Clawhammer Question & Answer

My opinion page addressing inquiries concerning clawhammer technique.

I've been told that clawhammer banjo players can't play fast enough to join in on bluegrass jams. Is this true?

There is a perception that bluegrass players can play much faster than clawhammer players but I haven't found this to be the case.

In a recent on-line discussion, a frailer brought up the fact that he couldn't play faster than 150 bpm (beats per minute) and mentioned that most bluegrass tunes seemed to be well over 200 bpm.

The truth is that the vast majority of bluegrass tunes have been recorded well under the 150 bpm that was discussed. Even the very fast stuff is usually between 150 - 160 bpm.

Here's some examples that I found in my music collection:

  • Doc Watson recorded "Black Mtn Rag" at 135 bpm.
  • The Seldom Scene played "Hello Mary Lou" at 140 bpm
  • Tony Rice cooked along on "John Hardy" at 145 bpm
  • Sam Bush playing "Big Mon" on his "Ice Caps" CD is around 155 bpm.
  • "Shuckin' the Corn" from the "Deliverance" album was played around 155 bpm.

    • There are of course exceptions:

  • Stuart Duncan's version of the "Lee highway Blues" is around 165 bpm.
  • Jerry Douglas's version of the "Shenandoah Breakdown" is right around 168 bpm.
  • Raymond Fairchild's version of "Kicking Mule" (very fast) is recorded at 176 bpm.
  • Mark O'Connor's blazing "Pick It Apart" on his Nashville Cats album clocks in around 185 bpm as does Rick Skaggs version of "Pig in a Pen" from the Ancient Tones album.

    • I couldn't find any recorded bluegrass songs over the 200 bpm mentioned in the discussion.

    John Baldry has a web-site that listed examples of bluegrass songs with the exact metronome times. Here's a excerpt from his site:
    Classification of metronome speeds

    In bluegrass music the following broad categories apply to tunes with 2 beats to the bar:

  • Slow : Under 100
  • Moderate: 100-120
  • Medium: 120-138
  • Fast: 138-160
  • Very fast: 160-172
  • Warp speed: 172-184

    • A beginning player will probably find difficulty with anything beyond the slow category. Elementary players can go up to about 120 bpm. An intermediate level player will be improving his/her speed up to the 138 mark or beyond. An advanced player should be OK with pretty fast speeds. The warp speeds of over 172 bpm are usually only achieved by professional players, particularly when they have been playing for some time and are really warmed up.
    I particularly liked John's "warp speed" categorization; very descriptive of the over 170 bpm mark.

    I've played bluegrass banjo and mandolin in a band that played many of the major festivals in the intermountain west including the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. My top speed playing 3 finger style is 176 bpm (and I'm a fast bluegrass banjo player) and much slower than that on the mandolin. I can play simple clawhammer tunes faster than I can play in the 3 finger style (184 bpm for frailing).

    I believe that professional level clawhammer banjo players can keep up with any of their bluegrass counterparts. In twenty five years of participation in bluegrass jams I've never once (not once!) encountered a song where I couldn't keep up (at least from the standpoint of speed). The whole idea of "Limitations to Clawhammer" is unhealthy and will only hold us back! There are no more limitations to clawhammer than to any other style or instrument.

    The only limitations are the ones the ones we place on ourselves!


    Mike's Portrait







    Thanks... Mike



    Back To Q & A Page