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Clawhammer question: Been frailing for only a couple of weeks now, and I'm wondering how long you should grow your fingernails, or if growing fingernails is really essential. I frail with my middle finger (My accuracy is better with the index, but the index feels weird to me, and I figure accuracy can be improved) and I'm a nailbiter, but I've stopped biting my middle nail so I can frail with it. I have probably 1mm of nail, well below the tip of my finger, and I have an extremely hard time sounding melodies on individual strings. Even when my accuracy is dead on, at best I'll get a lot of cluck and at worst I'll just sound a completely dead note. I have no problem waiting for my middle finger to grow out, but it's kinda frustrating right now. I only ask because I heard that there's some people who frail with really short nails, and I don't see how that's even possible, if it's just a training issue or like the angle of attack or what.
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Jul 31, 2014 05:39
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 00:24 |
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Man I would be happy if my banjo only had 12 frets, I almost never go above the 12th one Speaking of that, do you guys have thoughts on popping out frets and scooping out the neck? I have a pretty cheap banjo, for what it's worth. Almost exclusively play clawhammer. I just can't drone on the high string over the neck, I always end up banging my thumb against the neck, and I'd like to be able to play over the neck cuz it sounds cool
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Jan 31, 2015 10:32
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Can anyone recommend any good clawhammer tab sites? I've pretty much exhausted all of Mike Iverson's tabs (his version of Soldier's Joy basically taught me how to drop thumb!) and I really like the site run by the guy who goes by "Clawhammer Banjo" on youtube, but I want more. I've also looked at this guy's tabs, but they all seem kinda simple and samey. IDK, I like Iverson's page because there's a bunch of really neat creepy-sounding Gm songs and the Double C songs are all really well-done and intricate and drop-thumbey.
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Apr 23, 2015 10:50
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Kvlt! posted:Sorry for the double post. Once you start drop-thumbing, you'll find that you use a "floating claw" a lot more often. Until then, there's really no hard and fast rule, just do whatever's the most comfortable. I do a lot of drop-thumbing, and I have yet to really find a truly comfortable position for it. Bowed wrist, floating hand, over the neck or near the bridge, elbow tucked in or flared out, I always get kind of close to a position where I have enough thumb maneuverability to drop-thumb really quickly and accurately but something always feels a bit off. Strangely enough, the most comfortable drop-thumbing for me is when I'm kinda slouching on my couch and I can rest my banjo on my belly, but that doesn't really translate well to actually playing in a seated or standing position.
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Aug 14, 2015 04:52
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Kobayashi posted:Yesterday I accidentally knocked a piece of furniture into head of my banjo, causing the bridge to collapse. It was easy enough to stand it up again and wiggle it back in place, and after retuning everything seems OK, but I admit I don't know the mechanics of the instrument as well as I should. Is there anything I need to worry about? I mean as long as it's in roughly the same place it was before, it should be fine. I have to re-place my bridge every time i restring anyway, so I just made a few small marks on the bridge and the head so that I can line it back up in place. The only problem if you mis-place the bridge would probably be string intonation, but there's a fair amount of give and the bridge usually "settles" to a natural spot on the head anyway, I find.
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Sep 27, 2015 18:20
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Ah man, I remember that feeling. There's such a satisfying click in your brain when you finally get how to frail. For me, at least, it wasn't like something that I slowly and gradually got mastery of. It was something that I practiced over and over and over again, and then suddenly at 3:44 I didn't know how to frail and at 3:45 I knew how to frail. It was a great eureka moment. Learning how to drop-thumb is also a really satisfying "click".
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Nov 12, 2015 04:46
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I play on a resonator banjo that I removed the resonator from. The action's a little low, which I actually prefer because it makes fretting a bit easier. There are times I wish I had a scooped neck, and I've given thoughts to scooping out my own neck from time to time, but ultimately I naturally frail pretty close to the bridge anyway. I will say that I do have some troubles accidentally banging the low string when I drop thumb, but I'm not sure if my action has anything to do with that. Do clawhammer-specific banjos have wider necks? Cause I'd like to try a banjo with a wider neck to make really fast drop thumbing a little easier.
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Nov 14, 2015 09:17
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Do you guys have much experience recording banjo? I'm wondering about mic placement. I have a Sontronics STC-01 (admittedly a pretty cheap condensor mic) and everything I've googled tells me a good placement for a cardoid mic is a good foot away, pointed towards the neck slightly off-kilter from the picking hand. I tried that and I liked the dynamic range, but there was just a little too much tinniness and not enough oomph, despite my best EQing efforts. Since then I've been trying to see if there's a good sweet spot for a single mic placement, where I get good boominess and clarity but I can still pick out the high trebly frequencies. I dicked around with putting it about an inch away from where the neck and head meet, and I good better basses but the drone was way too loud and distracting. I actually just experimented with putting the mic straight up under the back, resting on my belly (I have an open-back) and that actually sounded the best out of all, but I'm wondering if there's something better. Where do you usually place the mic?
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Nov 19, 2015 08:15
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Does anyone have any tips for alternate string pull offs for clawhammer? I feel like that's the last technique which I truly need to master, and then I'll know how to do all of the classic clawhammer techniques. Do you, like, "pre-fret" the string and then pull it off, or do you just essentially pluck the open string with whatever finger your left hand can spare?
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Jan 26, 2016 17:05
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i used to tune my mandolin so that each course is a third interval, so like the first course the two strings were tuned E and G#, etc etc entirely nonstandard and it made playing chords completely impossible, but it sounded cool af
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Mar 17, 2016 04:43
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personal survey question for frailers: what finger? for the entire time I've been frailing, it's been middle finger all the way, but I've been incorporating a lot of 1-2-1-5 and 1-5-1-2 style drop thumbs in the songs that i've been writing lately and i always end up banging the 3rd string with my thumb when I play fast, i'm wondering if a tighter claw might be the solution I'm looking forMassasoit posted:I've had a banjo die over a decade and can dick around on it. Never got very good, but now that I'm done with undergrad, grad school, have a steady job and am not moving around I want to get good. what kind of playing do you find yourself gravitating towards? three-finger bluegrass scruggs style or more of a clawhammer-ey old time style or a folksy three-finger forkfinger style or new orleans jazz strumming? i have recs for the 2nd and 3rd but not the 1st and 4th
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Mar 28, 2016 07:55
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Colonel J posted:I've coincidentally been learning clawhammer - as I understand it, there are 2 motions : floating your thumb makes it easier to drop thumb, which you will do a lot of when you inevitably get bored of bum ditty i don't have my banjo with me atm so I can't check how I do it, but I'm 99% sure I keep my thumb floating for all motions except sounding the fifth string, but again I hardly ever play bum ditty these days so 
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Jul 10, 2018 18:40
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 00:24 |
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can't frail on a mandolin i fully 100% support old-time uke unfortunately I can't help you, I live in a country that's just filthy with ukes and the answer for me is "walk into a mom&pop music shop and buy the third most expensive one"
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Jul 26, 2018 04:05
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