Chords for David Holt Beginning Clawhammer Banjo Lesson Tom Dooley
Tempo:
65.7 bpm
Chords used:
G
A
C
Ab
D
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
Now, claw hammer is the oldest form of banjo playing.
I was in Africa in 1986 and saw griots playing in the claw hammer style.
The old time mountaineers played in this style too.
Again, we're using that same strum we've been doing, but we're going to add the thumb string.
This is where the banjo really comes alive.
Hear that fifth string in there?
We've added that now.
This is called claw hammer or old time banjo.
Some people call it frailing or wrapping.
Most people nowadays call it claw hammer.
Let me teach you how this works.
First, I want you [B] to just tap the rhythm just to get a feel how it goes.
[C] You tap one, two, three, four.
Check this out one more time.
I'm tapping one, two, three, four.
[A]
Pete Seeger called this thing a bum diddy.
That name is kind of stuck because it sort of sounds like bum diddy. Listen.
[Db] Bum diddy bum diddy bum diddy bum.
[C]
[A] Tap it with me so you have it.
Here we go.
Bum diddy bum diddy.
Now let's transfer that to the banjo because that's where we really want it to play.
We're going to hit down with the edge of our fingernail.
Your hand position is very important.
You've been doing that the whole time, but now I want you to get your thumb away from your finger.
You're not going to touch your finger anymore, your index finger with your thumb.
It's going to sit [Ab] up here on the fifth string, ready to play the fifth string.
Here's the rhythm.
It's the bum diddy rhythm.
It [G] sounds like this.
Just listen and then we'll try it.
Diddy bum diddy diddy.
A little bit more on the hand position before I show you the rhythm.
Keep all your fingers together.
Not spread apart, not flicking them like this.
It's all one solid piece there.
In fact, if you can't keep it in a solid piece, just get a credit card or something and hold
it tightly in your hand.
That'll keep all the fingers together.
You can tap on the string like that.
You may have to turn your hand away.
Turn the heel of your hand out just a little bit because if you have it like this, of course,
you can't really get in with that fingernail to pick the string.
Turn your hand out just a little bit, the heel of your hand out.
Pick [D] that first string with one hit.
Now we're going to get another hit with that finger and [G] then the thumb string.
So it's one, two, and three.
Okay, we're going to do it very slowly, but I want you to stay right with me.
This is very important.
It's not any kind of thing like, uh-uh, that [E] won't get it.
You got to get it just right.
This is where you're [D] building.
This is where your rhythm is going to come from, the whole foundation of your music.
So get this right.
Don't practice your mistakes.
Here we go.
The note real slow.
Thumb, [G] ready, ready.
Two hits with the finger and then the thumb right away.
See how the thumb just sits up there, ready to play that fifth string?
It doesn't even really move hardly.
I want you to notice something else.
My whole arm is moving.
My wrist is moving.
It's not a locked in little thing like this.
I'm moving my whole arm, although it's just rocking just a little bit, but just enough
to give me some power.
Now take that credit card and go out and buy something.
And come back in about a week because I want you to practice this.
I really [N] want you to practice this for about two weeks.
Now you can practice it quietly so you don't drive everybody crazy by just putting your
fingers over the strings and giving it this sound.
Listen.
Try this right with me.
Just put your fingers over the neck of the banjo, stopping the ringing of the strings.
Get [Ab] it right with me.
There you go.
Run this back and [G] do it until you can do it right with [N] me.
Or make a little cassette tape of it and just try it so you don't have to keep running the video back.
Okay.
That's the bum-ditty rhythm and that's the basis of Clawhammer Banjo.
Now I want to show you the brush rhythm because that will give us a full chord that we can sing with.
We're going to do just like [G] we were doing on the guitar strum.
We're going to hit that third string with our index finger the way we've been doing.
Brush across the strings quickly and pick that thumb string.
So it's the same bum-ditty rhythm and you've got to kind of make that brush pretty fast
just like you did before.
But you've got to get that thumb in there right on time.
Thumb-ditty.
Thumb-ditty.
This is all very subtle, I understand.
It'll take you a little time.
Be careful not to make the thumb string too loud, otherwise it'll be like this.
You don't really want that.
You just want it subtle in there.
Practice that for a week.
Go out and spend some more of that money.
Come on back and I'll show you how to put the chords in.
Okay, hopefully you've gotten that rhythm, taken the time to practice it and get it right.
Now, remember how we went around and did the C chord with the guitar strum?
Played the G chord for a while and then went to the C chord?
