Banjo Basics with Abigail Washburn

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  • Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
  • WATCH Abigail Washburn demonstrate the ‘claw hammer’ and some of her other favourite banjo skills!
    Don't forget to tell us what you'd like to see next in the comments!
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 129

  • @bradyblackburn7877
    @bradyblackburn7877 4 роки тому +41

    That was like watching Jimi Hendrix giving a basic lesson. Amazing.

    • @cbcmusic
      @cbcmusic  4 роки тому +5

      Glad you liked it! Is there anyone else you'd like to see lessons from? Any other instruments we should be posting about?

    • @bradyblackburn7877
      @bradyblackburn7877 4 роки тому +4

      @@cbcmusic I'd love to see something for the mandolin if you have it.

  • @mkilptrick
    @mkilptrick 4 роки тому +15

    Abigail Washburn is one of my favorite performers of late.

  • @mondocain
    @mondocain 6 років тому +8

    I Saw Abigail Washburn at Telluride. My real first taste of Clawhammer banjo. Been hooked ever since. She's a fantastic player and singer. Wonderful technique. Thanks for the lesson!

  • @davestambaugh7282
    @davestambaugh7282 4 роки тому +5

    I am absolutely amazed. I just discovered that this style of playing was not the origonal way of playing the five string banjo

  • @austinpethan2357
    @austinpethan2357 2 роки тому +2

    Clear to see playing the banjo just makes her feel so good.

  • @3340steve
    @3340steve 5 років тому +10

    Love that sound...Abigail is so chill....

  • @ianmitchell5169
    @ianmitchell5169 6 років тому +22

    Hot damn I love her jacket

  • @jnrflores14
    @jnrflores14 5 років тому +19

    "warm today, warm yesterday, even warmer today"

    • @mattr997
      @mattr997 4 роки тому +2

      Weeell my big ole fat baby loves to eat

    • @TheRealDannAlexander
      @TheRealDannAlexander 2 місяці тому

      😂😂😂😂😂 classic reference.

  • @thewatcher5271
    @thewatcher5271 3 роки тому +1

    Really Great Tips. You Can Sure Tell She Enjoys It & That Ol' Banjo Looks Well Worn, Too.

  • @GaryBook
    @GaryBook 5 років тому +4

    It is good that there is clawhammer in the family! You are married to one of the most talented wonderful banjo player in the world (Bela Fleck). He is one of the nicest people in the world and I am overjoyed he has a wonderful wife. I am glad that you can play the different styles and live in harmony. Banjos brings people together and you are a testimony to those beautiful five strings.

  • @allanploth6031
    @allanploth6031 2 роки тому +1

    Thanks, Abigail. Delightful and informative. I really appreciate your artistry. Keep it up!

  • @royalkepp1
    @royalkepp1 4 роки тому +1

    She is lord of one of the great Banjo houses.

  • @RavenRaven-se6lr
    @RavenRaven-se6lr 5 років тому +4

    I’m doing this banjo thing this year Thanks Abigail. Think your Tremendous player 👍

  • @gilthethrill9179
    @gilthethrill9179 3 роки тому +1

    Come to Portland, Ore. We'd love to see you!

  • @LOVEITTVclips
    @LOVEITTVclips 4 роки тому +6

    she talks about a sound like percussion... but it then jumps and we never find out how to make that sound ... how does she make that tap drum sound whilst playing clawhammer ?

    • @lordoftherats8215
      @lordoftherats8215 2 роки тому +1

      It’s called clucking, there’s various forms of it, it’s basically using another finger to mute a string just played. I’d encourage you to look up a better guide on it

  • @mondocain
    @mondocain 6 років тому +2

    This lesson was so helpful. Would you ever consider doing another?

  • @wirinheaven
    @wirinheaven 5 місяців тому

    Greatly simple on the fundamentals. Those are killer nails. Are they real or glue-on?

  • @stevenstilts6259
    @stevenstilts6259 3 роки тому +19

    She doesn't mention that she's playing in "double C" tuning. G D G C D. Good video.

    • @garryharding5452
      @garryharding5452 3 роки тому +4

      Double C Tuning (G,C,G,C,D) a small typo Steven - thanx for the heads up, I immediately started to wonder what she was in as I commenced practice of this unusual style. Something else to practice for the next ten years to get it half right ... hahaaa

  • @tmo7734
    @tmo7734 3 роки тому

    Very nice Abigail. Thank you.

  • @tnwoodbutcher420
    @tnwoodbutcher420 6 років тому +3

    Pardon,please don't get me wrong, her banjo playing makes new close my eyes and drift back to my youth, swimmin up piney river. But, how has no one mentioned her bitchin jacket?!

