Archive for the ‘Clawhammer (5-String Open-Back Banjo)’ Category
The 5th-String Capo
The five-string banjo presents a unique problem when using a capo. Since the fifth string doesn’t start until the fifth fret, capoing the four long strings at the most common frets (two, three, or four) leaves the fifth string unaltered. A number of solutions have been devised over the years. Simply re-tuning the fifth string is always an option, but tightening and stretching the string beyond its intended range repeatedly can cause it to break. Plus, the fifth string won’t note correctly when fretted. Fifth-string capos are available; some attach permanently to the side of the neck and some clip temporarily onto the string.
Earl Scruggs solved this problem by hammering a couple of his wife’s bobby pins into the fingerboard at the desired frets, leaving a small length of pin sticking out of the fingerboard and bent over so that the fifth string could be slipped under it. Pete Seeger illustrated the same idea in his pioneering book “How to Play the 5-String Banjo”, using a screw placed in the fingerboard. In more recent years, players have turned to less-obtrusive HO-gauge model railroad spikes to provide a simple and reliable way to capo the fifth string.
The banjo is conventionally associated with bluegrass musical styles, and it’s really no wonder. Along with the fiddle, acoustic guitar and fiddle, the banjo is a mainstay in that storied musical tradition. A bluegrass picking style is accomplished by using the fingers in an up-picking motion and the thumb to pick downward. But you can throw those rules out the window if you’re playing in a clawhammer style.
The clawhammer style is much slower and more rhythmic than bluegrass, and it requires a unique grip and picking style. So named because the player must shape his hand into a claw to play correctly, this style is employed by such famous musicians as Neil Young and Eric Clapton. Interestingly, a clawhammer banjo player will sometimes finger and pick with the left hand by pulling off and picking at the top of the neck.