[C] We're still doing the guitar strum but we added the fifth string now, the bum-ditty.
And now we're going to go to the D7 chord.
[A]
[G] Now I'd like you to take all the songs that we've learned and go back and play them in
claw hammer style.
Let's do Tom Dooley very slowly, the way we did.
And then you can go back and do the other ones on your own.
I'm going to play claw hammer.
Get the little bum-ditty going here, the bum-ditty strum and the brush there so we get a full chord sound.
And you can either just keep hitting on that third string if that's easier for you, or
you can do that alternating bass like we did on the guitar strum.
Hitting the third string, then a brush, and then the fourth string, and a brush.
Either one.
Make a nice full sound.
Here's Tom Dooley.
This time tomorrow morning, reckon where [A] I'll be.
Down in some lonesome valley, hanging from a white [G] oak tree.
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley.
Hang down your [A] head and cry.
Hang down your head, Tom [G] Dooley.
Oh boy, you're bound to die.
Everybody now.
All right now.
I want you to practice that song and all the other ones in the claw hammer style so you
can play them and sing them and get them just right.
[N]
I was in Africa in 1986 and saw griots playing in the claw hammer style.
The old time mountaineers played in this style too.
Again, we're using that same strum we've been doing, but we're going to add the thumb string.
This is where the banjo really comes alive.
Hear that fifth string in there?
We've added that now.
This is called claw hammer or old time banjo.
Some people call it frailing or wrapping.
Most people nowadays call it claw hammer.
Let me teach you how this works.
First, I want you [B] to just tap the rhythm just to get a feel how it goes.
[C] You tap one, two, three, four.
Check this out one more time.
I'm tapping one, two, three, four.
[A]
Pete Seeger called this thing a bum diddy.
That name is kind of stuck because it sort of sounds like bum diddy. Listen.
[Db] Bum diddy bum diddy bum diddy bum.
[C]
[A] Tap it with me so you have it.
Here we go.
Bum diddy bum diddy.
Now let's transfer that to the banjo because that's where we really want it to play.
We're going to hit down with the edge of our fingernail.
Your hand position is very important.
You've been doing that the whole time, but now I want you to get your thumb away from your finger.
You're not going to touch your finger anymore, your index finger with your thumb.
It's going to sit [Ab] up here on the fifth string, ready to play the fifth string.
Here's the rhythm.
It's the bum diddy rhythm.
It [G] sounds like this.
Just listen and then we'll try it.
Diddy bum diddy diddy.
A little bit more on the hand position before I show you the rhythm.
Keep all your fingers together.
Not spread apart, not flicking them like this.
It's all one solid piece there.
In fact, if you can't keep it in a solid piece, just get a credit card or something and hold
it tightly in your hand.
That'll keep all the fingers together.
You can tap on the string like that.
You may have to turn your hand away.
Turn the heel of your hand out just a little bit because if you have it like this, of course,
you can't really get in with that fingernail to pick the string.
Turn your hand out just a little bit, the heel of your hand out.
Pick [D] that first string with one hit.
Now we're going to get another hit with that finger and [G] then the thumb string.
So it's one, two, and three.
Okay, we're going to do it very slowly, but I want you to stay right with me.
This is very important.
It's not any kind of thing like, uh-uh, that [E] won't get it.
You got to get it just right.
This is where you're [D] building.
This is where your rhythm is going to come from, the whole foundation of your music.
So get this right.
Don't practice your mistakes.
Here we go.
The note real slow.
Thumb, [G] ready, ready.
Two hits with the finger and then the thumb right away.
See how the thumb just sits up there, ready to play that fifth string?
It doesn't even really move hardly.
I want you to notice something else.
My whole arm is moving.
My wrist is moving.
It's not a locked in little thing like this.
I'm moving my whole arm, although it's just rocking just a little bit, but just enough
to give me some power.
Now take that credit card and go out and buy something.
And come back in about a week because I want you to practice this.
I really [N] want you to practice this for about two weeks.
Now you can practice it quietly so you don't drive everybody crazy by just putting your
fingers over the strings and giving it this sound.
Listen.
Try this right with me.
Just put your fingers over the neck of the banjo, stopping the ringing of the strings.
Get [Ab] it right with me.
There you go.
Run this back and [G] do it until you can do it right with [N] me.
Or make a little cassette tape of it and just try it so you don't have to keep running the video back.
Okay.
That's the bum-ditty rhythm and that's the basis of Clawhammer Banjo.
