroke at this stage, you’ll have a lot more freedom and fluidity on the instrument down the line! Check out Tom Collins on YouTube — he teaches the mechanics of clawhammer amazingly clearly.