  • @dougscrivens4002
    @dougscrivens4002 2 роки тому

    In parts, especially the brush there is a sitar-like sound. Great sounding playing. I need to practice more tho.

  • @GuruishMike
    @GuruishMike Рік тому

    Hoooooooolyyyy. Amazing banjoist.

  • @AlamoCityCello
    @AlamoCityCello 6 років тому +1

    Abigail, I love you!!

  • @joeycovington4681
    @joeycovington4681 4 роки тому +1

    Thanks!

  • @rogerbeaird5742
    @rogerbeaird5742 3 роки тому

    Thanks abi 🇺🇸🙏🇺🇸

  • @mikehiggins5233
    @mikehiggins5233 2 роки тому +1

    Really nice 👌

  • @TheJabberwocky00
    @TheJabberwocky00 Рік тому

    I know this post is some years old, but I just found it. I recently picked up my banjo, after a 35 year hiatus from playing. )o: I play old style frailing, as well as 3 finger...and I must ask you why you play so far off the banjo head? I tried that and found my 5th string extremely weak sounding. I also use the head to beat or "hammer" on at times and you can't do that on the fret board. Love hearing you and hope to hear you more now that I am back in the land of the frailing banjer players...(o:

  • @peterbergman5917
    @peterbergman5917 5 років тому

    Beautiful playing.

  • @kevinc6383
    @kevinc6383 5 років тому +4

    she never really tells how she gets that percussion sound at 2:22... does anyone know how to get it?

    • @overcup
      @overcup 5 років тому +2

      She strikes the string with her middle nail and then, in the same motion, damps it with her pointer nail. The two fingers are just held a little staggered.

    • @kevinc6383
      @kevinc6383 5 років тому

      @@overcup okay, thanks!

    • @clowe73
      @clowe73 4 роки тому +3

      She never did tell us how. She also went from beginner basics to mid tier playing. Aweful video for a beginner to see.

    • @rjfpace
      @rjfpace Рік тому

      @@clowe73 I’d suggest it’s a beginner video - of “Round Peak” as tough to her, and that anchors her entire approach. It’s essentially an arpeggio, using thumb and TWO fingers (well three fingers if you count the pull-off from a rest position on the left hand). So I am inclined to practice that riff for weeks as she suggests.

  • @charlesjohnson4544
    @charlesjohnson4544 3 роки тому

    Beautiful Soul ... ❤️

  • @linterpretemehariste9081
    @linterpretemehariste9081 2 роки тому +1

    Wow! Well done! Honestly, I didn't know that the banjo was from westafrican origin. I always thought that it has been invented somewhere in the Appalachian Blueridges. So the Appalachians have learned to play and took over that instrument from former slaves?
    America definitely has to somehow reward the offspring of those africans who brought the banjo from Africa to the USA!
    Is it possible to find out, who these african slaves with banjos were and who their offsprings are?
    Without their instruments we wouldn't have any Bluegrass nowadays!

  • @aubriejones284
    @aubriejones284 6 років тому +2

    Can you share what brand your banjo is? I’m so in love with this sound and would love to start with something close. Thank you for sharing your gift!

    • @MrDnkyKng
      @MrDnkyKng 5 років тому +2

      Aubrie Jones you’ll get that tone with any open back banjo. Maybe try a gold tone cc-100.

    • @MD-hk8xq
      @MD-hk8xq 5 років тому +1

      OME jubilee banjo

    • @erstwhilerambler
      @erstwhilerambler 3 роки тому +1

      Let me qualify both previous comments: Yes, she’s playing an OME Jubilee, which retails for $2570, so yeah, the Gold Tone suggestion is certainly more practical; it is an oversimplification, though, to suggest that you’ll get “THAT tone from any open back banjo.”

  • @brodyr4839
    @brodyr4839 3 місяці тому

    CBC Music is the only part of the Corp that deserves govt funding. In my many years, CBC Music conveys more of Canadian culture in one 5 min clip than a full 12 months of the "news" department...
    The news department's inability to remain impartial and not be a propaganda machine is going to eventually deprive Canada of stellar, world class Music coverage like this.
    And that's such a sad realization.

  • @dcdeas
    @dcdeas 5 років тому +3

    What is the banjo tuned to, I am playing along with you but I am sure you are tuned one note higher on the second string , I am tuned to g DGBD

    • @bob5951
      @bob5951 5 років тому +2

      @David Caron Definitely g CGCD - drove me nuts in her video with her husband - as I thought it was Open G.

