{"id":7365,"date":"2013-02-02T10:07:48","date_gmt":"2013-02-02T15:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/?p=7365"},"modified":"2025-08-05T18:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T22:04:08","slug":"clawhammer-banjo-for-people-who-have-never-played-anything-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/02\/clawhammer-banjo-for-people-who-have-never-played-anything-before\/","title":{"rendered":"clawhammer banjo for people who have never played anything before"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’d never played any other instrument when I learned the banjo a decade ago. I’m still not entirely sure why I picked up the banjo, beyond the fact that it wasn’t a guitar. So weak were my musical recognition skills that instead of learning the style I really liked (Peter Stampfel’s two finger style) I picked up clawhammer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you’ll need a banjo. Beyond being what you can afford, having five strings, a straight neck with frets that won’t shred your hands, and tuning pegs that don’t slip, it can be anything you want. Almost everyone learns on a Deering Goodtime<\/a>, just as they did on a Harmony Reso-Tone in the 1960s. There are others: the Gold Tone CC-OT<\/a>, the Epiphone MB-100<\/a>; they’ll do. Don’t get anything too heavy at first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other kit you’ll need: a strap, a tuner, spare strings, and a metronome (maybe). Nails on your right hand kinda help. It helps to swap out the fifth string for a heavier gauge. Most beginner banjos come with a 0.010″ string, while a 0.012″ is much stiffer and won’t squirm about under your thumb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Three banjos, same thumb<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key to clawhammer is that your thumb lives on the fifth string. No matter what you do, your thumb always returns to the fifth string. Is the action on your banjo high enough to make the fifth home for your thumb? If not, a taller bridge is a cheap way of fixing this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find a teacher, and get a couple of lessons, just so you know how to hold the thing and do some very basic frailing strums. As Peter Stampfel said: “Find a teacher whose playing you like \u2014 who is not a jerk”. I found Chris Coole<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n