Now I want to show you the brush rhythm because that will give us a full chord that we can sing with.
We're going to do just like [G] we were doing on the guitar strum.
We're going to hit that third string with our index finger the way we've been doing.
Brush across the strings quickly and pick that thumb string.
So it's the same bum-ditty rhythm and you've got to kind of make that brush pretty fast
just like you did before.
But you've got to get that thumb in there right on time.
Thumb-ditty.
Thumb-ditty.
This is all very subtle, I understand.
It'll take you a little time.
Be careful not to make the thumb string too loud, otherwise it'll be like this.
You don't really want that.
You just want it subtle in there.
Practice that for a week.
Go out and spend some more of that money.
Come on back and I'll show you how to put the chords in.
Okay, hopefully you've gotten that rhythm, taken the time to practice it and get it right.
Now, remember how we went around and did the C chord with the guitar strum?
Played the G chord for a while and then went to the C chord?
[C] We're still doing the guitar strum but we added the fifth string now, the bum-ditty.
And now we're going to go to the D7 chord.
[A]
[G] Now I'd like you to take all the songs that we've learned and go back and play them in
claw hammer style.
Let's do Tom Dooley very slowly, the way we did.
And then you can go back and do the other ones on your own.
I'm going to play claw hammer.
Get the little bum-ditty going here, the bum-ditty strum and the brush there so we get a full chord sound.
And you can either just keep hitting on that third string if that's easier for you, or
you can do that alternating bass like we did on the guitar strum.
Hitting the third string, then a brush, and then the fourth string, and a brush.
Either one.
Make a nice full sound.
Here's Tom Dooley.
This time tomorrow morning, reckon where [A] I'll be.
Down in some lonesome valley, hanging from a white [G] oak tree.
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley.
Hang down your [A] head and cry.
Hang down your head, Tom [G] Dooley.
Oh boy, you're bound to die.
Everybody now.
All right now.
I want you to practice that song and all the other ones in the claw hammer style so you
can play them and sing them and get them just right.
[N]
Key:
G
A
C
Ab
D
G
A
C
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Now, claw hammer is the oldest form of banjo playing.
I was in Africa in 1986 and saw griots playing in the claw hammer style.
The old time mountaineers played in this style too.
Again, we're using that same strum we've been doing, but we're going to add the thumb string.
This is where the banjo really comes alive.
_ _ _ _ Hear that fifth string in there?
We've added that now.
This is called claw hammer or old time banjo.
Some people call it frailing or wrapping.
Most people nowadays call it claw hammer.
Let me teach you how this works.
First, I want you [B] to just tap the rhythm just to get a feel how it goes.
[C] You tap one, two, three, four. _ _
Check this out one more time.
I'm tapping one, two, three, four.
_ _ [A] _
_ _ _ Pete Seeger called this thing a bum diddy.
That name is kind of stuck because it sort of sounds like bum diddy. Listen.
[Db] Bum diddy bum diddy bum diddy bum.
[C] _
[A] Tap it with me so you have it.
Here we go.
Bum diddy bum diddy.
Now let's transfer that to the banjo because that's where we really want it to play.
We're going to hit down with the edge of our fingernail.
Your hand position is very important.
You've been doing that the whole time, but now I want you to get your thumb away from your finger.
You're not going to touch your finger anymore, your index finger with your thumb.
It's going to sit [Ab] up here on the fifth string, ready to play the fifth string.
Here's the rhythm.
It's the bum diddy rhythm.
It [G] sounds like this.
Just listen and then we'll try it. _ _ _ _ _ _
Diddy bum diddy _ diddy.
A little bit more on the hand position before I show you the rhythm.
Keep all your fingers together.
Not spread apart, not flicking them like this.
It's all one solid piece there.
In fact, if you can't keep it in a solid piece, just get a credit card or something and hold
it tightly in your hand.
That'll keep all the fingers together.
You can tap _ on the string like that. _
You may have to turn your hand away.
Turn the heel of your hand out just a little bit because if you have it like this, of course,
you can't really get in with that fingernail to pick the string.
Turn your hand out just a little bit, the heel of your hand out.
Pick [D] that first string with one hit.
Now we're going to get another hit with that finger and [G] then the thumb string.
So it's one, two, and three. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Okay, we're going to do it very slowly, but I want you to stay right with me.
This is very important.
It's not any kind of thing like, _ uh-uh, that [E] won't get it.
You got to get it just right.
This is where you're [D] building.
This is where your rhythm is going to come from, the whole foundation of your music.
