Clawhammer Crawl

Well, it's been a long, up hill crawl, but I'm finally making some progress with my clawhammer strumming. I've been banging away at it for awhile now, and it's starting to make sense. I'm using Aaron Keim's Clawhammer Ukulele book now, and it's pretty good. I have another one, but it's more difficult, and I don't know the tunes which makes it hard to tell if I'm playing correctly or not.

I can read tabs, but I have to think about them. It's not like reading music. Anyway, reading tabs slows me down, but I'm getting better.

Is there anyone else trying to learn Clawhammer? Can you read the tabs and make sense out of them? Have you gotten any speed up?
Let's talk.

Clawhammer? Really? I wasn't aware of this. I thought that was just something for banjos. What kind of music? Bluegrass? Or what? I'm very interested, tell me more please.

Papa

I am a bit curious about the whole clawhammer ukulele thing as well. I am a clawhammer banjo player, and even what technically defining "clawhammer" in the banjo community can be very difficult and lead to heated debates.

So, what constitutes clawhammer ukulele? Is it down picking with the lead finger, then strumming, then hitting the top string with your thumb (the so called "bum ditty")? Is it double thumbing? Is there drop thumb?

I am really curious about this and how it translates to the uke, but would like a bit more info.

Also, as far as clawhammer tabs-I read them for banjo. I am going to assume they would be similar for uke, but with one less string? Is there something specific giving you trouble? Or is there an example of a tab that you could link that were giving you trouble?

I can give you a few pieces of advice. Don't try to play from the tab. Try to memorize the song and get rid of the tab as soon as you can-otherwise the tab will become a crutch and you will not truly "learn" the song. Break the song into phrases or segments of a few measures. Play it slow until you can play it well. Repeat it until you can play it from memory. Proceed to the next phrase and repeat. Often phrases will contain similar elements, so once you memorize one phrases, later phrases will be easier to memorize. Once you can play the song from memory, you will be able to play it much faster and easier than if you played from the tabs.

Sure one can Clawhammer a Uke, and yes all those elements that you mentioned, wodan22, are included plus a few more like hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides. It's all there because of the high G string which is a similarity between the Uke and the Banjo.

Go to You tube and check out Clawhammer Ukulele. Aaron Keim, Richard Hefner, Ken Middleton, et al are there showin' one how to do it.

Thanks for the advice, wodan22, but I don't have any particular problems except that I'm old and have trouble remembering what I've learned. Breaking the tune into phrases is a good idea. I use it all the time with my other instruments. I've taught myself how to play my flutes by ear, and now I'm working on getting better at it.

Papa-ooke, I like to play folk music, and, since Blugrass is folk music played with specific instruments, I like it too.
I enjoy all kinds of folk music. And learning is a joy.

I'm just curious why (and to some extent...how) you're playing music you don't know. You clearly have an internet capable device and there's an awful lot of bluegrass on Youtube.

Phluffy the Destroyer said:

I'm just curious why (and to some extent...how) you're playing music you don't know. You clearly have an internet capable device and there's an awful lot of bluegrass on Youtube.

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I wasn't sure if this was directed to me, or to the OP?

My summer project is to learn how to claw hammer -- bought Aaron's book a while ago and am looking forward to giving it a go in a couple of months!

Having worked quite a bit on finger styling the last few months, I definitely agree with woodan that tabs pretty much suck and it's better to avoid or minimize using them -- for me it is an unnecessary layer of abstraction that hinders me from really getting the song.

SeattleSean said:

My summer project is to learn how to claw hammer -- bought Aaron's book a while ago and am looking forward to giving it a go in a couple of months!

Having worked quite a bit on finger styling the last few months, I definitely agree with woodan that tabs pretty much suck and it's better to avoid or minimize using them -- for me it is an unnecessary layer of abstraction that hinders me from really getting the song.

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I should probably revise my statement. Upon re-reading it, it comes across as very much anti-tab. I think tabs are great, when properly utilized. They are a great learning tool and an excellent way to communicate how to play a song for people who don't read music. However, they are a tool, and should only be used when it is to your benefit. They should not be used as a crutch, to your detriment. They are not a substitute for sheet music, that you should use every time you play a song. You should use the tab to understand how to play the song and commit it to memory. Once you have it memorized, throw that tab away, and play from memory. Your playing will be cleaner, smoother, and more consistent, and it helps you be able to play by ear better. Then again, this is just my personal opinion, and I am quite frequently a wrong idiot.

Seattle Sean, you oughta join our group. You might it. I think it'll be folksy.

Phluffy (if I may call you that), I'm sorry but I don't understand your comment. To whom are you speaking?

Is there anyone else trying to learn Clawhammer? Can you read the tabs and make sense out of them? Have you gotten any speed up?

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... I'd been wanting to learn some "not-bluegrass" banjo for a while, but was struggling, for various reasons. Then I saw a second-hand banjolele in a shop window and bought it on a whim. Now ... what to do with it? Then I discovered the concept of clawhammer ukulele and the whole thing came together in a couple of weeks or so. Now I can apply a basic clawhammer backing to many songs (which is mostly what I'd wanted to do in the first place, but hadn't really recognised it) both on the banjo and the ukulele.

