Cumberland Gap - Clawhammer Banjo Lesson (Lee Sexton, Morgan Sexton)

Banjo Heritage 👉 / cliftonhicks
fDGCD, relative. Traditional 2-finger banjo. Learned from Lee Sexton of Letcher County, Kentucky.
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[@danrubin7449]

For what it's worth, I believe your actual tuning is DBEAB (thus first string is B not D as stated).

[@z_dog7739]

I remember going through the backwoods of Virginia in the coal camps and hearing a few older guys playing Cumberland gap on their porch and it just became kinda a theme song for my area for all my friends at school and we learned to play it and we did it in the talent show at our school

[@zachsmith8916]

I remember getting a Morgan Sexton CD at the library in Huntington West Virginia when I was about 13 having just started playing the banjo. At the time I had been super into Béla Fleck but after that I moved hard toward traditional banjo.

[@moonoggin]

You're a great teacher and I'm having fun learning from you. My life dream is to play clawhammer mixed with 2 or 3 finger. Glad you're here to complete my dream =)

[@LittleLouieLagazza]

Man I lunged for the like button on the very first chord like my hair was ON FIRE LOL

[@ChudActual]

Morgan sexton did one of my favorite versions of this piece

[@DanDDirges]

Nobody, and I mean nobody plays this song as good as you! Thanks for the lesson! The lyrics you sing for the song are so great! Different from what pops up on a google search. Fascinating right hand technique, how you switch playing melody between index and thumb!

[@toadeepants]

Absolutely love your version of Cumberland Gap. Thank you so much for a lesson on it! Edit to add-your lessons are so much more than “just” a lesson. I’d just recently been hoping you’d teach it. That way you hit the slide-that’s a good breakdown of how you’re creating that cool, old sound.

[@user-lexie-2016]

Oh my God Clifton that was my father's greatest song was tumbling gap 🤩

[@janfideplat752]

' thank you very much Mr Hicks, What a great lesson ! J'ai énormément progressė en votre compagnie et celle des autres merveilleux joueurs que vous m'avez fait découvrir. Merci merci merci 💚

[@horsedrawnfarmer6885]

Really excellent lessons.....thank you. it’s a sound I’ve been looking for for a long time.....how to get that old school mountain tone was beyond me until I discovered this!

[@AlisonHeyer]

Hey, I love your videos, and I just joined your patreon yesterday. That's a Bb chord, the IV chord in F.

[@austinlandgraf9151]

Yup ur pretty good at that. Thanks for the close up!

[@PHIL-ts8si]

This lesson has tricks in it that been helping me all over the banjo. Its been fun this week going at it and there's still tons to figure out and learn about the song.

[@WVSCROUNGER]

Clifton, thanks for posting these lessons....I love the style....fits my West Virginia mountain homestead....I'm sure I will be able to learn a lot here...…..Thank Ye frum Wild Wonderful West Virginia !

[@austinlandgraf9151]

Just found this and still working on two finger on little grey mule :)

[@AcidTechnoMan5000]

Hey boss. Your tuning is DBEAB not DBEAD, was confused there for a min. Love the style and the tune.

[@rcg5317]

This tune changes personality with tempo as much as tuning. Played slowly it has an “end of the day” or finality to it that a sawmill tuning or variation works well with.

[@daveclarke05443]

I seriously need to learn this !

[@101happyfuntime]

Love this version of it, thank you so much! Haven't gotten around to this two finger style of playing yet, but once I do this'll be the first song that i'll learn, by far my all-time favorite verion of Cumberland Gap.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

Try playing it this way using your overhand "clawhammer" technique--it's all same tuning, same left hand work and the same rhythm.

[@101happyfuntime]

Thanks, i will. been playing scruggs style for about a year, only clawhammer since a few weeks ago, but already got quite a few songs down, so I'll try this for sure. Oh and by the way, i love your channel so much, really dig your vibe, loved your banjo history videos especially. So thank you for doing these videos.

[@Robthebanks]

Try fingerpicking it as well, just because a song is of a certain genre doesn't meant you have to play it in any particular way. The left hand is the same regardless!

