cbeale
Verified buyer
12/08/24
Cathy Fink’s Intermediate Clawhammer
Cathy is a wonderful teacher. She does a great job of teaching the song and in addition talking about ways she embellishes it. Good solid Old Time songs I’ve wanted to learn.
Clawhammer Banjo: Intermediate Module 1
A Comprehensive Method Series For Clawhammer Banjo: Intermediate Module 1
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About this course
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 Cripple Creek: Double Thumb, Bill Cheatam, Old Joe Clark, Soldier's Joy, Speed The Plow, Mississippi Sawyer, Old Molly Hare, Fly Around My Pretty Miss, Triplets in D, Arkansas Traveler, Boatman, and Red Wing.
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 full 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!
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 full 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 complete fiddle tune arrangements at full performance tempo
- Navigate AABB song structures confidently
- Execute turnarounds and endings cleanly
- Maintain consistent tempo and rhythm throughout extended playing
- Understand why tuning may need adjustment after changing tunings
Release date: 09/13/2012 • 4h 26m runtime
Sample lessons
Drop Thumbing
Introduction
Cripple Creek: Dbl. Thumb
Performance
Using a Capo
Capo Lesson
Bill Cheatam
Performance
What's included
82 lessons • 17 charts
Clawhammer Banjo
Welcome to the first module of the Intermediate clawhammer banjo course: New tunes, new tunings and new techniques! 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 fact, it is my own way of playing with lots of influences starting with my first banjo teacher, Barry Luft of Calgary, Alberta. Through 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 choose 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.
Let's get started!
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 fact, it is my own way of playing with lots of influences starting with my first banjo teacher, Barry Luft of Calgary, Alberta. Through 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 choose 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.
Let's get started!
Tuning in G (and A)
gDGBD for the key of G. Put a capo on the 2nd fret for they key of A and tune the 5th string up to A, or tune banjo aEACE
Drop Thumbing
Drop thumb is also called double thumbing. It is a cool technique that brings the thumb down to other strings besides the 5th string and helps you get more notes, syncopations and sounds.
Drop Thumb: 1
This exercise will get you started with drop-thumbing. Take it slow and steady and you'll be on your way.
Drop Thumb: 2
The right hand here will be on "auto-pilot" while we move the left hand around more.
Drop Thumb: 3
Time to drop thumb with the 3rd string and the 4th string. Practice, practice, practice.
Lots of drills to help you make this feel natural.
Lots of drills to help you make this feel natural.
Drop Thumb: 4
Lesson three gets more musical and more challenging here, with a nice ascending and descending progression and drop-thumb utilizing all the strings.
+ 75 more lessons
Reviews
11 results
Fred J.
10/10/23
Great teacher
These lessons are a step up from the beginners course but still very approachable if you've been playing a few months. All new concepts are very clearly laid out and the play along tracks are at sensible speeds. Only negative in my opinion, as with many TrueFire courses, is that the lessons are broken up into far too many videos. Cathy is a wonderful player and a wonderful teacher.
AlanL
Verified buyer
11/30/22
Clawhammer banjo - Cathy Fink
Great course taking you from beginner to more advanced.
tompedersen
Verified buyer
09/14/21
Hearing the difference
After learning from two other instructors, I was pleasantly surprised at how different her style is (I didn't notice it when I first started playing) and how much the instruction has added/changed my playing.
rwbakermd
Verified buyer
01/26/21
Great Continuation of Beginners’ Course
Cathy Fink is a great teacher, and this is an excellent course. She starts off with drop thumbing and takes off from there. Heartily recommended.
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