dlindquist
Verified buyer
07/02/26
A gifted musician and teacher
Playing or teaching, anything Cathy Fink does on the banjo is exceptional!
Clawhammer Banjo: Beginner Module 1
A Comprehensive Method Series For Clawhammer Banjo: Beginner Module 1
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About this course
Thanks to modern science there are three ways to learn authentic clawhammer banjo: 1) Transport yourself to the early 1800's using MIT Professor Seth Lloyd's quantum teleportation theory and learn it directly from Joel Sweeney (a little risky as the theory is still in beta); 2) Head over to the J. Craig Venter Institute and request their in-patient genetic sequencing procedure with some of Sweeney's DNA (very expensive); 3) Pick up this interactive video course from Cathy Fink and start clawhammering tonight (very affordable, no needles and extremely effective).
Clawhammer banjo is a gas; highly rhythmic, super Americana, and absolutely guaranteed to trigger big smiles and tapping feet in your audience. Clawhammer refers to its down-picking technique where the hand forms a claw-like shape and the strings are struck by the fingers in a down-picking style. This unique picking style is what generates clawhammer banjo's signature sound.
Learn how to play clawhammer and you can legitimately adopt a cool stage name like the early clawhammer banjo pioneers Uncle Dave Macon, Grandpa Jones, Stringbean and Cousin Emmy. If you prefer a slightly more contemporary vibe you would likely prefer to channel players like Tommy Jarrell, Don Stover, Mike or Pete Seeger, Ola Belle Reed or Tommy Thompson.
It's also a lot easier to learn than you would imagine largely due to Cathy Fink's engaging, hands-on educational approach -- you'll be making music immediately even if you're a flat-out beginner. And if you already play guitar, you'll have a set's worth of tunage under your belt within just a couple of weeks (plus, many well-known guitarists like Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler and Neil Young use the clawhammer strumming style in their guitar playing).
In Beginner Module 1, Cathy steps you through all of the basics, from both G and C tuning to right-hand techniques, chords, scales, hammers, pull-offs, and slides. Along the way you'll learn to play Skip to My Lou, Cripple Creek, Sandy River Belle, Little Liza Jane, Buffalo Gals, Old Joe Clark, Shady Grove, This Little Light of Mine and Old Paint - enough of a solid repertoire to participate at the jams and treat family and friends to your new-found clawhammer banjo prowess!
In Beginner Module 2, Cathy steps up your clawhammer banjo game with more cool tunings, chords, scales, insight and of course more songs for your repertoire, each filled with additional key techniques that you can use in hundreds and hundreds of songs. You'll learn Coming Round the Mountain, Careless Love, Walkin' in the Parlor, Needlecase, Mississippi Sawyer, Angeline the Baker, Soldier's Joy, and Get Along Home Cindy. Completing this module rounds out your clawhammer banjo chops with enough skills to take on virtually any song or standard banjo tune and lays a solid foundation for an advanced learning study program (coming soon from Cathy!) and a lifetime of enjoyment.
Everything is demonstrated and broken down note-by-note in full living color. The interactive lesson player equips you with handy tools for zooming, looping and for calling up charts tab, and notation with a single click. Slow and at tempo playalongs get you in the clawhammer groove quickly and accelerate the learning process. You will play your way through the course - no tedious theory or boring exercise to struggle through!
Skip the time travel and genetic splicing -- pick up Cathy Fink's Clawhammer Banjo series and treat yourself to one of the most enjoyable and musical learning experiences you will ever encounter. Oh, and start thinking about that cool stage name!
Clawhammer banjo is a gas; highly rhythmic, super Americana, and absolutely guaranteed to trigger big smiles and tapping feet in your audience. Clawhammer refers to its down-picking technique where the hand forms a claw-like shape and the strings are struck by the fingers in a down-picking style. This unique picking style is what generates clawhammer banjo's signature sound.
Learn how to play clawhammer and you can legitimately adopt a cool stage name like the early clawhammer banjo pioneers Uncle Dave Macon, Grandpa Jones, Stringbean and Cousin Emmy. If you prefer a slightly more contemporary vibe you would likely prefer to channel players like Tommy Jarrell, Don Stover, Mike or Pete Seeger, Ola Belle Reed or Tommy Thompson.
It's also a lot easier to learn than you would imagine largely due to Cathy Fink's engaging, hands-on educational approach -- you'll be making music immediately even if you're a flat-out beginner. And if you already play guitar, you'll have a set's worth of tunage under your belt within just a couple of weeks (plus, many well-known guitarists like Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler and Neil Young use the clawhammer strumming style in their guitar playing).