[@jackorbit7258]

Thanks, Clifton. I play Skruggs style, but I'm going to learn this version.

[@ukekeysandbees]

Hey Clifton, excellent stuff, I just found your videos, really like how you play the thumb lead!

[@drewby613]

Does this tuning have a name? Looks very useful!!! Thanks for this illuminating video!!💡

[@ProfesserLuigi]

One of these days you gotta show us your version of I Saw a Man at the Close of Day.

[@oldcrownestshop5025]

Thanks clifton i needed that!

[@blacksheepbanjos]

Hi Clifton! Love what you're doing here and really dig your playing style. I started playing banjo about a year ago to the day, and you have been an unknowing mentor to me in the process, as you have for many others on here I'm sure. You asked someone to identify that chord, and I think it's a Bb chord. I think you're fretting an A#, D and F in that tuning, which is Bb. The IV chord in the key of F. Confused me for a minute, A is A-C#-E, the "sharp" had me stuck for a few. Also, the high part you played sounds reminiscent of another really cool song - "Last Chance" by Hobart Smith.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

Thanks. You are light years ahead of my on that material!

[@blacksheepbanjos]

Well judging by your playing it's not necessary, you rock. I was just happy to be able solve a puzzle you supplied, lol

[@Robthebanks]

Nice one hinkl, it's good to have someone who understands the standards of our Western music terminology interpret what Clif is playing because I'm trying to learn that stuff as well as what Clif is showing us. Thanks a lot!

[@blacksheepbanjos]

No problem! I'm basically doing the same myself (learning to play and learning the music theory stuff at the same time), so I'm no expert by any means, lol. Just saw an opportunity to practice thinking it through. Something about the banjo is just making me want to inhale everything I can about it. I was hooked as soon as the "clawhammer" style started feeling natural to my hand.

[@Robthebanks]

I know what you mean. I was trying to play with fingerpicks for the first month and never got on with it. Three days after trying out overhand I was hooked!

[@andressanchezlupianez5670]

Great video thank you so much! The chords you are playing are F and Bb (if you slide this last one to frets up you get C). Obvsly youre chords are not exactly because of the way u tuned it to ur voice. Thank u again, love ur channel.

[@Babu_the_blue]

Love this song, but is there a version going through slower as I’m just starting to learn again and can’t seem to pick up some bits 😂

[@Robthebanks]

I've literally just sent an email to my banjo builder asking for Cumberland Gap tabs because I've never got it down. Nice timing Clifton!

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

Bobby, there are a couple of other ways to tune the banjo for this piece. Most play it in standard gDGBD tuning and then there's "Cumberland Gap" tunings: f#BEAD and gEADE if you want to get really archaic with it.

[@Robthebanks]

Thanks Clif, the video of you playing Cumberland Gap in studio is my favourite version of this song. I know you're currently going through Frankie and Annie but I'd love to see you go through those various versions of Cumberland Gap when you get the chance!

[@tastefullyvegan739]

I have just found your channel, gonna be a fun night playing two finger!

[@jond661]

That's what she said

[@kyleaylward6678]

Hello Clifton , wondering what type of strings you are using ? And also how do you manage to keep that sound my banjo won’t hold that tuning ? Maybe my strings could be wound on the machine head?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

La Bella nylon strings.

[@TheMoses800]

Great lesson. Thanks man. Would you do a Gospel Plow when you can?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

Will do. Thanks for looking.

[@PermacultureAppalachia]

👍👍

[@winkcrittenden6011]

Love this arrangement and your 2 finger picking, but not sure why this is tagged as clawhammer.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

Until about 1965 clawhammer and two-finger meant the same thing.

[@winkcrittenden6011]

@@CliftonHicksbanjo it's 2024.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I'm interested in pre-WW2 music traditions.

[@PHIL-ts8si]

Morgan Sexton dont play this tune quite the same as Lee. Yours is a bit different too. Gotta love how old time music gets passed on

[@horsedrawnfarmer6885]

I brought a five string banjo just to learn this tune

[@Kenulas]

isnt Cumberland gap just cripple creek?