Added: 2 years ago
From: rpeek
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  • You are a great teacher - I am going to learn this now!! haha

  • @ltgrasshoppah Sweet! Just remember, it don't have to be hard.. It does have to be fun, otherwise, what's the point? hahaha

  • I have been watching you banjo video's for quite some time now. You have inspired me to get a banjo. I found a GREAT used Deering Goodtime 5 string at a good price. Now, I can start learning to play. Thanks for posting these!!!!

    Jon

  • @wx5nco Awesome! That's a good banjo to learn on!

  • Does it matter if you use middle or first finger? and what is your tuning? im really new to this. Thanks for the awesome tutorials i love them!!

  • @TheSandersInc No it doesn't matter. There's lots of tunings for a banjo, Standard G is GDGBD, G is 5th string, Good luck with it.

  • As I was about to quit trying to play the Scruggs style banjo after 18 months of lessons from guitar teachers,I was drove 40 miles away and found a claw hammer teacher who had me playing in a week and now a year later I have my first gig at a convelesant home .Thank you for the encouragement and your video's

  • @joachim95687 Yep, that's the way it is. Clawhammer is made for fun. Scruggs Style is made for torture. I'm glad you've been redeemed.. hahaha. By the way I've played at a lot of convelesant homes too. Good gig, if you can keep 'em awake! haha

  • the end of your videos always make me laugh. i want a beard as fluffy as yours :(

  • What brand of banjo is that?

  • @RyanFalls That was a hundred year old Lyon and Healey tenor that I converted to a 5 string. Don't have it anymore. Swapped it for a Dobson ladies banjo..

  • I love it. Thanks so much!

  • @LuckyGurrl13 Welcome!

  • When you strike down to get the beat going does your first finger hit the head too or do you bounce off the string avoiding the head ? I watched the next lesson on hitting alternate strings with the first finger and I think im over hitting cos I'm catching the other string.

  • @countorlock100 I don't think about it so I didn't know. Had to go grab a banjo and play it to see, and don't seem to be hittin' the head, but I could be and if I was it would be okay. There ain't no wrong or right way, just do it in a way that suits ya..

  • @rpeek Thanks man, It's all good !, after I posted the question, I sat back, relaxed into it and felt a bounce off the string which I didn't feel before. Hard to explain. I think I felt the shift between learning and just doing it. Thanks again. I look forward to the day when I can play a song as sweet as "amazing grace" on an oil can. I know its possible 'cos I saw you do it !

    Peace and respect

    Mike K ;-)

  • @countorlock100 I think you've hit on the real substance of it. You just do it 'cause it feel good, sounds good, makes you feel good. Nobody has the correct formula. It comes from inside you. When it feels right, it is right..

  • @rpeek Hey there. Hope your well and good. Am really enjoying the journey (frustrating at times though), wish I could hit the sweet zone more often!! Did you get the "Sparky's Wood" poem?.

    Kind regards,

    Mike K ;-)

  • @countorlock100 Got it but been busier than a one legged tap dancer at a banjo convention.. Haven't had time to look it over good yet. Will..

  • @rpeek No problem. Just watched the dawn of the dead film set to banjo you posted. Classic ! brightned up my sunday morning ! Take care

    MK ;-)

  • @countorlock100  Yea, we had some fun with that.. hahaha.

  • @rpeek Dunno if it was intentional, but the green t-shirt works well in the zombie context! In the vid, you say it was "Shaun of the dead" you watched, If yer interested, Simon Pegg (of the film) made a series called "Spaced" and appeared as a character in "Black Books" (With Dylan Moran). Down load em if they available online. "Mrs Brown's Boys" is worth looking at too. I know you can get that on youtube.

    Regards

    MK

  • @countorlock100 Thank You! I'll keep an eye out for that..

  • started learning scruggs style a few months ago but i think ive been seduced by frailing. There is a rythmic quality lacking in bluegrass. rpeek you are a great teacher and a credit to the craft

  • @countorlock100 Awesome! Another convert! Praise tha Lord! hahahah

  • @rpeek Dude, (I think I should call you "sir" out of respect tho). I'm in awe tbh, not only your a great metal/wood worker and craftsman, know a load of tunes and can teach, i'ts the fact you take the time to share your knowledge and experience with the world, for free and take the time to reply to folk. Bless you man. Hope you live forever

  • @countorlock100  Hey, you can call me Dude anytime.. hahahaha.. Thanks and 'preciate it..

  • @countorlock100 Am gonna practice the "bump-ditty" for a week like you said. Will let you know how it works out. see ya in a week !

  • what tuning are you in my fine sir?

  • @GraffSupplyReviews G. Relative G. However, it's a short neck banjo so it might be relative G capoed up once or twice. G = GDGBD but if you capo up one or two or three you should find it.

  • just picked up a banjo for the first time so excuse the dumb question, are you picking up on the string with your finger/nail or hitting it on the way down

  • @jimmybee49 Hitting it on the way down.

