rudy - Posted - 01/13/2019:  20:11:37

I've been noticing a few topics lately from new players who are unsure of exactly how to get to where they think they should be in their pursuit of becoming a bonafied clawhammer player.



Appropriate to that idea is podcast #123 on Cameron DeWhitt's enormously wonderful "Get Up In The Cool" show as he interviews Paul Brown.

"Get Up In The Cool" podcast #123



Paul's comments are VERY much worth listening closely to, and will be terribly inspirational to any player who just can't quite get that particular clawhammer phrase that they've been trying to copy from one of their favorite players.







 

Bill Rogers - Posted - 01/13/2019:  21:39:53

Doing things your way was a lot easier when I was learning in the 1960s because there were far fewer sources and players to learn from. You pretty much developed your own style by default. 

Edited by - Bill Rogers on 01/14/2019 10:15:37

Culloden - Posted - 01/14/2019:  00:50:55

I am not a clawhammer player but I have played with a lot of clawhammer players over the years. None of them that I have met, no matter how good they were, ever claimed that they played "right."

Cyndy - Posted - 01/14/2019:  04:50:41

This is what I wrote on Facebook after listening to the episode: “Old-time music friends who don't regularly listen to Get Up in the Cool--a chance to hear Paul Brown talk about the tradition that inspires us to pick up our instruments day after day after day and just keep at it is not to be missed.”

It’s a superb interview—and not the first time that Paul Brown’s wisdom has inspired me. Hats off to Cameron DeWhitt for bringing us such good stuff every week.

Northl - Posted - 01/14/2019:  08:24:20

How interesting, thank you for sharing.

WayneConrad - Posted - 01/22/2019:  09:41:52

This is a great interview, thanks for posting it. I like the idea that there's no canon to clawhammer. Although we have many great players to admire and learn from, we don't have our own Earl Scruggs. I think clawhammer players are fortunate to not have that one person who became so masterful and so prominent that he became the measuring stick for how to play the style correctly.



I had to copy other players when I started, because I had no teacher, and only tabs to get me started. Copying others gave me a foundation. Then I had to stop copying other players, because I wanted to learn to play by ear and to make my own arrangement, but all the things I had previously copied kind of fed into my own style. A lot of licks and techniques I copied stayed with me and became part of my own style. One small example is one of the tunes that I copied when I was trying to learn 3-finger, Rick McKeon's arrangement of Amazing Grace. His arrangement has these slides that I really like, so even though I play that one clawhammer style now, I still play those slides (Rick, let me know where to send the royalty check).



I still copy things from others, but now it's more often by ear. And I sometimes invent my own thing now, not copied from anyone. I guess that's how you get your own style. I'm still getting there.

Edited by - WayneConrad on 01/22/2019 09:43:35

WayneConrad - Posted - 01/22/2019:  10:48:12

Actually, there's an even better example of getting my own style by grabbing bits from others, in the same song (Rick McKeon's arrangement of Amazing Grace). He does these pinches that I like. Pinches are a 3-finger thing, but I use those in my clawhammer playing of this song. I do pinches when playing backup, too, mixing them with clawhammer bum-ditty, Ukulele strums, arpegios, and what-not.

Steal from everyone! It's cool how one's own style can emerge from little more than blatant theft.