In Beginner Module 1, Cathy steps you through all of the basics, from both G and C tuning to right-hand techniques, chords, scales, hammers, pull-offs, and slides. Along the way you'll learn to play Skip to My Lou, Cripple Creek, Sandy River Belle, Little Liza Jane, Buffalo Gals, Old Joe Clark, Shady Grove, This Little Light of Mine and Old Paint - enough of a solid repertoire to participate at the jams and treat family and friends to your new-found clawhammer banjo prowess!
In Beginner Module 2, Cathy steps up your clawhammer banjo game with more cool tunings, chords, scales, insight and of course more songs for your repertoire, each filled with additional key techniques that you can use in hundreds and hundreds of songs. You'll learn Coming Round the Mountain, Careless Love, Walkin' in the Parlor, Needlecase, Mississippi Sawyer, Angeline the Baker, Soldier's Joy, and Get Along Home Cindy. Completing this module rounds out your clawhammer banjo chops with enough skills to take on virtually any song or standard banjo tune and lays a solid foundation for an advanced learning study program (coming soon from Cathy!) and a lifetime of enjoyment.
Everything is demonstrated and broken down note-by-note in full living color. The interactive lesson player equips you with handy tools for zooming, looping and for calling up charts tab, and notation with a single click. Slow and at tempo playalongs get you in the clawhammer groove quickly and accelerate the learning process. You will play your way through the course - no tedious theory or boring exercise to struggle through!
Skip the time travel and genetic splicing -- pick up Cathy Fink's Clawhammer Banjo series and treat yourself to one of the most enjoyable and musical learning experiences you will ever encounter. Oh, and start thinking about that cool stage name!
What you'll learn
- Play the complete melody and chords to Little Liza Jane
- Execute slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs as melodic embellishments
- Integrate melody notes within open chord shapes
- Create variations on a basic melody
- Recognize and play syncopated rhythms
Release date: 06/02/2012 • 4h 00m runtime
Sample lessons
Right Hand Basics #1
Essential Techniques: 1
RH Drills #3 Play-along
Bum-ditty Rhythm Exercise
Old Joe Clark
Performance
Old Joe Clark
Chord Breakdown
What's included
81 lessons • 16 charts
Clawhammer Banjo
Welcome to the beginner clawhammer banjo series. I have been playing old-time banjo since 1974. I have listened, watched, listened, practiced, watched, jammed, listened over and over again. The old time music repertoire has been a constant sound track in my head.
My playing style is influenced by so many banjo players and recordings that I can not honestly say that it emulates any one player. In face, it is my own way of playing with lots of influences starting with my first banjo teacher, Barry Luft of Calgary Alberta, to the many years I was able to hear and watch great players at festivals and concerts such as Mike Seeger, Tommy Thompson, Tommy Jarrell, Lily Mae Ledford, Ola Belle Reed, Reed Martin, Bob Carlin, Pete Seeger, Hedy West, and many, many more.
That said, I am not teaching here the "Tommy Jarrell" or the "Don Stover" or any specific version of any tune or song. I instead have chosen to teach relatively generic versions that are true to the musical form, but do not quote directly from any musical source. As you listen to contemporary and traditional players of clawhammer banjo, you will develop your own tastes and from there can shoose to study more detail of specific regional or personal styles. My hope is that with this and my other courses, I’ve prepared you to do that, and to play along in jam sessions, and to learn to work out banjo tunes and arrangements on your own,
Every teacher has their own way of teaching and every player has nuances to their own playing. Whatever works and makes the music you want to make, go for it!
Enjoy the banjo-the practice time, the jamming time and the adventure of taking up this amazing instrument. And thanks for studying with me.
A special note to guitar players expanding your horizons at the banjo: Guitar playing, especially fingerpicking, uses the same left hand techniques as clawhammer banjo. That part will come easily to you. But the right hand will be a challenge, using completely different techniques and creating all new muscle memory. Try to spend enough time on the drills and early exercises so your right hand will be solid before you start adding your "guitar" knowledge to the left hand. Think of banjo as a completely different instrument instead of "another fretted instrument". There is crossover in left hand technique, but the right hand will take some time to get comfortable and accurate. Once you get it, it’s like riding a bike, it’ll be with you forever.
Cathy Fink
My playing style is influenced by so many banjo players and recordings that I can not honestly say that it emulates any one player. In face, it is my own way of playing with lots of influences starting with my first banjo teacher, Barry Luft of Calgary Alberta, to the many years I was able to hear and watch great players at festivals and concerts such as Mike Seeger, Tommy Thompson, Tommy Jarrell, Lily Mae Ledford, Ola Belle Reed, Reed Martin, Bob Carlin, Pete Seeger, Hedy West, and many, many more.
