Elements of Round Peak Banjo: Part 1

An introductory look at Round Peak clawhammer banjo focusing on the alternate string pull-off technique.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• round
• peak
• clawhammer
• banjo
• instruction
• lesson
• fretless
• frailing
• oldtime
• old
• time
• old-time

[traviswilliams]

To Tom and all the other players here....I am a bass and sax player. It is time to learn banjo. I love the sound of the fretless and am wondering if it would be best to start on a fretted or just jump right into a fretless? Thanks for any thoughts.

[FretlessFury]

Lots of folks have started on fretless banjos, so it's certainly doable. I still recommend that most people start with a fretted banjo because you just have a lot less to worry about, and can be up and making music in short order.

Best,

Tom

[SirCoughsalot]

Very helpful. Thank you. I am trying hard to improve my banjo playing.

[ArkRed1]

Nice soundin' banjer.

[CrowBanjo37]

Tom - Great video thanks!

[harleyfrank1959]

Hi Tom, a brilliant lesson.You made it really incredibly clear and I got it straight away. Just need to go practice over and over again till in finger memory:-)

Frank

[eikogo]

dont whine just be a pro and play like a beast lolololomg

[mhatlie]

I imagine there are players out there who have worked well into Leftwich's book without doing this right because they already know how to read tab and didn't notice or skipped right over that in the intro on how to read tab.

[mhatlie]

I was confused that this intro vid made a big deal out of this pull-off, but the standard book by Leftwich said nothing about it and had almost no pull-offs in the tab. Then, on closer inspection I noticed I had read right over it in the description of how to read the tab in the book: "When you strike a string, and the next note is an open note on the same string or a higher-pitched string, it's a pull-off." Leftwich leaves it at that, as if that didn't radically change how tab is normally read.

[Polyinstrumentalism]

This is probably from two things. First may be that you're using a capo, which makes it a little more likely that you'll end up fretting the "second" fret when you are only trying to pull off from it. The other tip would be to try and pull off from the empty spot on the fretboard instead of from directly on top of the string. Hope this helps.

[Whobody49]

These are great videos, I am learning!!

[photosdie]

tom! you rock.