Clawhammer uke keys - question

I am interested in clawhammer uke and have seen various tabs and videos for key of C and have been enjoying working on clawhammer uke in this key.

I was wondering what others do when wanting to play clawhammer uke for tunes that are traditionally in other keys (such as soldier's joy in D) or other old time tunes in G, A and especially playing with others in a jam. My tuning is traditional uke tuning GCEA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSlmEZUtROo here is a good video to start with. You can e-mail Aaron and he will send you a packet of tab and instruction. It's about eight pages and a great learning tool. Good luck with it. I tried and cannot get it to sound right to me.

Wildflower said:

I am interested in clawhammer uke and have seen various tabs and videos for key of C and have been enjoying working on clawhammer uke in this key.

I was wondering what others do when wanting to play clawhammer uke for tunes that are traditionally in other keys (such as soldier's joy in D) or other old time tunes in G, A and especially playing with others in a jam. My tuning is traditional uke tuning GCEA.

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The reason why Soldiers Joy and so many other old tunes are played in the key of D is because this is a great key for instruments like violin, mandolin and guitar. However, unless you are going to play along with a bunch of bluegrass musicians, playing typical bluegrass instruments, you don't have to play it in D on the ukulele (unless you want to). It is not an easy key on the uke (C6 tuning) because you can't do much with the 4th string. In clawhammer this string often acts as a sort of drone note (like on a 5 string banjo).

You have three main options:

1. Play it in a good key like C or G (I play Soldiers Joy in F)
2. Tune your G string to another note e.g. A. You can then use it as a drone note in the key of D.
3. Play in C and put a capo on the 2nd.

Hope this helps.

I like to experiment with different tunings to play clawhammer songs in other keys. After learning a few tunes on the banjo, I discovered that clawhammer works very well in an open tuning, where the instrument is tuned so that the open strings play a chord. I've played songs in D with the ukulele tuned a d f# a - basically just tuning the g c and e strings up a whole step. Figure out the notes in the chord for the key you want to play in and then experiment with tuning the different strings to different notes in the chord - with different string tensions and voicings, you end with an interesting variety of tones and melodic possibilities..... a great way to figure out how to improvise a bit and play by ear, as well.....

I have just finished writing a book on old time fiddle and string band tunes and playing in std uke tuning is really not hard . I have a tab for Soldiers Joy which is a D tune. The only thing you have to do is lower your third string 1/2 step and it can easily be played in D. BTW if you do play at an old time jam. those folks aren't going to change keys for you. They play in the keys the tune was originally written. In fact, if you do go to an oldtime jam you might play in the the key of D for an hour then play in A for a while. This is so the banjo player doesn't have to keep retuning. My book" Thumpin on the Old-Time Banjo" should be out in a couple of weeks and will available on Amazon. Very simple tabs in Std. Uke tuning.

Sounds great Barry, looking forward to it.

Sometimes I want to Sledge Hammer my ukes.

So how is the claw hammer coming along? I keep fiddling around with it when I get an urge to.