So get this right.
Don't practice your mistakes.
Here we go.
The note real slow.
Thumb, [G] ready, ready.
Two hits with the finger and then the thumb right away.
See how the thumb just sits up there, _ ready to play that fifth string?
It doesn't even really move hardly.
_ _ _ _ I want you to notice something else.
My whole arm is moving.
My wrist is moving.
It's not a locked in little thing like this.
I'm moving my whole arm, although it's just rocking just a little bit, but just enough
to give me some power. _
_ _ _ _ _ Now take that credit card and go out and buy something.
And come back in about a week because I want you to practice this.
I really [N] want you to practice this for about two weeks.
Now you can practice it quietly so you don't drive everybody crazy by just putting your
fingers over the strings and giving it this sound.
Listen.
Try this right with me.
Just put your fingers over the neck of the banjo, stopping the ringing of the strings.
_ Get [Ab] it right with me. _
There you go.
_ _ _ _ Run this back and [G] do it until you can do it right with [N] me.
Or make a little cassette tape of it and just try it so you don't have to keep running the video back.
Okay.
That's the bum-ditty rhythm and that's the basis of Clawhammer Banjo.
Now I want to show you the brush rhythm because that will give us a full chord that we can sing with.
We're going to do just like [G] we were doing on the guitar strum.
We're going to hit that third string with our index finger the way we've been doing.
Brush across the strings quickly and pick that thumb string.
So it's the same bum-ditty rhythm and you've got to kind of make that brush pretty fast
just like you did before.
But you've got to get that thumb in there right on time.
_ Thumb-ditty.
Thumb-ditty.
_ _ _ _ _ This is all very subtle, I understand.
It'll take you a little time.
Be careful not to make the thumb string too loud, otherwise it'll be like this. _
_ You don't really want that.
You just want it subtle in there.
_ Practice that for a week.
Go out and spend some more of that money.
Come on back and I'll show you how to put the chords in. _
_ _ Okay, hopefully you've gotten that rhythm, taken the time to practice it and get it right.
Now, remember how we went around and did the C chord with the guitar strum? _
Played the G chord for a while and then went to the C chord?
_ [C] _ We're still doing the guitar strum but we added the fifth string now, the bum-ditty.
And now we're going to go to the D7 chord.
[A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] Now I'd like you to take all the songs that we've learned and go back and play them in
claw hammer style.
Let's do Tom Dooley very slowly, the way we did.
And then you can go back and do the other ones on your own. _ _ _ _ _
I'm going to play claw hammer.
Get the little bum-ditty going here, the bum-ditty strum and the brush there so we get a full chord sound.
And you can either just keep hitting on that third string if that's easier for you, or
you can do that alternating bass like we did on the guitar strum.
Hitting the third string, then a brush, and then the fourth string, and a brush.
Either one.
Make a nice full sound.
Here's Tom Dooley.
_ _ This time tomorrow morning, reckon where [A] I'll be.
Down in some lonesome valley, hanging from a white [G] oak tree.
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley.
Hang down your [A] head and cry.
Hang down your head, Tom [G] Dooley.
Oh boy, you're bound to die.
Everybody now.
All right now.
I want you to practice that song and all the other ones in the claw hammer style so you
can play them and sing them and get them just right. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Now, claw hammer is the oldest form of banjo playing.
I was in Africa in 1986 and saw griots playing in the claw hammer style.
The old time mountaineers played in this style too.
Again, we're using that same strum we've been doing, but we're going to add the thumb string.
This is where the banjo really comes alive.
_ _ _ _ Hear that fifth string in there?
We've added that now.
This is called claw hammer or old time banjo.
Some people call it frailing or wrapping.
Most people nowadays call it claw hammer.
Let me teach you how this works.
First, I want you [B] to just tap the rhythm just to get a feel how it goes.
[C] You tap one, two, three, four. _ _
Check this out one more time.
I'm tapping one, two, three, four.
_ _ [A] _
_ _ _ Pete Seeger called this thing a bum diddy.
That name is kind of stuck because it sort of sounds like bum diddy. Listen.
[Db] Bum diddy bum diddy bum diddy bum.
[C] _
[A] Tap it with me so you have it.
Here we go.
Bum diddy bum diddy.
Now let's transfer that to the banjo because that's where we really want it to play.
We're going to hit down with the edge of our fingernail.
Your hand position is very important.
You've been doing that the whole time, but now I want you to get your thumb away from your finger.
