Cripple Creek clawhammer style?

[sitarstylereptiles]

I'm playing Scruggs style and reverse claw hammer

[knopfler720]

Love you vids, Santa. Just got myself a new banjo...haven't played in years. The clawhammer technique has interested me for sometime thanks to Richie Stearns of the Horse Flies. I've favorited your lesson vids to try and learn it. Peace out.

[rpeek]

@knopfler720 Peace out and Rock on to you too Dude! Hope that banjo brings you great joy..

[HiknTsuga]

Bought my first banjo 9 months ago after dreaming of playing it for a long time. Decided after watching your videos that clawhammer was right for me. I can't play very well yet, but I still love every sound I can make with it!  Thank you for sharing your talents with everyone rpeek.

[rpeek]

@HiknTsuga I'm glad that you are lovin' it. That's really the secret to playing. Long as you love it you'll do it and enjoy it. If it becomes too hard or work, what's the point.. hahahaha. Have fun.

[galegregory97comcast]

good job

[uke1964]

wow thats cool

[banjoSC]

I started out playin my banjo about oh 2 months ago playin scruggs style and I could not get my fingers to keep that rythm and speed so I started watching your videos and and realized I can play the banjo if I do it the right way. Keep posting your videos

[rpeek]

@banjoSC That's awesome and good for you! I love my banjos and it's always happy making when I hear that someone else is havin' fun with it too..

[thisisseb]

so i started watching your videos maybe six months ago and decided to buy a banjo and start picking and now i'm (close to) a clawhammer pro

just thought i'd say thanks from a satisfied customer

[rpeek]

@thisisseb That's amazing, and wonderful. I'm so glad people are gettin' back into clawhammer playin'. I think it brings joy, and certainly does get all those dusty old banjos out of the closet. Good for you...

[Murghoad]

Love this song! Although it's gonna take me many months before I can do the slow part in the beginning.

[rpeek]

@Murghoad Well then, good luck with it..

[JackCoakley]

Wonderful sound Hope to hear this when I visit Cripple Creek next week sometime.

If it was writtten about 100 years ago would my grand uncle have heard it? Hope so

[rpeek]

@JackCoakley I think he would have... Danced to it too.. I think...

[immortalass]

nice

[777digger777]

who or what is clawhammer

[rpeek]

@777digger777 Ask Earl Scruggs...

[9lontoonieful1]

This is a good version of cripple Creek.

[Peasandcorn65]

what brand is your banjer ???

soundsgreat !!

[rpeek]

@Peasandcorn65 That one was a Lyon & Healey tenor that I put a 5th string on.. About a hunnerd years old..

[flyingspacepotatoes]

@rpeek hey, now that you mention it i see you modiefied the neck. how did you do that? i've been thinking about converting my 4-string for some time now.

[rpeek]

@flyingspacepotatoes Pull up my vids and type in a search for the word "conversion". I've made videos of several I've done. Should give you some guidance. Good luck with yours..

[Darkmoon12love]

im learning how to play cripple creak on my violin :)

[0022acc]

level 4 clawhammer

[GraffSupplyReviews]

how do you strum like that?? i just started playing banjo and iwould really appreciate it if you could explain and maybe give me some other pointers as well

[rpeek]

@GraffSupplyReviews I've posted a series of "How to play banjo" videos. Just go to my channel page and click on "see all" on the "playlist" part and you should find it. good luck with your banjo'in..

[airwave2oo8]

this was really well done, thank you !

[tidewaterblues]

Just bought my son his first 'jo. Cripple Creek is on the instruction dvd, but I'll be directiong him to this song for some REAL instruction. Great fingerwork.

[rpeek]

@tidewaterblues Thank You. Yea, everybody starts out with that Scruggs Style Cripple Creek tableture on banjo. I think it's probably a lot easier to play clawhammer style, but that tab gives you the basics, and you can just fake it from there. Maine thing is to just have fun with it. I've got some "how to play" stuff in one of my playlists too, just go to my home page and hit "see all" to find the how to play banjo stuff. Thanks.

[nightfrailer]

That is the rightest way to sum up what is good and bad about Scruggs.  Also the cool thing about the banjo, that it is at once archaic and old and yet subject to evolution and innovation. From frets right through finger picks. But to me the frail just sounds right, and I listen to bluegrass banjo with respect for what I cannot do, but yet unconvinced that I like it... lordy shut myslef up and go bang out a version of CC now!

[rpeek]

@nightfrailer I couldn't have said it better.. hahaha.. Thanks. 

[mtthwdvs]

i got alittle cripple creek posted playing three finger picking style but am practicing alittle on some clawhammer too id like to be efficient in both

[fivestring52]

very nicely done . . . thank you . . .

[chaoskuun]

That was awesome!!!!! always loved the banjo but never have heard it played like that but omg! it was amazing!! :D

[rpeek]

@chaoskuun Thank You!

[USMC794]

best clawhammer ever and cripple creek besides earl scruggs

[rpeek]

@USMC794 Thank You!

[ComradeMorshu]

Well Cripple Creek is neither Scruggs or clawhammer, it's a fiddle tune in the first place as far as I know!

[MrAckwood]

I don`t think he is as biased as he is confused. I picked the Scruggs style and it was a great help to clawhammer. Drop thumb was natural to me. Try it and I believe you`ll like like it. Clawhammer Am the Banjo fer me!

[dannyboybergsma]

The old way is awsome

[VeritgoHigh]

That was fantastic, clawhammer lives! ps, you kinda look like santa... Which is cool - santa on a banjo :)

[MrNick2D]

Great playing! I'm trying to learn how to play claw-hammer style but I don't know the proper hand position or strumming.

[ukekeysandbees]

Really good rhythm and pop on that fith string!!

[BOOM71]

Awesome. One day I'll be half as good as you . Thanks for posting.

[rpeek]

@BOOM71 Nope.. One day you'll be twice as good as me if you play a little.. Betcha. Just mark my words..  hahahah.

[Pfranklin28]

Sweet!\\\\ Nice Job.

[mageedis]

Awesome, I enjoyed it very much. Very refreshing! Great Job!

[oldtimeway1]

Good job , Pappy!

[SilentMat83]

Maybe I'm biased, but to me clawhammer seems to have more soul than three-finger. Great as always.

[rpeek]

Oh no! You're not biased at all... hahahahaha..

[krisitn022]

@SilentMat83 clawhammer is the only way to go.

[pubrally]

i dont know what the heck claw hammer is but that was just awesome thanks

[rpeek]

Clawhammer is where you hit the string on the down stroke with the back of your fingernail, and pluck the 5th string with your thumb. There's also some "drop thumb" going on in there.. It's pre- Earl Scruggs - three finger picking style... It's the old way.

[nasty5oh]

Love that tone.

[fiddyoffbreak]

Maybe one day!  Great music!

[3hardrider7]

Outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I always watch and listen to ALL of your fine work every day that I am able. Please keep up the great tunes and instruction. Thank you!!

[rpeek]

Well, thank You!

[Paul02111960]

well I for one thinks its great...

[EmotionalResQ]

I don't believe Earl Scruggs "messed up" banjo picking, he just added a new method that wasn't there previously.

You can take other instruments such as the piano and violin (fiddle). Both were originally designed to play classical music. Other people just added new methods of how the instruments could be played.

Did "honky-tonk" piano "mess up" the piano, NO. Did blue-grass fiddling "mess up" the violin, NO.

Scruggs style picking only expanded the method of playing and the sound.

[rpeek]

Hit a nerve didn't I.. Sorry.. Does this mean we can't still be friends?

[Imsoangry]

Actually, the violin was originally a folk music (not in our sense) instrument that was adopted into classical music.

[JebasHat]

neither the violin nor the piano were designed for classical music.

[starsandbarsDixie]

He doesn't mean it literally. Calm down...He's being sarcastic. Read it all over again. "...by playing like nobody else could."

Don't take it so...personal.

[foodofgod]

I feel the clawhammers and the pickers should fight this one out old school style. pick a song play it both ways then laugh because the banjo makes you smile no matter how it is played! Good job by the way!

[rpeek]

Thanks... Yea it's all good.. haha

[mrgabest]

Scruggs didn't mess up the banjo world, he turned it into pop music. Some people like pop. I don't. I'll take traditional any day of the week, and in the world of the banjo that means clawhammer.

[rpeek]

hahaha... Well, there ya go.. Don't get me wrong. I think Scruggs was fabulous and a genius, but too many people have given up and quit banjo 'cause they can't play like him, and why should they? A world of people enjoyed banjos before Scruggs, and still can, but trying to measure up to someone who is so far out in front of the rest, just takes all the fun out of it..

[mrgabest]

Oh, Scruggs himself is great. He manages to keep a emphatic, rhythmic feel in the music despite picking in a manner that doesn't require it. Problem is: all of the bluegrass yahoos who copied him seem to forget that this was all dance music at some point. Strong rhythm is necessary!

[MrJrondeau]

the great thing about the banjo is the fact that its so old , and anybody with fingers has tried to play it every which way possible. play what ya feel

[rpeek]

yessir! I totally agree.. haha

[Banjerman07]

WHOA WHOA WHOA. Earl Scruggs Messed up the banjo world. He made it better. No one likes to go to a concert and listen to you beat and bang CLAW HAMMER!

[rpeek]

Ha ha ha ha.. Finally a finger picker' steps out of the crowd to defend the chainsaw banjo method. Good for you for having the guts.. Salute!

[Banjerman07]

You do know its 2009 not 1865,exactly how old are you?

[rpeek]

Older than dirt.  hahahaha

[hgskate]

what's wrong dick, can't get the bum ditty down or something? don't get shitty just 'cause you can't play clawhammer.

[Banjerman07]

oh i can do clawhammer, but hell why would i want to

[hgskate]

let's see it then, you got a youtube account.

[turkeycockmountain]

If that's all music is to you, about going to concerts, then I wouldn't wanna go see you if you was knockin on a banjo or pickin a banjo.

[SouthernFNP]

That was an AMAZING sound!

[rpeek]

Thanks...

[edda520]

I've been three finger pickin' for years and have had a hard time getting past being able to play four or five songs. Either I'm just too old or it's just too hard. Really need to go back and try clawhammer again.

[rpeek]

That's the way it worked for me. I tried 3 finger for 25 years, and like you, could only play four or 5 songs. I don't think just everybody has the hands for 3 finger. An old banjo guy sat me down and set me right with clawhammer, and the whole thing just took off after that. Might want to give it another try.

[thoeckel]

Great sound...!!

[rpeek]

Thank you!

[machine21361]

nice. i like your style- love the slow outro breakdown. i subscribed to your vids today. your banjos are awesome.

[rpeek]

Thanks..

[psychodelicdragon]

you definitely make em sound sweeet!!!

whats one of those banjos going for?

[rpeek]

No idea. I 'spect you might find a pretty good Lyon & Healy on ebay for $500 up, got this one from a friend who insisted he strip it of the original nuts bolts and shoes and head first.. Still, she's a beauty..

[sabaths1fan]

Any banjo I've looked at has been well over $500.

If you take the time and money, as you can hear, the payoff is pretty nice.

[cz2509]

You have some cool old banjos

[rpeek]

Yep. I'm right into old banjos..

[realconcrete]

great  tune

[rpeek]

Thanks!

[nubemuffin]

wow that sounds great man. do you just play these songs out of your head or did you memorize how to play them>?

[rpeek]

Just play them outta my head, which is where I am most of the time.... Outta my head.. hahahahah

[rpeek]

Thank you so much!

[tommee10533]

Good stuff.