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I came to banjo from flat picking guitar, and guitar from ukulele. I came to ukulele from finger picking guitar. One thing I learned over the years is that one thing isn't the other. It is like speaking two languages, you can't think in one and speak in the other. Playing clawhammer is not like playing Scruggs style. I have been jamming and playing Scruggs style in a band for several years, and I too just started learning clawhammer a few months ago. I think it helps if one just gets anything that isn't clawhammer out of the head.
As far as the bum-ditty, I think it is all just about the thumb and that's what you need to come out of it with. I got through the first section on the bum-ditty and moved on to drop thumb and was having a rough time with it and didn't know why. I went back to the beginning, started over and realized that I wasn't doing the thumb right. I was diving in with the thumb and picking like I was used to, and that was throwing the timing off when I got to drop thumb. I retrained my thumb to rest on a strings and was able to move on.
I'm still a rank beginner though. I'm doing an online course of videos done by Ben Dorning in the UK. I found him on YouTube doing an intoductory clawhammer series "Banjos and a Beer," He has a site called Banjo Adventures and a more comprehensive learning series called Path of the Hobo, which I am doing now. I've enjoyed his style of teaching. He does a lot of, "now play along with me and we will do it together" segments, which have really helped me understand what we are doing.
Edited by - BG Banjo on 07/24/2026 09:30:24
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