Little Sadie on clawhammer banjo

[@beeandbloomhomestead]

I just want to say thank you for taking the time to teach us this song!

[@josephgarrahan9945]

i have had a banjo for about 10 years sitting in my closet. You've inspired me to take it out and learn how to play. You made a great song seem very accessible and learnable. I'll keep you posted. I'd send you some corn muffins a just baked but youtube hasn't got that advanced yet

[@Neveron7457]

Playing up here in the Appalachian Mountains of New England. I’ve been practicing sawmill tunes for about 5 years and Ive got to know some of the classics pretty well. The Coo Coo, Cluck Old Hen, Kitchen Girl, Pretty Polly, Shady Grove, etc., but just decided to try a new one. So glad to have found your tutorial for Little Sadie. Such a beautiful tune. Really showcases what makes sawmill tuning so hauntingly special. With your lesson I’ve got it down in about 5 minutes. Thanks for the tune!

[@campb450]

I'm really getting a sense of how to incorporate the "cluck" by listening to your playing. Thanks so much for sharing these lessons. I've started to put up a few for the beginning clawhammer player, and hope people find them as helpful as I've found yours! Thanks.

[@muscleman6299]

Hilarie just wanned to say thank you 4 yr vids, I've learnt so much from u. Wouldn't be as far as iv come without u. Thank you x

[@HilarieBurhans]

I'm so glad they're helpful for you!

[@jackstraw4812]

I am not Todd, but my buddy said "We should learn Little Sadie." I says "ok" and here I am...I found this video very helpful as i was able to play the tune pretty well in 10 minutes, so thank you.

[@Myhorseandmymusic]

Thanks so much for all the detail in the verbiage, technique and all that is wonderful about the banjo. Also, thanks for taking your time.

[@allenjones4949]

Thank you again Mrs Burhans, Because of you I am able to learn another song.

[@jamesevans9007]

Very nice. Your right-hand rhythm is spot on. Good job!

[@davidbrennan6072]

Hello there , watching your lessons from the uk.would like to say thank you very much .dave

[@garethmichael4385]

such a good lesson and a good teacher. So easy to follow!! I live in Wollongong Australia, have loved the sound of the banjo since I was a boy, took it up maybe 7 months ago now. Hardly anyone plays it here in Australia so I rely on KZbin. The style I've started with is the 3 finger picking style. though I love the sound and style of the clawhammer style, seems to have a real Irish reel vibe and sound and I've noticed not as easy as it looks! I plan on watching your videos as I found them so easy to follow! thank you! Gareth

[@griffins999]

Great video! Very easy to follow. Thank you!

[@JulieBest]

Good teaching!! I can learn the whole song from this little vid.

[@oldjoeclark]

Thank You Hilarie, I love this song.

[@70Dazky]

just started learning this song and style, and after about 20 mins noticed how where you position your picking hand really effects the sound and (getting the cluck sound).right hand really needs to been picking on the fingerboard like you do(your playing the 16th fret).my preference seems to be above the 21/22 fret mark.this video is really helping heaps , thank you.

[@jeff30795]

Thank you Hilarie for posting these videos, they are very informative and inspirational. Jeff

[@davidbyrhtnoth375]

Brilliantly simple instructional video. Many thanks.

[@jamesrusso2523]

Thanks ! Now understand song much better .I have it in a Pete Seeger book,but couldn't catch on. Your a good teacher.

[@mandomonica]

I really like the detail in your explanations. Thank you.

[@guywolff]

Great teaching Hilarie , I dont know how you can pull these tunes and songs apart in your head like this .. I guess that's why I am not a teacher .. I do love CLarence Tom Ashley's off string pull offs on this one ...

[@dennisscanlin1458]

Thanks for sharing your banjo playing. Great playing and teaching

[@JamesHunterRoss]

How interesting... it is so very different than the right hand for guitar, finger picking. I'm going to have to get a banjo and practice this! Thanks for the lesson.

[@humblepie8638]

Terrific lesson. I really enjoy your playing, Hillarie. Thank you!

[@NineMuses4me]

Thanks Hilarie! Good teaching technique.

[@questioneverything2488]

A brilliant lesson thank you very much now I am practice

[@DocWhiteblues]

Hi Hilarie, I'm glad you gave the work a miss. Nice work.

[@willmarona4188]

Watching you is so much better than all the news of the c-19 virus. After over 5 weeks in shutdown I’ve all my house projects and most of my neighbors outside repairs done so I’m Finaly spending much more time with my Banjo!!. Always liked this tune and you have a fine presentation here. Thank you for this, I know you posted this a while ago but you know banjo players... were a bit tech challenged! That’s why we play Banjos! Thanks again

[@passenger113]

Thankyou - a really good, really clear and considerate lesson - and so far you haven't showed us how brilliant you are on the banjo, as some online teachers quite innocently tend to do. As a result of this I may just decide to stop noodling about on the banjo and actually learn a tune.