    • @clowe73
      @clowe73 4 роки тому +2

      It’s a mountain tuning, gdgcd. It’s makes to banjo more sound with more sorrow. Plays well with way fairing stranger and others of that like. Hobart smith played a lot of songs in that tuning. Sorry for replying to an old post.

    • @dangandee3184
      @dangandee3184 3 роки тому

      Sawmill tuning

    • @runrig97
      @runrig97 2 роки тому +1

      @@dangandee3184 sawmill would be gDGCD (G-minor) or aEADE (A-minor) for minor key songs. The video is double-C (gCGCD) for C-major.

    • @runrig97
      @runrig97 2 роки тому

      Of course there are exceptions, e.g., double-C can be used for C-minor tunes, and those minor tunings can be used for major tunes, e.g. aEADE can be used for G-major especially if you tune to gEADE (or you can play E-minor tunes for that matter in this tuning).

  • @charlesbrown7579
    @charlesbrown7579 3 роки тому

    is it best to wear picker or not some say yes and some say no

  • @DJTabooMixTypeBeat
    @DJTabooMixTypeBeat 3 роки тому +1

    Amazing tutorial vdo, thx u.

    • @cbcmusic
      @cbcmusic  3 роки тому

      Glad you liked it!

  • @CopperHillbilly
    @CopperHillbilly 5 років тому +4

    Abegail, what brand is your banjo? Love the tone!

    • @MD-hk8xq
      @MD-hk8xq 5 років тому +1

      It's an OME jubilee

  • @milliesweet4790
    @milliesweet4790 6 років тому +3

    what is making the percussion sound ( at 2:20)? Is it a right hand finger striking the head of the banjo? I cannot tell. Thank you

    • @wayneconrad9955
      @wayneconrad9955 5 років тому

      She's not playing over the head, but there is a sound some clawhammer players make called the "cluck" that might be what she's doing. She's playing right over a fret where harmonics happen, which I think is an element of getting that cluck sound.

    • @notyouhere100
      @notyouhere100 5 років тому

      I wondered the same thing.

    • @ivanh3
      @ivanh3 5 років тому

      I believe she is hitting the string over the neck causing the string (and finger?) to make contact with the fret and/or fretboard.

    • @petrovichluzhin
      @petrovichluzhin 5 років тому

      That is a technique commonly employed by claw hammer banjo players called a “cluck” resulting from the harmonic best made where the neck meets the head.

    • @Quikostdreggs
      @Quikostdreggs 5 років тому +1

      Okay, so all of the replies to this comment are waaaay off-base. That’s the vibrating string lightly buzzing on her ring fingernail. Watch the way she holds her ring finger with and without the cluck.

  • @fly1327
    @fly1327 2 роки тому

    Playing some fingerstyle guitar, especially Travis picking, I think (know) my brain is wired to pull rather than push the fingers. But fun watching!

  • @SOUNDsculptures
    @SOUNDsculptures 4 роки тому

    Is this a 12" or an 11" banjo please?

  • @AngryHatter
    @AngryHatter 4 роки тому

    The Washburn company?

  • @NaMe-uq7uh
    @NaMe-uq7uh 5 років тому

    camera Why not stay on both hands?

  • @rd3dtv
    @rd3dtv 6 років тому

    she doesn't mention tuning ..so is the 2nd string open or ? from the pitch it seems the 2nd string is played on the first fret (gDGBD tuning) to have the riff sound right

    • @gelspace
      @gelspace 6 років тому

      rDmusic yes quite. Did you ever find out?

    • @thetick1935
      @thetick1935 6 років тому +2

      It sounds like double C tuning gCGCD

    • @gelspace
      @gelspace 6 років тому

      The Tick will haves goat that.

    • @gelspace
      @gelspace 6 років тому +1

      ...sorry...meant ‘have a go at...’. No goats were involved or injured. 😜

    • @Swelkie
      @Swelkie 6 років тому +1

      Looks like double c tuning. In the first bars you can see the whole fingerboard and there's a full c chord without her fretting the second string, hence it must be tuned up to "c".

  • @dogbark8388
    @dogbark8388 Рік тому

    HEY MAN ! THAT'S MRS FLECK !

  • @ricruso59
    @ricruso59 3 роки тому

    Holy crap!! I ain't ever gonna get this!!!🤣🤣🤣

  • @STP19
    @STP19 3 роки тому

    Nice One Girl, Respect. STP

  • @brendantindall805
    @brendantindall805 6 років тому

    This is a beautiful banjo
    What is the brand

    • @MD-hk8xq
      @MD-hk8xq 5 років тому

      OME jubilee banjo

  • @redlightsprinter
    @redlightsprinter 4 роки тому

    ❤❤❤

  • @Julleeee1000
    @Julleeee1000 5 років тому +2

    Im 25 old and i just bought banjo, and want learn to play with it. Am i too old for that? to learn :/?

