Current Issue | Home | Back Issues | Other Mel Bay Sites
Angeline The Baker | Inside Out Rolls | Old Time Banjo

Old Time Banjo – It ain't all Bluegrass

by Dan Levenson

Hi Folks, Dan Levenson here. I've been out on the road playing music for the last 15 years or so and while a few of you might have heard about me, even heard me, I am glad to meet you here in these virtual pages.

For those unfamiliar with me and my music, I play Old Time Southern Appalachian style banjo and fiddle music. That's usually referred to as "Old Time" for short. I have been traveling full time for the last 8 years and before that, traveled some, played a lot local to "home" and held a "real" job. There is more to the story of my life, and how I came to old time music, but that's for another time and place. For now, I wanted to answer that age old question of "what is old time music, specifically old time banjo."

I know to some of you (and even to me years ago) it's all bluegrass, but old time music is different and predates bluegrass by at least 100 years or so. I know, you are all asking, "So, Dan, what's the difference?"

First a bit of history about the banjo. No not much, just a bit. The banjo is often thought of as being an African instrument, but my research has shown this not to be true. Not in the strictest sense. The banjo that we all know is actually a United States invention and is a descendant of the lute family of instruments. That family originated in the ancient country of Assyria and includes guitars, fiddles, mandolins, sitars and other instruments which are defined, according to Anthony Bainses' Musical Instruments Through the Ages (1966) as "instruments with strings carried on a handle firmly attached to the body, the plane of the strings being parallel with the sound table of the belly which covers the body." This family of instruments can be found in all cultures and countries today because the trade routes that ran out of Assyria, went up through Asia to Europe and down through the middle east to Africa from both of whose shores sailors sailed to the new world with their instruments and ideas.

The banjo that we know today most likely acquired it's current form in this country of having five strings and the familiar drum on stick shape around the mid 1800's. All developments in this country since then have been to aid playability and color the tone and volume of the banjo.

SO, ‘round the turn of the 20th Century (that's the 1900's) the banjo was a big deal instrument and there were no such labels as "bluegrass" or "old time" to differentiate styles of banjo music. Indeed the banjo was just one of many instruments that played in the band, so to speak. There WERE however two schools or styles of playing the banjo. One was called the "arpeggiated" (finger picked) style and the other was the "stroke" style. The finger picked style was common in classical music (yes, classical music was played on the banjo before Bela Fleck played it – check out the American Banjo Fraternity if you want to find out more), jazz and much of the parlor music as well as in the banjo orchestras of the day. There were both 2 and 3 finger old time styles and they coexisted for many years along side the stroke style. The stroke style was popular on the minstrel stage and in many rural homes. In fact, many folks played both styles of banjo in what even then they called "old time music".

The troubles started around 1940 when the banjo player of a band called The Bluegrass Boys – Earl Scruggs – formalized the patterns of the finger picked banjo in order to take the banjo to the people. (I think that's a quote). Bluegrass music was born, and the right way to play it became Earl's way. Never mind that Earl's way was an innovative and fresh approach to banjo playing, a tradition had been born. And the division has been growing ever since.

However, it is the stroke style which is the ancestor of what is now called "clawhammer" style banjo. And it is clawhammer banjo that is what most folks refer to and want to learn in order to play old time music on the continues on next page banjo. Yes, there are still old time 2 and 3 finger styles, but they are not often used by today's old time players except as something of a novelty. Rest assured that there are many old timers and more than a few younger players who do play that way, but they are now the minority.

In short, if the music being played has a 3 finger style rolling bright loud banjo sound, and is being played on a 5 string (yes, only 4 and 1/2 but that is all the guts there ARE in a groundhog) resonator style banjo (one with a back on it), it is most likely bluegrass. If it is being played in a style that looks like the player is just hitting the thing (banjo) over and over with a loose fist and lots of sound is coming out, but it sounds more plunky and is being played on a 5 string (see above) banjo of the OPEN back (one with no back on it) variety of banjo, the music you are listening to is most likely old time.

Now, don't take this as gospel, it's only meant to be a beginning guide. There are many types of old time music and where you sit will definitely determine how you stand on the subject, but that's fodder for another day or at least another article.

So, what about this clawhammer style? Is that like "frailing" or what? Actually the terms clawhammer and frailing are interchangeable to me. They both are terms that refer to the closed hand style of playing where the hand works as a unit to play the notes and chords of a tune. I also believe that double thumbing, drop thumbing, knock down, rappin', flailing and down picking are alternate names and refinements of the clawhammer style. Of course, this in not an absolute answer. There are those that consider some of these as very different styles in themselves. But, as you know, everybody has an opinion and I am no different. Ask 10 of us old time banjo players this question and I assure you 12 – 15 different answers. None is actually totally correct nor are they "wrong" but we have to start somewhere.

Clawhammer is a style of playing that is played with the hand held in a loose clawlike position where one strikes the strings with the fingernail of the middle or index finger as the hand travels downward towards the ground. One then catches the 5th (short) string with the meat of the thumb when the hand travels back up to its starting position. Over and over again, until the speed, agility and skill are obtained to play every string and combination there-of.

Well, now that I have totally confused most of you, you can learn it yourself by using the materials available to you from me on Mel Bay Publications. For those just starting out – "From Scratch" as I like to say, there are the videos and dvd's Clawhammer From Scratch volumes 1 and 2. They start from the very beginning. The book Clawhammer Banjo From Scratch – A guide for the Clawless should be available for you by September. It teaches you how to play clawhammer banjo From Scratch complete with pictures and (ugh) exercises and scales. It also includes 12 of the most commonly played jam session tunes from start to finish and has 2 cd's accompanying it with all the exercises and tunes for you to listen to including an old time fiddle version of each tune.

For those of you with some basic experience with the banjo, try my Buzzard Banjo Clawhammer Style. It is a collection of 25 tunes from my years as banjo player for the Boiled Buzzards Old Time Stringband and it starts out with a very good description of the clawhammer motion as well as the basic exercises to familiarize you with all of the clawhammer basics before you begin. It also comes with a companion cd which presents all of the tunes in the book both slow and up to speed so you can hear them before you play them.

For more information about my other recordings and to find out more about Dan Levenson Old Time Music and my new band The Hippie-billies, check out my website at http://www.OldTimeMusic.us.

I'll be on the road through July and August. I'll be heading up to Michigan then out west to Washington and Oregon before ending up at the Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp near Boulder, Colorado for workshops there the week of August 10. I should be home again at the Hippie-billie homestead for a colorful fall. Hope to see soon.

Till next time,
Dan