[@markwright6045]

I think you are so cool for mentioning that.

[@OwlAndAntler]

Awesome little video. Thanks for the lesson!

[@dimitrikellan9642]

Best instruction ever. You're awesome, and thanks for posting this.

[@chrislewis4830]

love the opening statement. I had some work to do so i thought id do this instead. that sums me up to a tee. love this tune im gonna have work on it. Unless i find something else to do instead. giggle he he. very usefull vid a big thankyou

[@dobrodoc]

So nice! Thanks! You have a clear way of teaching drop thumb!! Thank you

[@HilarieBurhans]

Thanks! Glad it's helpful. If you get stuck, i do Skype lessons. And yup, Bob, there other videos; just check my channel.

[@Rodolph2012]

Many thanks Hilarie-exact what I´m looking for!

[@iloveactivities6]

Hi Ms Burhans, would you consider doing an instructional on the cluck sound? I've never heard one as sharp as yours. Thanks !

[@guitar1977man]

Excellent lesson and teacher!

[@7956amw]

Nice video. Thanks! Good teacher.

[@blueglassdave]

Very nice. Thank you!

[@merilee222]

My voice teacher had a theatre group called “Theatre Now!” She told me the full name was “Theatre Now, Laundry Later.” So, Music Now!..

[@sonoman9095]

Great Job, thanks for sharing!!!

[@AnAmericanJedi]

This video was very helpful! Thank you very much! You are a total BA!

[@Barouche]

GREAT LESSON HILARIE. MANY THANKS

[@heliopijpe]

Beautiful tune !!!

[@PLINKER]

I'm not sure I heard you right on the strings tunings could you give them to me again? thanks!

[@ansonstiles]

Thank you! very helpful walk through

[@franlowry2324]

Your channel is great. Thanks very much. Have you posted Salt River from the SFOTMW 2014?

[@jeffmusser5460]

Hi Hilarie, I sent you a friend request the other day. I thought I would reply here on your site. Basically I was wanting to know what type of banjo you played on this, and whether or not it had the 12" head? The thing sounds awesome. I'm just getting into old time. I have played bluegrass for ever, and play tenor and plectrum guitar, which I consider to be their more mellow cousins. I am in the process of putting up a KZbin sight myself, since I have not been able to find anyone else who fingerpicks stuff like James Taylor songs anywhere else on the web on a plectrum guitar. Yes, I realize, that's a long way from Old Time, but I have a very broad musical pallet. Except for Rap, Opera, and Contemporary Gospel, I like everything else.

[@ev_ing]

Very clear, thank you!!

[@JohnnyWalkerArt]

Your are awesome. Thank you for this lesson.

[@cuchulainn1659]

Thanks for the lesson.

[@aphily8ed]

Very nice video. It's so nice when people share their teaching abilities on youtube. How wonderfully unselfish of you. I think many people were able to play this tune just after viewing this. So the big question is....how do get that cluck?

[@HilarieBurhans]

Aw, shucks, thanks! Glad it was helpful. Keep enjoying that banjo!

[@7956amw]

+aphily8ed Good question about that cluck. Sounds great!

[@timbalcombe]

Why can't I ignore all I have to do and just play like Hilarie

[@ronhmason]

Love your videos. Does your 5th string set up high enough for your thumb to catch it to get the "cluck" sound which I know comes from the first string or what is the trick to that to play so far down the fret board. My 5th string sets so low I can't catch it with my thumb.

[@SWAviatorII]

Do you gave other instruction videos?

[@coldnosecollege]

Lovely run through - thank you for sharing your talents!

[@demolitionwilliams7419]

Love this

[@darrenlstewart]

Hi from Wales Hilarie, do you have Tab for this lesson as well?

[@linda_guitar8869]

Hi Hilarie, I've been wondering about something for a few years, but haven't asked anyone. Maybe you'd know. I see a lot of clawhammer banjo players picking/strumming the strings over the end of the fretboard, rather than over the banjo head. I've even seen a lot of banjos (on KZbin videos) with empty space at the end of the fretboard that's apparently made for strumming/picking there. When I was a teen, someone showed me frailing style, which is the same rhythm pattern, but frailers pick over the banjo head, and even hit the banjo head with their finger when possible. That's the way I've always played. (Also, I've played bluegrass style for a lot longer than I've played clawhammer/frailing, even though I was shown frailing when I was much younger. That was years before I had a banjo of my own.) Is this, essentially, the difference between "frailing" and "clawhammer"? Like, two names for the same style of playing, but differentiated by where you place your right hand?

[@HilarieBurhans]

Hi Linda... a lot to answer here! First, the frailing/clawhammer thing... When I first started playing, almost 50 years ago, almost everyone seemed to use the term frailing. People who began playing very melodic versions (playing lots of melody notes) referred to the style as melodic clawhammer. Over time, the terms began to be pretty much interchangeable to most people, and the term clawhammer gained in popularity as the term frailing trailed off. As for where one's right hand strikes the strings: The "playing over the fretboard" thing usually gives a warmer tone. Try it yourself! Start by playing bum-ditty close to the bridge, where the tone is very bright and sort of more bluegrassy. Gradually play your way up until you are playing over the last few frets, and listen to how the tone tends to get warmer and darker. Maybe it's just fashion, but that sound is more popular today. As for the "scoop", it's an innovation that helps make it easier for the right hand to play there by giving you more room under the strings, while making it easier and faster for the left hand, because the action (distance from string to fingerboard) can be kept low. This also improves intonation, which will suffer if the action is too high.

[@linda_guitar8869]

@@HilarieBurhans Thanks for your reply. I like the brighter tone of playing over the banjo head. I also prefer the sound of a louder, brighter banjo with a large resonator, which describes my banjo. I can play with a large group of fiddlers, mandolin players, guitarists, and other banjo players, and still be heard, or at least hear myself! But I love listening to good clawhammer players playing on any kind of banjo!

[@r.stacyfenner4700]

Great video Hilarie! My brother and I are working on this song and I have one question: how would you tune the banjo in order to sing it in D and play Little Sadie exactly how you teach it in the video? Would D Modal Tuning (aDGAD) work? We are new at this so we weren't really sure.

[@HilarieBurhans]

+R.Stacy Fenner Well, that's an interesting question. If you want to play it just like I taught it in G modal, you would capo the banjo at the 7th fret to be playing in D. Capo right across all the strings including the 5th string. It will sound a little odd, as the 5th string and first string will both be the same A note, but it will be cool anyway.

[@SWAviatorII]

Thanks...a great help!

[@swamperdogoutdoors]

well done. Thank you!!

[@dportzline]

Great tutorial, thanks very much! You got me playing it in an afternoon :)

[@joannehack7588]

💟

[@joannehack7588]

Love it Thank you for sharing

[@joannehack7588]

🌠

[@georgegrant8332]

boiled beans n cornbread

[@719559]

what tuning? GD?E

[@jerredchouseman]

AMAZING!!!

[@ryandeakin5878]

Uploaded on Pete Seegers death day. Thanks a lot!

[@markwright6045]

Awesome

[@mikefincher6185]

I'd rather listen to you play than do my work

[@Kinkle_Z]

Instead of saying "Bum ditty" (first time I've heard this term after 50 years of frailing banjo btw), why not just say "double thumb" or "drop thumb" and name the string you're double thumbing? The "bum ditty"thing, while apparently trendy, just seems a little useless informationally...no offense....Otherwise - good video.

[@HilarieBurhans]

First time you've heard this term after 50 years of frailing banjo? Wow. In fact, I've had the impression that this term has fallen out of favor recently, rather than being "trendy." However, searching "bum ditty" does produce 178,000 results on Google (and including "bum diddy" produces 358,000 results) so I'm definitely not alone in using the term.) When, also 50 years ago, I first started playing banjo (the style usually referred to as frailing but now more commonly called clawhammer) I was taught using the mnemonic term "bum ditty" which was first used in Pete Seeger's seminal book How to Play the 5-String Banjo, first printed in 1948. Also, there is no "drop thumb" or "double thumb" in a basic bum ditty... In general usage, the "bum" refers to a finger hitting a melody note (while the thumb comes down onto but does not play the 5th string) then the "dit" is another finger note or brush, and the "ty" is the thumb pulling off the 5th string. All that just sounds like a lot of words, but here's a link to another of my videos that better explains it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6faYnulht6JhpI One of the main reasons I use the term with my beginning students is that a common problem in folks starting out is that they sometimes get home and start practicing with emphasis on the thumb note... sort of bum dit-TY, bum dit-TY instead of BUM DIT ty, BUM DIT ty. Saying this simple mnemonic while playing that basic strum helps avoid the possibility of the student practicing the wrong thing for a week before checking in for another lesson. So I continue to use this, because pretty much everybody learning the banjo uses this term or a variant to describe that basic building block of clawhammer banjo. That's discussed in the video I gave a link to as well.

[@fredquann2796]

She doesn’t even play each string or name the notes

[@HilarieBurhans]

The tuning, you mean? It's gDGCD.