You're not going to touch your finger anymore, your index finger with your thumb.
It's going to sit [Ab] up here on the fifth string, ready to play the fifth string.
Here's the rhythm.
It's the bum diddy rhythm.
It [G] sounds like this.
Just listen and then we'll try it. _ _ _ _ _ _
Diddy bum diddy _ diddy.
A little bit more on the hand position before I show you the rhythm.
Keep all your fingers together.
Not spread apart, not flicking them like this.
It's all one solid piece there.
In fact, if you can't keep it in a solid piece, just get a credit card or something and hold
it tightly in your hand.
That'll keep all the fingers together.
You can tap _ on the string like that. _
You may have to turn your hand away.
Turn the heel of your hand out just a little bit because if you have it like this, of course,
you can't really get in with that fingernail to pick the string.
Turn your hand out just a little bit, the heel of your hand out.
Pick [D] that first string with one hit.
Now we're going to get another hit with that finger and [G] then the thumb string.
So it's one, two, and three. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Okay, we're going to do it very slowly, but I want you to stay right with me.
This is very important.
It's not any kind of thing like, _ uh-uh, that [E] won't get it.
You got to get it just right.
This is where you're [D] building.
This is where your rhythm is going to come from, the whole foundation of your music.
So get this right.
Don't practice your mistakes.
Here we go.
The note real slow.
Thumb, [G] ready, ready.
Two hits with the finger and then the thumb right away.
See how the thumb just sits up there, _ ready to play that fifth string?
It doesn't even really move hardly.
_ _ _ _ I want you to notice something else.
My whole arm is moving.
My wrist is moving.
It's not a locked in little thing like this.
I'm moving my whole arm, although it's just rocking just a little bit, but just enough
to give me some power. _
_ _ _ _ _ Now take that credit card and go out and buy something.
And come back in about a week because I want you to practice this.
I really [N] want you to practice this for about two weeks.
Now you can practice it quietly so you don't drive everybody crazy by just putting your
fingers over the strings and giving it this sound.
Listen.
Try this right with me.
Just put your fingers over the neck of the banjo, stopping the ringing of the strings.
_ Get [Ab] it right with me. _
There you go.
_ _ _ _ Run this back and [G] do it until you can do it right with [N] me.
Or make a little cassette tape of it and just try it so you don't have to keep running the video back.
Okay.
That's the bum-ditty rhythm and that's the basis of Clawhammer Banjo.
Now I want to show you the brush rhythm because that will give us a full chord that we can sing with.
We're going to do just like [G] we were doing on the guitar strum.
We're going to hit that third string with our index finger the way we've been doing.
Brush across the strings quickly and pick that thumb string.
So it's the same bum-ditty rhythm and you've got to kind of make that brush pretty fast
just like you did before.
But you've got to get that thumb in there right on time.
_ Thumb-ditty.
Thumb-ditty.
_ _ _ _ _ This is all very subtle, I understand.
It'll take you a little time.
Be careful not to make the thumb string too loud, otherwise it'll be like this. _
_ You don't really want that.
You just want it subtle in there.
_ Practice that for a week.
Go out and spend some more of that money.
Come on back and I'll show you how to put the chords in. _
_ _ Okay, hopefully you've gotten that rhythm, taken the time to practice it and get it right.
Now, remember how we went around and did the C chord with the guitar strum? _
Played the G chord for a while and then went to the C chord?
_ [C] _ We're still doing the guitar strum but we added the fifth string now, the bum-ditty.
And now we're going to go to the D7 chord.
[A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] Now I'd like you to take all the songs that we've learned and go back and play them in
claw hammer style.
Let's do Tom Dooley very slowly, the way we did.
And then you can go back and do the other ones on your own. _ _ _ _ _
I'm going to play claw hammer.
Get the little bum-ditty going here, the bum-ditty strum and the brush there so we get a full chord sound.
And you can either just keep hitting on that third string if that's easier for you, or
you can do that alternating bass like we did on the guitar strum.
Hitting the third string, then a brush, and then the fourth string, and a brush.
Either one.
Make a nice full sound.
Here's Tom Dooley.
_ _ This time tomorrow morning, reckon where [A] I'll be.
Down in some lonesome valley, hanging from a white [G] oak tree.
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley.
Hang down your [A] head and cry.
Hang down your head, Tom [G] Dooley.
Oh boy, you're bound to die.
Everybody now.
All right now.
I want you to practice that song and all the other ones in the claw hammer style so you
can play them and sing them and get them just right. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _