Clawhammer Question & Answer

Certain tunings lend themselves more to a "chordal" style of backup than others. G tuning is very chord friendly and Double C tuning isn't (not to say it can't be done, it's just not as easy in Double C). That being said, there is a C tuning that is much more chord friendly if you're willing to spend the time to get comfortable with it. It's Open C tuning (gCDCE) and has a lot in common, as far as fingerings are concerned, with G tuning.

The relative pitch intervals between strings 1, 2 and 3 in Open C are the same as strings 2, 3 and 4 in G tuning. In layman's terms this means you can take the chords in G tuning and move the fingerings one string toward the treble side (toward the floor) to help figure out the same relative chords (i.e. I, IV & V chords) in Open C.

When I'm gigging I always keep two banjos on stage with me; one for G tunings and another for C tunings. Open C is the tuning I most frequently use when singing in "C" and "D". Double C is the tuning I use the most for instrumentals in "C" and "D".

The only disadvantage of working regularly in Open C is that the first string is tuned up a whole step to "E". This can lead to a lot of broken strings. I've gotten around this by setting up my "C" banjo with a lighter first string (.0095) and a heavier forth string (.024).

If your interested, you can download chord charts for six common tunings from the instruction section of my clawhammer tab page (including Open C). You might also look through my tabs for examples of how I play chordal backups in various tunings.










Thanks... Mike