http://banjomeetsworld.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/strum-your-banjo-for-an-instant-banjo-uke/

It’s busier than a ska-like beat, but you might be able to apply the same principle to get the sound you’re looking for.

To emphasize the back beat when you’re playing melody, you can use the same muting technique on individual notes (don’t fret the note all the way) and use a firmer strike on the notes that fall on beats 2 and 4.

Thanks for the link to the video–I enjoyed it.

I really look forward to seeing the video you mention in a month or so! Meanwhile, I’m going to keep mucking around trying to figure this banjo out…

Thanks again!

Usually when I’m figuring out a new rhythmic pattern, I ignore the thumb for awhile–I just let it rest on the 5th string–and first see what my frailing finger needs to do. So first I identify which beats I can comfortably and accurately get with the downstroke. Then I see how the thumb can get the up beats, either on the 5th string or on some other string.

I also use an upstroke with my frailing finger for some things but you might avoid that until you’re super comfortable with the standard down stroke.

Finally, you could also treat your banjo like an ukulele, doing 100% strumming up the neck. It can make a nice change from playing melody: you can play melody a bit, then switch to making chords up the neck and strumming, no pick required. I hope to do a video about that in the next month.

I’ve just found this HUGELY useful site (from one of your BanjoTube videos off BanjoHangout), and I want to first thank you for your efforts. I will certainly be coming back here a LOT in my learning of CH banjo!

I’ve only been playing for about 8 months – so I’m still on the clawhammer standards – ‘cripple creek’, ‘pretty little dog’, ‘cluck ol’ hen’ and the like, however, I’m already seeing potential for the clawhammer ‘bum-ditty’ sound to be applied to some of the more recent music from my home nation of New Zealand. Most music from there, now, comes out with a very relaxed Ska-Reggae-Dub beat which is not unlike a stressed “bum-DITty”. Infact, when playing with a guitarist who was also learning, he instinctively dropped into these sorts of beats.

Are there good tricks for adapting clawhammer to these sorts of more modern sounds?

Thanks in advance!

Martin

http://www.banjohangout.org

Have fun!

I don’t know if this is the right place for this question if not I apologize.

I am fairly new at the banjo and working with a fretless (I know). I have started experimenting with alternative tunings but am a little worried that I will damage the banjo itself. It is very nice and the only one I have so I would hate to murder it after we’ve become such good friends. Am I being paranoid?

The banjo is a Mike Ramsey and the player is 8 months into a serious banjo habit. Thanks

Here are some tips on tuning:

Chromatic tuners are great. I recommend the kind that tells you what note you’re playing. I’d also recommend that you learn how to count up the frets to find a specific note on the fretboard.

Every fret is a “half step” in the western scale. It doesn’t matter where you start the scale; it’s the intervals that count. Here’s the scale starting on an A:

A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G G# A

Your tuner might show it as this:

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A

To see how it works, turn on your tuner and tune your third string to A. Press the first fret and look at the tuner. It should tell you that the note has changed to B flat (or A#–they’re the same thing). Press the next fret and the note will be B. Go up one fret at a time to about the 5th fret to understand how to count up the scale. Try it on other strings, too, and notice the pattern. No matter where you start in the above scale, the intervals are always the same. One fret takes you up one place in the scale.

I’m not talking about memorizing scales but about being able to say, “I know that the open second string is a D. I need the first string to be an E. Where can I find an E so I can tune the first string to it? I can use the second string and count up the frets: open is D, first fret is E flat, second fret is E. That’s the note I need. I’ll hold the second string at the second fret and tune the first string to match it.”

Spelled out in such detail, it sounds laborious, but it quickly becomes second nature. It means that you can get into any banjo tuning if you know the pitch of just one string. For example, if you see a banjo tuning written like aEAC#E, you can tune your third string to A and quickly figure out the rest just by using frets. And if you really don’t want to buy a tuner, you can find an A at this site and use frets to go from there:

http://www.anapurnawebdesign.com/A-440.html

Taking this approach also makes you more aware of the relationships between strings in the various tunings, which will help you learn by ear.

If you want a quick fix, Mike Iverson has tuning charts for some common tunings here:

http://www.bluesageband.com/Tab%20pdf%20files/Instruction/Banjo%20Tunings.pdf