Two Finger Banjo Traditional Techniques

Banjo Heritage 👉 / cliftonhicks
Basic elements/fundamentals of traditional 2-finger banjo technique: index lead, thumb lead, rolls, drop thumb, syncopation, waltz, and percussion. Demonstrated on an 1888 Luscomb banjo tuned about two frets below gCGCD.
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Oldtime banjo close ups and demonstrations of overhand, clawhammer, two finger, thumb lead, 2 finger, frailing and stroke styles plus traditional southern Appalachian mountain hoedown and early minstrel show techniques. History, anthropology, folklore, research and musicology including breakdowns, blues, waltz pieces, tin pan alley, some Afro-Caribbean and West African history, occasional Cajun and zydeco references, also Métis, Creole, Melungeon and indigenous North American music traditions. Mountain music, southern culture. George Gibson, Ernie Williams, Cousin Emmy, Dock Boggs, Rufus Crisp, Virgil Anderson, Lily May Ledford, Roscoe Holcomb, Tab Ward, Frank Proffitt, Tommy Jarrell, Kyle Creed, Lee Sexton, Morgan Sexton, Lead Belly, Pete Steele, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, JD Crowe, Clarence Ashley, Fred Cockerham, Dwight Diller, Gaither Carlton, John Snipes, Dink Roberts, Clifford Essex, Joe Sweeney, Archibald Ferguson, Dan Emmett, John Hartford, Picayune Butler, Gus Cannon, Art Rosenbaum, Grandpa Jones, Snuffy Jenkins, Buell Kazee, Bascam Lamar Lunsford, Uncle Dave Macon, Tommy Makem, Luke Kelly, Charlie Poole, Ola Belle Reed, BF Shelton, Hobart Smith, Samantha Bumgarner, Peggy Seeger, Mike Seeger, Jean Ritchie, Ralph Stanley, Odell Thompson, Wade Ward, Hedy West, Fred McDowell, Uncle Homer Walker, Mississippi John Hurt old time, folk, trad roots pickers songsters. #banjo #oldtimemusic #history Riley Baugus, Dirk Powell, Gillian Welch, Maybelle Carter Family. Morgan Sexton, Black Banjo Songsters, Lee Sexton, Clyde Troxell, Blanche Coldiron, Banjo Bill Cornett.

[@annettemundy3640]

Thanks, I love this! It's like a little toolbox of techniques. The way you compare the techniques to their claw/overhand equivalents makes it easier for me to understand. Not many two finger players where I'm from, so these lessons are so welcome. It's exciting to be exploring this whole other side of the banjo!

[@primaveranz]

I read somewhere that Doc Watson struggled to master drop thumbing in the early days so he developed his own unique style. And to hear that you developed your own wonderful style as a result of struggling with clawhammer, tells me my own struggles with 2-finger need not end in vain! Keep them coming Clifton, there's a lot of hungry banjo players out here ;)

[@sir0nion]

There's a live album with him that's inter-cut with interviews with him. In one of the interview tracks on the album he explains not using drop thumb.

[@erstwhilerambler]

Just want to say, I really appreciate your time and willingness to share. I’d tried (and given up) 3-finger long ago, then have recently picked up the banjo once again with the intention of learning some claw hammer stuff. But it’s your old-time 2-finger sound - along with your authentic traditional singing style - that really speaks to me the most and captures the spirit that I’m hoping to channel.

[@erstwhilerambler]

For what it’s worth: I’m continuing to work on the overhand style along with my 2-finger picking; I like to have both options as I play around and find songs. Also, I end up doing some syncopated licks (by means of a quick thumb and index double-stroke) that I’m hearing in my head from listening to so much Scruggs-style playing. It’s not strictly “old-time” I guess, but it sounds good (I think) - and I, like you, am more concerned with the music than with the “rules”.

[@frednavrotski8936]

Clifton you are fantastic, spot on If I may say...almost 76 playing 1 1/2 yrs without any one I know that plays a banjo or a teacher other than the internet. I have tried all the styles even metal picks but got tired of picking them up off the floor. Some how it seems natural to play drop thumb 2 finger style like you are doing. I have trouble with the cords right hand playing is not a problem, but maybe cause I am hard of hearing my cords is not good. I try to avoid using cords. And to me it is still music made in heaven, but I am sure others around me disagree. I always gravitate back to all your videos thanks so much for your sharing and talent on the 5 string.

[@veroldaley1]

I must agree with you that nylon strings sounds better on the up picking . Thank you sir for your ideas and lessons , to think in the years to come your name will be mentioned with the greats of banjo players is just fantastic

[@holmeslawson7875]

One of the best banjo tutorials I’ve ever watched

[@robertjohnson5795]

I'm kind of immersed in clawhammer right now but your style is really intriguing. Love those mountain banjos you make too. Thanks for sharing all this stuff. You're a true artist!

[@Vigilante311]

Great teaching and great playing as always Man, these videos are a goldmine for anyone starting banjo, thanks again

[@AlbertaBackwoodsAdventures]

Great lesson, I have been waiting a long time for you to share your style. It’s very unique and incredible!

