What's Old-Timey Banjo?
					( C ) 2005
				By Jason Z. Dehart
	When you talk about old-timey American music, you can't forget the significant historical contribution made by the humble five-string  banjo. The banjo is a common thread in the musical tapestry of this nation. Starting as a simple skin-covered gourd brought to America by slaves in the early 1800s, the earlier three- and four-string banjo evolved into a widely popular five-string instrument that could be heard­at various times­in eastern big-city society parlors, plantations, subsistence farms, steamboats, and California gold claims. In the 1840s and 1850s the five-string banjo's popularity spread rapidly thanks to the advent of the antebellum "Minstrel Shows", and during the War Between the States almost every army camp North or South had its share of banjo players. Later, the banjo was carried West and it was the light and easily-transported banjo ­ not the guitar ­ that found favor with working cowboys on the long cattle drives between Texas and Wyoming. Around the turn of the century the banjo became less "vulgar"' and large banjo bands or clubs became fashionable. You could have even heard banjo music being played at college campuses. Later variations of the instrument were used in ragtime music (which later evolved into jazz and swing) and today the typical five-string banjo can be found in bluegrass and country bands. However, there are lots of old-school musicians out there who play and sing and record banjo music in the traditional early American style,called variously "clawhammer," "thumbknocker," "tapping," etc. More on this later. Unfortunately, these talented throw-back musicians are relegated to the sub-culture status of "folk music" and don¹t have broad mainstream appeal. You won't, for example, see a clawhammer banjo player on Country Music Television's fancy music videos. You will, however, see bluegrass players like Ron Block of AKUS fame and other assorted "Grassers." In fact, popular TV hasn't seen a clawhammer player since that great showman, Grandpa Jones. String Bean was also another old-timey banjo guy. At any rate. The early banjos of the middle 19th-century bore only a small resemblance to the ones found in concert halls and music shops today.The necks were wider, there were no frets and the strings were made of gut instead of steel. They were simple, light, open-backed wooden affairs and their sound was hollow and plunky. But put it together with a tambourine and a pair of bones for rhythm and you had an instant party machine.Toe-tapping, upbeat songs like "Nellie Bly" and "Oh! Susana" had infectious tempos that were wildly popular, and there were hundreds of songs like that. Indeed, as modern-day comedian Steve Martin (a great bluegrass banjo player in his own right) once pointed out, "You just can't play a sad song on a banjo." So what made the old-timey banjo sound so upbeat and happy? Much of it had to do with the way it was played.Before there was the fast-paced finger picking of the modern-era bluegrass banjo player, there was "clawhammer." This was fairly typical of the style played in the mid-19th century.Without getting too technical, "clawhammer" banjo is all in the wrist. There is no individual finger picking involved. The player's right hand curls into the shape of a "claw" or a sideways thumbs-up posture. A wrist-snapping action is used to tap or "hammer" out melody notes with the back of a fingernail. Snap the wrist down and you have a downbeat note. Snap it back up and the right thumb ­ which rests on the top fifth string on the downbeat­ flicks that string and generates an upbeat note. When played up to speed together you have a "bum-ditty" rhythm going on. Clawhammer, or frailing, is the generic name for a type of musical style that came into being as far back as the 1820s with a guy by the name of Joel Sweeney. Joel took the old four-string "banjar" of African slaves and gave it an additional string to create the prototype of the five-string banjo commonly seen in country music today. His brother Sam took up the instrument and was Jeb Stuart¹s banjo player during the Late Unpleasantness. It was during the post-war years that there came a split in banjo-playing styles. Around 1868 a new trend in form was inspired by classical guitar. This is where we get the individual finger-picking which later became synonymous with bluegrass. The new "classical banjo" style grew up in the urban areas; but back in the Appalachians, isolation prevented many musicians from learning the newer, louder and faster style. As a result, the old-timey clawhammer style continued to exist-only in the shadow of the new-fangled style. Today, the mainstream world of banjo music is filled with loud, fast-picking Earl Scruggs clones and their fancy resonator banjos. Clawhammer thumbknockers were consigned to the subculture of folk music, where they have their own fans and followers. Many old-timey style players today favor the open-back banjo for its traditional look and sound, but my teacher Gordon Scott said things were different in the old days. If you were poor, the only thing you could afford was a plain-jane open back. But Gordon said if you look at some of the old photographs, you¹ll notice that some clawhammer players graduated to resonator style instruments when they could afford them. The banjo I play is a 24-year-old Alvarez Silver Belle resonator. It's called a "Masterclone" because it resembles Gibson's Mastertone model. I bought my Alvarez new from an Ocala music shop around 1981. It has a maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and mother-of-pearl inlays. After learning some chords on my own and playing with my brothers for a couple of years, this banjo sat in a closet for 20-something years. Then, in a burst of seldom-seen inspiration, I picked it up two summers ago and started strumming along with Ben on some of his songs. Then, at my wife's urging, I was convinced to take lessons­something I never did before. But I wanted to learn how to play the old-timey, 19th-century way so I could fit it in with Civil War reenacting.I found the right teacher in Gordon Scott, who has a shop here in Tallahassee. Gordon¹s taught me a lot since I started lessons in July, but I still have a long way to go. Right now I¹m trying to unlock the mysteries of the drop-thumb technique­which can be a useful tool in some fast-paced songs. Clawhammer banjo is all about finesse and precision, not noise. And it's a very counter-intuitive way of playing the banjo, Gordon said. That's why most conventional "grassers" won't touch it (he's the exception, being an accomplished grasser in his own right). Well, that's my story and I¹m stickin' to it.
			Back to " Tellin' It Like It Is ! " main page

Jason