  • @rpeek thanks a bunch, having fun

  • @jimmybee49 Good deal. That's what it's all about..

  • @rpeek Hey rpeek i have been watching your videos religiously and have learned quite a bit however im a little stuck. You see i play guitar and tought myself so with your videos as a jump off i learned a bit of clawhammer and went off to learn what i could. My problem is cant figure out for the life of me how to play an E chord, A chord, or D chord in clawhammer seeing on how the fith string isnt used. What do i do?

  • @Fratellitime Do a google search for banjo chord chart. I'm the wrong person to ask how to play chords since I don't know any..

  • @rpeek Hmmm well thank you for your videos they are really helpful much love from florida and keep posting Thanks!

  • @Fratellitime You're welcome. I did a search after I wrote that and chord charts popped right up. I barely know any chords, I just know how to play..

  • @rpeek I did as well trying to learn to clawhammer from chord to chord so i can write so stuff but i am slowly figuring it out

  • @rpeek I did as well trying to learn to clawhammer from chord to chord so i can write some stuff but i am slowly figuring it out

  • Great lesson sir.

  • I recommend rpeek to everyone tryin' to frail. I got much better right away. Thank rpeek! Youre videos are clear and inspiring - and interesting!

  • @JamminJanez Thank You! Glad it's workin' for you....

  • I recommend rpeet to everyone tryin' to frail. I got much better right away. Thank rpeet! Youre videos are clear and inspiring - and interesting!

  • how do you hit the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings without disturbing the rest?

  • @cecil749 That's the whole point.. Once you learn to do that you can play the banjo. Practice.. It can be done..

  • @rpeek Thanks.

  • is clawhammer the same as frailing to you?

  • @HandsomeSasquatch Clawhammer is when you drop your thumb. Frailing is when you only play the 5th string with your thumb.

  • thanks man..

  • @puma12s  Betcha.

  • Clearest Clawhammer video i've ever seen!

  • @theothernickc Thank You!

  • great job thanks mate!

  • Thank you for the lessons! You are good folk~

  • well....i can now see the light at the start of the tunnel...will be watching ur vids from now on....excellent way to teach....thanx...and im a Brit.

  • @seminar6 Sweet. Nice to have a friend on the other shore. Good luck with your banjo playin'..

  • Hey,

    thanx for the great video.

    I've been playing scruggs style with picks for nigh on 10 years, but to be brutally honest it's allways cold and souless.. now i'm a convert to frailing.. way more soul AND you're your own rythmn section.

    cool.

  • @hooragood Well you're smarter than me. Took me 25 years to realize I'd never learn to play Scruggs Style. That's when somebody showed me how to frail, and the rest is history.. haha

  • @rpeek

    The soul and rythmn section referred to your playing!!

    i'll get the hang of frailing eventually..

    I have been fingerpicking guitars for the last 25 years..

    so it's just unlearning the up stroke... LOL

  • My wife gave me an old Lyons and Healy banjo several years ago. I knew I wanted to frail but I just didn't get it. I even had a couple of accomplished players try to get me started but it didn't work. Then I found your posting. I didn't rush. I practiced each little bit for a week or so and suddenly I was playing, picking out melodies. You were so clear and so convincing that it's not rocket science and you were right. I shall be enjoying the results for years to come. Thank you.

  • @Sageprod Awesome! Hey, that's a great banjo you've got there too... Glad you're havin' fun..

  • You have the best clearest clawhammer instructions on this video that I have found for me starting out from 5 string type playing. You know your stuff. Thanks for the information. My Grandfather played this style in the foothills of SC in the early 1900's and now that I am a grandfather I want to learn it.

  • @MrMrgreenman99 Cool.... Thank you! Good luck with it..

  • Comment removed

  • I've been looking around at various techniques for the clawhammer and what I've figgered out so far is that you have to do one that's comfortable for you. Take Stringbean and Grandpa Jones. Both are GREAT banjo players, but both have slightly different techniques. Check out the youtube "Stringbean with Earl Scruggs" vid and the "Heard of Turtles" by Grandpa Jones and you'll see what I'm talking about.

  • i cant get the percussive sound of the drum when i am picking the second string. will that just come with practice?

  • @kingbill733 It's best if you don't think about it. It happens automatically once you get going, but don't think about it. It will just happen. Play as best as you can, and one day you'll just hear it.

  • @kingbill733 You don't have to hit it HARD to get the purcusive sound. It's more about getting the thumb, IMHO, in the position it needs to be in than "beating a drum". Following rpeek and spending hours a day on the technique, I'm getting close to playing a song in only 3 days. Like hymns and such. Thanks for your simplistic approach Rpeek. =oD

  • Thanks for the help,I struggle but you made me go back to the basics,I think I am moving foward at least .I was stalled for about three weeks

    Thanks again

    K

  • is learning the banjo hard if i already can play the guitar and can finger pick pretty well, cuz im gonna by a banjo pretty soon and never even touched one before

  • @niggrez I think it's easier than guitar..