So, the reasons for my success :

1. A couple of good YouTube videos on clawhammer basics ... just sitting in front of the screen and picking along.
2. An absolute ear-worm of a tune that I REALLY wanted to play ... in my case "Old Joe Clark" as played by Pete Seeger, but it could have been several others, in hindsight, "Cripple Creek" for instance.
3. A strap, so's my left hand could move around without hindrance and my right hand could concentrate on "clawhammering" without worrying about dropping the silly thing. Again, in hindsight, this is possibly the most important factor. The traditional strapless grip on the ukulele may be fine for the traditional one-finger strumming style (not knocking it, just saying), but when trying to learn a whole bunch of new skills, one less thing to worry about is always a good thing.
4. Learning to read tab, simply because so much of this style of music is presented in that format. It's also useful to have a recommended picking pattern to work from, at least in the beginning. You can always change things around later to suit yourself. It's probably important, initially at least, to learn the tab for a tune you already know "in your head", so's you know what the timing should be and whether or not you just played a wrong note. Once you're used to playing tunes you already can hum from tab, then's the time to branch out to tabs for tunes you don't know well (or at all).

Just my tuppence worth ... YMMV ... but enjoy

wodan22 said:

I should probably revise my statement. Upon re-reading it, it comes across as very much anti-tab. I think tabs are great, when properly utilized. They are a great learning tool and an excellent way to communicate how to play a song for people who don't read music. However, they are a tool, and should only be used when it is to your benefit. They should not be used as a crutch, to your detriment. They are not a substitute for sheet music, that you should use every time you play a song. You should use the tab to understand how to play the song and commit it to memory. Once you have it memorized, throw that tab away, and play from memory. Your playing will be cleaner, smoother, and more consistent, and it helps you be able to play by ear better. Then again, this is just my personal opinion, and I am quite frequently a wrong idiot.

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Tabs were really hard at first for me to 'get', but then once I did get them it struck me that they have a very limited utility and can both engender bad habits and also be a crutch versus just learning how to read music. I still use them from time to time, but to your point I try to only use them as a kick-starter to get my brain around how I should be approaching fingering, etc.

Tabs can be 'very' useful when employed by someone like a John King in his classical uke book, where he advocates specific fingering in order to maximize resonance, a la the campanella style.

Downup - sorry, i'm not sure what group you're speaking of!

The Banjolele Group of course. You can do clawhammer on a regular ukulele too, and, when you've learned, buy a Banjolele.

This goes for kypfer too, and anyone else who wants to try somethin' different. Plunka, plunka, plunka's fine, but how about more and different--stretch!

Plunka, plunka, plunka's fine,

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... yours might plunk but my old John Grey rings out like a bell since I fitted a new vellum, it's really too loud to play indoors in the evening, so I do all my practising on my Kala wooden concert, keeping the banjolele for when I'm not going to make too many mistakes or annoy the neighbours

As for "stretch ...", I'm starting to play some of Jamie Holding's arrangements of lute music for ukulele, and just for something really different I've got another soprano with Aquila "5th's" on it, so I can use tenor banjo, mandolin or fiddle arrangements "as written" ... that'll keep me stretched for a while

I apologize for the confusion. I wasn't aware there was more than one person in the conversation that wasn't familiar with the music they were playing. Since others besides the OP seem to be playing music they don't know, I suppose it's an open question...

I need to check out Aaron's book. I love his playing and arrangements. But for anyone looking to start from scratch I have a basic clawhammer tutorial on youtube. I've arranged dozens of tunes for clawhammer ukulele (even Greensleeves) and it is really a fun and satisfying way to play.

When I started playing the ukulele, I used any old music in my singing range that had chords, and everything went more or less fine. But when I got music that had both the staff AND tabs or maybe just tabs, I often got confused. So I dropped the music on the staffs and began to use only tabs when possible. I prefer reading music which I do very well, and, when I read it, I can hear the tune in my head (which I don't with tabs). But so much ukulele music is in tabs, I suppose one has to compromise. I don't understand why guitar and ukulele players use tabs. Other string instrumentalists don't, and keyed instrumentalists don't. Anyway, I think they're a pain too.

But so much ukulele music is in tabs, I suppose one has to compromise. I don't understand why guitar and ukulele players use tabs. Other string instrumentalists don't, and keyed instrumentalists don't.

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... as someone who's only recently (2-3 years) learnt to read music (after 40+ years hacking chords), I was a little reticent about learning another skill when I met tabs, but I made the compromise when I found music I wanted to play that was only readily available in tab format. I'm pleased I did. Whilst I find there's very little difference between a melody line written in one system or another, when it comes down to polyphony (two or more notes at the same time, ie chords) and picking patterns, I feel tab has it's advantages, especially with a re-entrantly tuned instrument like the ukulele or 5-string banjo or even partial chord shapes "up the neck" on a guitar, when there may one "easy" way and several "difficult" ways of playing the same collection or sequence of notes.

Just my tuppence worth

Kypfer, you're probably correct, and I'm not very far into my use of tabs--just a newby. However, other string and keyed instrumentalists don't use them. I don't often see that they tell us which finger to use except in exercise books. Piano players have 88 keys to play with 10 fingers and maybe an elbow or two, and they don't use them. Everyone else who plays music learns which strings to fret or key to press, and some have to read two staffs! But I'll keep whacking away at them, until I master them too.

Phluffy the Destroyer said:

I apologize for the confusion. I wasn't aware there was more than one person in the conversation that wasn't familiar with the music they were playing. Since others besides the OP seem to be playing music they don't know, I suppose it's an open question...

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There may have been some confusion on both sides. I don't play music that I am not familiar with (although there may have been someone else in the thread who did?). However, after I mentioned that I played clawhammer banjo, you made a bluegrass reference. Clawhammer banjo is generally not used to play bluegrass, but is often mistaken for bluegrass. Hence, I thought you might have been referring to me. No worries.

My Lord, Destroyer, do you know every song in the book? Sight reading is one of the most difficult things for musicians to learn, and it's a big help to us to be familiar with a tune we're working on. When learning a new and difficult strum and reading the dreaded tabs and trying to Ditty the Bum, it's a big help if one knows what the mess is supposed to sound like.