[@abrokenmanwithaplan]

This is so helpful! Please keep instructing, love your playing. Many thanks for this upload.

[@kdstinson4727]

Clifton Hicks wow, and thank you!

[@rayblanchard964]

Thanks Clifton, really enjoying your lessons. Cheers!

[@mondocain]

This was a great lesson.You are have helped me improve my banjo playing by leaps and bounds, and just want to say thank you. I support you on Patreon and hope other will too. Your enthusiasm and knowledge of old timey music is infectious! Thanks again Clifton.

[@Bisbonian]

I love your style...you incorporate so many different techniques into a style that comes across as seamless. And you make it look (and sound) fluid and easy. You've really explained it well, here...one stop shopping.

[@twoowls5570]

I still go back to this video to reinforce the basics when I get sloppy. Great info, thanks again! jimp

[@justinliptak5423]

Thank you for sir for the teaching i really enjoy the way that you lay out the old school ways. When I get the chance to get my hands to get my hands on a 5 string I will be revisiting this video.

[@0713mas]

This is fantastic, I guess I'm gonna set up one of my banjos like this and get to learning! Ty

[@toadeepants]

So helpful, thanks as always, Clifton. I love Dock Boggs! And thank you for sharing licks-I always like that. I’ve been focusing on your Cumberland Gap lesson. It’s coming slowly but surely. 😊

[@loduk]

Great job, thanks! Very clear.

[@frednavrotski8936]

That is great I need all the help I can get. Thank you for conforming my way of playing.

[@rideshareog]

I really enjoy all your work. Thanks

[@nickgrantartist]

Good stuff thanks Clifton

[@tomzhang1986]

Thanks for you sharing, dude.

[@PhilipLEdwards]

As always, you are keeping our lives the grand rich heritage of the banjo in our country. You you’re left out one important thing. I consider the icing on the cake… hammer ons (you did that a little), slides pull offs that make the unique sound that makes the banjo unique. Embellishment exercises including their use in a song in the video would be ideal.. thanks Clifton. Thanks for your service. (If you already have a video covering this…. Oops!

[@bobmartin770]

Terrific! Thanks for sharing. Peace Brother

[@PLINKER]

Loved it!

[@twoowls5570]

This really helps me, guess it is more in line with the way my brain works, or doesn’t. Thanks for sharing! Regards, Jimp

[@JimB73C]

My brain too Jimp! Lol

[@johnnieowings7996]

Love to see you play. I play acoustic guitar and just got a banjo. Totally a different animal. Plan on learning a lot from you

[@peterfrost6507]

This was good stuff. I stumble around with two finger. I have some things to work on now.

[@samuellangley1162]

Thank you so much!!

[@horsedrawnfarmer6885]

Great videos...love it.

[@biglare481]

Thanks!

[@mloubrubaker1899]

That was good! I do a bunch of that, but could develop it to work more together. Cool!

[@joey4809]

it would be if you showed the tuning your in on all your videos for us beginners would be helpfull !! loving your style how refreshing

[@gazaustinmusic8321]

Your a dude and been around for a long while now, cheers

[@jethrobodine4638]

great video. love how you play. i have played clawhammer x 1 year. i thought i would try to learn this style as well. it has a neat sound. i soooo want to learn to play the Blacksmith. i wish you would do a slow teaching version of that tune as i cannot find any tab for it. i am still green so learning it by ear has proved difficult.

[@annajones2165]

Yaup it is much better I love the way you do it.

[@scottpierce68]

Thank you sir! Always a pleasure to watch your stuff and hear your playing.

[@rk845b]

Thank you for your videos. I am a beginner and still trying to adopt a style. I really like your sound and am wondering how I could use this style in a backup role or jam session with songs I haven't memorized. Thanks for any help. Rick

[@digitaldemocracyai-rob]

"so that's easy" - lol

[@itsruf1]

2-finger-style and 3-finger-style to click the like button.

[@AnthonyGargini]

I do the opposite where i hit the fifth string with my thumb on 2 then the first string with index. Kind of a bum y-ditt. I think your style sounds better though so going to try to teach my hand both ways

[@d.l.loonabide9981]

Great info. Your "2beat" technique is is very similar to the Carter scratch, isn't it? I think you're basically replacing the last stroke of the scratch with a rest. I've been clawing for quite a while. More recently, I've been trying out two finger techniques. It turns out, many of the rhythms and left hand techniques are similar in both approaches.

[@hawkmoonism]

Is there any TAB for the 2 finger pattern available?

[@bruceroberts3082]

I've been playing clawhammer/overhand and want to try 2 finger thumb lead, I like your sound. Question relates to the dirty. You do first string index followed by fifth string thumb for ditty. So I see another nice 2 finger thumb lead website that uses thumb fifth string followed by index first string ditty, and has tabs so written. What are your thoughts on these differences? Are there significant pluses and minuses? I don't want to learn one way and then try to switch to a different one later. Really like your sound, appreciate any comments or opinions you have, thanks.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

You should play whichever way is most comfortable for you. I find it _much_ smoother to go thumb-index-thumb than thumb-thumb-index. The latter seems like a stick in a spoke to me.

[@moptop7575]

What kind of head is that?

