neo1022
Well-known member
Interesting experience to report. After a year or so noodling around with the ukulele and learning the basics (and not making a lot of progress), I shifted my attention to Old Time banjo, mostly clawhammer. Found the banjo much easier to play than the uke for some reason, and love the rhythm and melody of clawhammer.
Anyway, owing to frequent travel and an aversion to hauling a full-size banjo around with me, I switched back to uke for a while and decided to focus on adapting clawhammer banjo techniques to the uke (guided by Aaron Keim's great book, Clawhammer Ukulele).
To my surprise, I found that the skills transferred effortlessly, and I was now able to figure out various banjo classics on the uke largely by ear. A week later, I can play most of my banjo tunes on the ukulele even better than on the banjo! Really impressed by the flexibility of this little instrument. And something about learning clawhammer on banjo really unlocked my (admittedly still paltry) musical skills.
I've wondered about the difference. One thing I noticed is that the style of instructional materials for banjo differ markedly from uke tutorials and instructional books/videos. Most banjo material assumed NO knowledge of anything -- no music theory, no technique, no nothing. So everything starts from the basics. Also, since banjo is a folk instrument that was traditionally learned from watching, listening, and chatting with players, it seems to have developed a slightly different culture for the transmission of musical skills. Plus which, the clawhammer technique places certain restrictions on the right hand action, which seems to simplify things a bit and allows attention to shift to the left hand (which is almost NEVER holding full chords - another thing I like). Whatever the explanation, in my experience banjo has been a great adjunct to ukulele, and the skills sure transfer.
Of course, clawhammer is a bit of a limited technique to use all the time on uke (missing that extra string does close off some avenues of musical expression), but for sheer fun, it can't be beat. Now I feel like I can actually PLAY (without looking at tabs!).
If you're curious, I highly recommend experimenting a bit with clawhammer. It feels odd at first if you're used to uke strummer and standard finger style, but once you've got your "claw," you'll be banging out tunes in no time...
Anyone else have a similar experience?
Anyway, owing to frequent travel and an aversion to hauling a full-size banjo around with me, I switched back to uke for a while and decided to focus on adapting clawhammer banjo techniques to the uke (guided by Aaron Keim's great book, Clawhammer Ukulele).
To my surprise, I found that the skills transferred effortlessly, and I was now able to figure out various banjo classics on the uke largely by ear. A week later, I can play most of my banjo tunes on the ukulele even better than on the banjo! Really impressed by the flexibility of this little instrument. And something about learning clawhammer on banjo really unlocked my (admittedly still paltry) musical skills.
I've wondered about the difference. One thing I noticed is that the style of instructional materials for banjo differ markedly from uke tutorials and instructional books/videos. Most banjo material assumed NO knowledge of anything -- no music theory, no technique, no nothing. So everything starts from the basics. Also, since banjo is a folk instrument that was traditionally learned from watching, listening, and chatting with players, it seems to have developed a slightly different culture for the transmission of musical skills. Plus which, the clawhammer technique places certain restrictions on the right hand action, which seems to simplify things a bit and allows attention to shift to the left hand (which is almost NEVER holding full chords - another thing I like). Whatever the explanation, in my experience banjo has been a great adjunct to ukulele, and the skills sure transfer.
Of course, clawhammer is a bit of a limited technique to use all the time on uke (missing that extra string does close off some avenues of musical expression), but for sheer fun, it can't be beat. Now I feel like I can actually PLAY (without looking at tabs!).
If you're curious, I highly recommend experimenting a bit with clawhammer. It feels odd at first if you're used to uke strummer and standard finger style, but once you've got your "claw," you'll be banging out tunes in no time...
Anyone else have a similar experience?
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