That said, I am not teaching here the "Tommy Jarrell" or the "Don Stover" or any specific version of any tune or song. I instead have chosen to teach relatively generic versions that are true to the musical form, but do not quote directly from any musical source. As you listen to contemporary and traditional players of clawhammer banjo, you will develop your own tastes and from there can shoose to study more detail of specific regional or personal styles. My hope is that with this and my other courses, I’ve prepared you to do that, and to play along in jam sessions, and to learn to work out banjo tunes and arrangements on your own,
Every teacher has their own way of teaching and every player has nuances to their own playing. Whatever works and makes the music you want to make, go for it!
Enjoy the banjo-the practice time, the jamming time and the adventure of taking up this amazing instrument. And thanks for studying with me.
A special note to guitar players expanding your horizons at the banjo: Guitar playing, especially fingerpicking, uses the same left hand techniques as clawhammer banjo. That part will come easily to you. But the right hand will be a challenge, using completely different techniques and creating all new muscle memory. Try to spend enough time on the drills and early exercises so your right hand will be solid before you start adding your "guitar" knowledge to the left hand. Think of banjo as a completely different instrument instead of "another fretted instrument". There is crossover in left hand technique, but the right hand will take some time to get comfortable and accurate. Once you get it, it’s like riding a bike, it’ll be with you forever.
Cathy Fink
Section 1 Introduction
In this section, we're going to be addressing the most important part of learning any new instrument: the fundamentals. Please take your time throughout this section and take care to practice slowly.
Here we will cover things like how to hold the banjo, how to tune up, and lots of drills to help you get up to speed quickly. We'll also be covering some of the most commonly used chords and will practice changing between them to get the hang of it.
Don't skip this section, even if you already have some basic banjo skills, clawhammer technique is unique, so pay attention and practice the drills often.
Here we go!
Here we will cover things like how to hold the banjo, how to tune up, and lots of drills to help you get up to speed quickly. We'll also be covering some of the most commonly used chords and will practice changing between them to get the hang of it.
Don't skip this section, even if you already have some basic banjo skills, clawhammer technique is unique, so pay attention and practice the drills often.
Here we go!
Holding the Banjo
It's important to hold the banjo in a way that is comfortable. Try using a strap which helps hold the neck up. We start in G tuning.
5th string=g 4th=D 3rd=G 2nd=B 1st=D
5th string=g 4th=D 3rd=G 2nd=B 1st=D
Right Hand Basics #1
Take your time in the early stages of playing clawhammer banjo. A good right hand technique will serve you forever in your playing whereas a sloppy right hand technique will lead to a lack of clarity and precision in your playing. No hurry.
I also suggest that in the beginning, practicing the right hand a few times a day for 5-10 minutes will help you progress more than playing it for 30 minutes at a time.
I also suggest that in the beginning, practicing the right hand a few times a day for 5-10 minutes will help you progress more than playing it for 30 minutes at a time.
Right Hand Basics #2
Here's where we start learning to play individual string and notes in the clawhammer style. No matter what it looks like, I am only hittding DOWN with the right hand on the first four strings.
Be patient, this is the hardest part.
Be patient, this is the hardest part.
Using a Metronome
Music is best when the timing is tight. The metronome doesn't lie, so getting in the habit of practicing to a metronome helps you solidify your timing.
Great players such as Bela Fleck still warm up with a metronome. It's well worth the effort.
Great players such as Bela Fleck still warm up with a metronome. It's well worth the effort.
Take Your Time
The beginning exercises will mold what your playing will sound like. Take your time and make sure that you are able to do each exercise well before moving on to the next one.
There's a temptation to play fast, or to be in a hurry to get to the next lesson. Let go of that and get into the zen of systematic practice. You'll enjoy your own playing more when that practice pays off and you're making great music.
There's a temptation to play fast, or to be in a hurry to get to the next lesson. Let go of that and get into the zen of systematic practice. You'll enjoy your own playing more when that practice pays off and you're making great music.
+ 74 more lessons
Reviews
23 results
OlddogAZ
Verified buyer
12/20/25
Good module its taking me a little bit longer but that's just me.
Gmcfad
Verified buyer
10/06/25
Cathy Fink Banjo Module 1
I like the pace and the emphasis on foundational skills.
JamboWambo
Verified buyer
08/04/25
Clawhammer Banjo
Loving it so far. Cathy keeps things clear and simple but also keeps the pace moving enough that I stay motivated to keep coming back and learning more.
ulipayer
Verified buyer
06/26/25
Fun and easy learning!
This course is super fun and easy to follow, the perfect way to get started on clawhammer banjo! Cathy has a great way of explaining the technique and the rhythm - it’s an excellent course!
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