[@DRNEGOLICIS]

Have a bum middle finger. I'm glad theres a way around this for me

[@719559]

is it nylon-strings.....?

[@tomnelson3362]

Clifton, what strings are you playing? They look like nylon or something other than metal. It was good to hear that you've heard people say you can't play a certain way and you just prove them wrong. I've run into a few folks that are of the "my way or the highway" style of banjo.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I suggest Aquila New Nylgut or Labella No. 17 Nylon.

[@tomnelson3362]

Thanks

[@zachsmith8916]

Have you done anything on traditional 3 finger styles of picking like Charlie Poole?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

After quitting Scruggs style about 1999 I never did mess with 3 finger.

[@m.krull1945]

hello what strings do you use? Many greetings from Germany

[@plucknpick6414]

I noticed your playing on nylon (nylagut?) strings....does that give you an advantage over steel strings?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I try to keep one banjo with medium steel strings and one with medium-heavy nylons. I like the sound and feel of both types.

[@atillion79]

Which of these techniques should I focus on to get your Sally Ann vibe?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

That one's mostly coming from the up-picking video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2fTYmN_lJ2hadU

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

And this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2fTYmN_lJ2hadU

[@WA-ge3vz]

Do you ever play banjoleles? I have been playing the uke for about 2 years and a bajolele with claw hammer for about 6 months. I love my banjolele and will keep playing it, but now i feel compelled to "upgrade" to a banjo. A banjolele just kind of seems like a banjo with limitations.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I actually have a banjo uke laying right behind me in this photo, although it doesn't belong to me. Somebody mailed it to me for repairs--have never tried to play one.

[@JohnyG29]

That's how I got onto the banjo, after playing banjolele for a bit. I actually learnt "clawhammer" on the uke before the banjo lol.

[@vanopnt]

Oh man, how does your banjo get all that sweet twang? Looks like a steel body?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

That is an 1890s Luscomb. The rim is solid nickel plated brass with a hardwood tone ring. Excellent sounding banjo!

[@PermacultureAppalachia]

👍🏽👍🏽

[@tastefullyvegan739]

I would love to hear your version of Danville Girl by woodie Guthrie. It’s one of my favorites and I think you would pull it off amazingly.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I used to play Danville Girl all the time, will do.

[@tastefullyvegan739]

@@CliftonHicksbanjo I'll be looking forward to it, thank you!

[@tomnelson3362]

Can i ask one more, do you de-tune your banjo?

[@claudiagarren2955]

Can you post a tab for the two-finger bum diddy pattern?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

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[@richofar5618]

Clifton do use nylon strings?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I try to keep one banjo with medium steel strings and one with medium-heavy nylons.

[@richofar5618]

Cheers Buddy

[@terrywood3268]

Just wondering what you think of nylon strings and do you recommend any in particular. By the way I'm a patreon but can't find a facility to message you on the site also love your banjo playing

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

In my younger years I played exclusively on nylon or gut strings--in recent years I have settled on keeping one banjo with medium gauge metal strings and another with medium nylons. I also sell all of my handmade banjos with nylons on them. I use whatever strings are cheapest--lately those have been La Bella No. 17.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

One more thing I'll mention: I find that nylon strings sound better to me when up-picked rather than down-picked.

[@terrywood3268]

Thanks for the helpful information 👍

[@joey4809]

i do

[@renebleu3542]

... Did you write a method which we could purchase from you ?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

René, I've not published a book, but I do teach an online course here: BanjoHeritage.com

[@renebleu3542]

@@CliftonHicksbanjo ... as I am not fluent in english, it is hard to me to learn from U-tub

[@Banjo362]

Say, Clifton are you familiar with Will Keys, Art Stamper, Lee Sexton, Morgan Sexton, or Chip Arnold?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I am not familiar with Arnold but have studied the rest.

[@timspencer1307]

What tuning are you in, boy? Could be better if we could follow your tuning.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

Banjo is tuned to gCGCD, sir.

[@thomasarnason5276]

Its closer to f#AF#AC :)

[@jamesrodriquez2863]

I have watched a lot of banjo videos over the past 6 months, and it seems to me that no matter the method--3 finger BG, 2 FTL, clawhammer, 2FIL, up-picking, with picks or without them--people have a tendency to develop their own style. It's really not that different than what happens with guitar playing--as long as it sounds good and you are comfortable doing it, do it in whatever way works for you. Learn the rules first. Then proceed to break them in whatever way suits what you are trying to accomplish.

[@RyanNelly]

I'm seeing this now and... I can throw nylon strings on a typical 5 string Dearing? Why not? Hmm

[@silverman482]

No Wade Mainer or Will Keys? I have never seen Wade Mainer or Will Keys demonstrated by any so called banjo experts on you tube. Only Chip Arnold can come close to Will Keys and I have never heard any banjo player replicate Wade Mainer.

[@user-nh5zd3ic8r]

I thought I was doing something wrong by using two fingers

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

Lee Sexton says he plays better with two than most can with three, and he ain't lying.

[@Shotzeethegamer]

:)

[@d.l.loonabide9981]

Bum Diddy Diddy. That's waltz time. Not hard at all.