  • My brother and I just picked up a couple banjos. How long have you been playing? We have checked the other lesson postings and have jumped in headlong into yours. Looking forward to passing a mason jar and pickin a banjer around a campfire next summer. We enjoy your lessons and your character and look forward to playing along. Thanks for posting.

  • @spadook I tried to play Scruggs Style for 20 years and never did get the hang of it, then an old banjo coot showed me how to clawhammer and I had the hang of it in pretty quick little while. Been at that now for maybe another 8 or 10 years. I loose time as I go along.. hahaha

  • @spadook Oh and one more thing. If you pass that mason jar around enough times you'll sound great.

  • Delusions of banjer - My brother and I just picked up some banjos, and after checking out a few other lesson pages, we've jumped headlong into the rpeek camp. How long have you been at it? We're just a couple of middle aged dudes, starting today with lesson one. With regular practice, think we make these things sound like something before too long? Would love to be sitting around the campfire next summer passing a mason jar and plunking away .

  • Delusions of banjer - My brother and I just picked up some banjos, and after checking out a few other lesson pages, we've jumped headlong into the rpeek camp. How long have you been at it? We're just a couple of middle aged dudes, starting today with lesson one. With regular practice, think we make these things sound like something before too long? Would love to be sitting around the campfire next summer passing a mason jar and plunking away .

  • Do you hit the first tring on hte down stroke, or to you pull it up?

  • Are you hitting the first string on the down stroke, or do you pull the string up?

  • @auxenet Hitting it on the down stroke with the back of my finger nail..

  • I quit! Two weeks and I still can't do this!

  • Thanks for the videos and I like that clear banjo head... Cheers.

  • anothetr good one!

  • Great lesson, thank you!

  • Thank you so much; I needed to see what was goin on under that cupped right-hand! I'm actually learning clawhammer on my uke but this principle applies. Thanks.

  • I'm so glaaaaad you teach without those dern picks.

  • Yea, those things are just wrong... hahaha.

  • My wife shocked me this Christmas by presenting me with a banjo...mine was stolen 10 years ago and I had only started learning to play, so I just never replaced it. I have been dying to learn "old style" playing and now that YouTube exists I have found exactly what I need. This video series shows what I need. I am eager to start practicing and learn...Thanks

    just hope a 50 year old can pick it up....trying to transition from guitar.

  • Should be a piece a cake for you then.... Go for it..

  • I forgot to ask you what type of tune or key do you use. I like saw-mill g-D-G-C-D thanks again for your help wish more people were like you great teacher.

  • I use various and sundry different tunings when I'm playing, but for teaching, just try to keep it to basic G = GDGBD, however, on this short neck banjo, I tend to tune a good many octives higher, such as GDGBD with a capo on the 5th fret or so. Also, I don't tend to pay a lot of attention to tuning. Just fine one that sounds right and play it. About the only time I really do tune to be in tune is if I'm playing with someone else..

  • great vidieo,I learned more in 2 mins then whole CDs thank and looking forward to more lessons

  • Thank You! Good luck with your playin'..

  • champion

  • Thanks for that

    the books usualy cover this in about half a line so beginners (like me) didn`t spend enough time training my hands

    Good usefull stuff

  • Thanks. I've about decided I'm not really much of a teacher, because I couldn't figure out banjo lesson two.. haha

  • This was so helpful - thank you!

  • I guess I'm out of excuses now.

  • Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for keeping this soo simple. !

  • messed my hand up at work today. no banjoin for me for at least a week. its on my frettin hand- also- recommendations on frailing for a lefty who plays a right handed banjo? haha. i dont know if youve noticed that in my vids or not, but its one of the reasons bluegrass style suits me.

  • Ever tried a left handed banjo?

  • havent, but i taught myself n a right handed guitar when i was younger... music store didnt have one when i fell in love with the one i got... figured why not. i literally never held one before the day i bought one... didnt know much about it... figured id go at it same way i did the 6 string... workin out so far though.

  • It is.. Sure is unusual, but you're makin' it work.. That's awesome....

  • Banjos are great fun.

  • I might just buy a banjo...lol

  • Their expensive.

    :(

  • My best friend owns a pawnshop so I get everything for what he has in it. So I called him and he has 5 to pick from and the one he has the most in is $65. So I guess I cheat...lol

  • where can i find that pawn shop?

  • LOL... deals only apply to me sorry.. but it's in WV

  • i'm in texas thanks for your help. i'd jump on one at anywhere near that price!!

  • just make one! its awesome!

  • Nice one!

    I"m not sure I will ever have the time to get around to playing around with a banjo. Would like to, if possible. Sure do like the sound. But presently working on developing the finger tip calluses again to be able play a Skip James finger picking blues tune on guitar. Have tried finger picks, but just can't get used to them, and prefer the softer sound.

    Anyway, cheers man, really enjoy your vids. Looking forward to seeing how the ratrod turns out. :)

  • thank you ! im gettin my banjo right now and ill try that

  • Great lesson....!!!!

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