Clawhammer Banjo
Clawhammer is the old-time, down-picking banjo style that predates Scruggs three-finger bluegrass, using a downward striking motion of the index or middle finger plus a thumb on the fifth (drone) string in the rhythmic "bum-ditty" pattern. The tone is rhythmic, percussive, and droning rather than rolling, with the banjo driving old-time fiddle tunes and ballads. Often paired with cross-tuned fiddle, it anchors the Appalachian string-band sound from which bluegrass banjo descended and which old-time and crossover players still use today.
History
Clawhammer descends from African banjo techniques carried into Appalachia, taking shape in the 19th century well before Earl Scruggs revolutionized the instrument in the 1940s. It was the dominant banjo style of the old-time string-band era documented by collectors and recorded by figures like Wade Ward, Kyle Creed, and later revivalists. The 1960s folk revival sparked a clawhammer renaissance led by players such as Mike Seeger, and the style persists today through old-time festivals (Clifftop, Mount Airy) and modern virtuosos like Adam Hurt and crossover artists who weave clawhammer into bluegrass and Americana settings.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Cecil Sharp, "English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians"
- Smithsonian Folkways
- Old-Time Herald