    • @cbcmusic
      @cbcmusic  5 років тому +7

      You're never too old to learn to play an instrument :)

    • @20alphabet
      @20alphabet 5 років тому

      "Give up before wasting your time. You hopes and dreams are purely fantasy, and you have nothing to look forward to but impending doom." -Excerpted from Teachers Union Curriculum Handbook

    • @pennsyltuckyreb9800
      @pennsyltuckyreb9800 2 роки тому

      I'm 38 years old now and with the recent news I have a high probability of having MS. I'm also a disabled, post-9/11, U.S. Marine veteran. Started banjo going on 3 years back now. I'm now an intermediate player. I can play many songs and tunings in overhand/clawhammer, 2-finger, and recently have been working on 3-finger very well. I want to be able to play all banjo styles proficiently.
      That said, I've been playing instruments and music since my childhood so I do have a knack for picking up instruments faster than those who never played anything before. I did spend a few years playing guitar as well.
      Don't underestimate yourself. If I can do it, you definitely can! But you need that banjer in your hands almost everyday. Practice, practice, practice. Listen to a song you really like and just jump right into learning it even if it's on a higher playing level. It forces you to learn new things. I'm completely self taught off the internet from various banjo folks of various backgrounds and styles.
      For me now, banjo is love. ❤ Banjo is life. 🪕

    • @pennsyltuckyreb9800
      @pennsyltuckyreb9800 2 роки тому

      So 3 years later how you doing??? 🙂

  • @roquelazarus
    @roquelazarus 4 роки тому

    You are too good dear ma'am

  • @talbotracer
    @talbotracer 6 років тому

    Nice playing from someone with my family name

  • @NaMe-uq7uh
    @NaMe-uq7uh 5 років тому +1

    Why doesn't she state the tuning..it's important

    • @rachelbenson4701
      @rachelbenson4701 4 роки тому

      X O Open C tuning or “double C” GCGCD

    • @bsctfa
      @bsctfa 4 роки тому

      @@rachelbenson4701!

  • @bobjones3415
    @bobjones3415 5 років тому +1

    Didn’t Washburn guitars start off making banjos??? Coincidence I think not lol

  • @Rogue_Strummer
    @Rogue_Strummer 6 років тому +1

    no comments huh ? 373 likes

  • @flamindigo
    @flamindigo Рік тому +1

    didn't explain the "percussion" well at all. the technique is wonderful except for that.

  • @Rogue_Strummer
    @Rogue_Strummer 6 років тому

    bizarro world

  • @clowe73
    @clowe73 4 роки тому +3

    So basics? Hammer ones, pull offs, slides, multiple strum patters? Double thump, double time, basic.....just mix all that and that’s basic! This post is a joke for a beginner! You should be ashamed of your self lady! I’m just shaking my head!

    • @brin57
      @brin57 4 роки тому +1

      It's actually one of the best Basic explanations of Clawhammer out there. Just slow down and go over the first bit over and over and over, slowly and accurately. And don't speed up until you can do it with out a mistake. Also, it never said it is for beginners, it is just her explaining her basic process.

  • @terryhill6935
    @terryhill6935 2 роки тому

    Such a beautiful woman..

  • @bobjones3415
    @bobjones3415 5 років тому +5

    It’s funny how an instrument from Africa screams white people more than anything LOL

  • @Themheals
    @Themheals 3 роки тому

    Pretty cute chick

  • @woodswalker88
    @woodswalker88 6 років тому +5

    I always wonder how those kidnapped Africans crammed into the slave ships thought to bring their banjos with them.

    • @karawethan
      @karawethan 6 років тому +12

      I find that highly unlikely, and for as many people who have made that claim I don't know that there's any hard evidence for it. Far more likely that slaves re-created their native instruments using local materials after arriving.

    • @captainkev10
      @captainkev10 6 років тому +6

      A few things to consider:
      1. Slave ships were still trade ships. While the human cargo was certainly the largest and most valuable, an average ship might also have textiles, clothes, rum, precious metals, spices, of course food, and so on.
      2.Naturally, we learn of, and adopt, foreign culture practices through travel and through trade (even the most incendiary). One could easily imagine slave traders taking a passing glance, or even a listen, of a banjo. They could trade clothes or a bottle of rum, and take home that uniquely amazing sound.
      3. But even if we assume that no physical, tangible instrument made it onto a ship, the banjo did arrive on American shores from slave ships. They arrived in the thoughts and minds of the slaves who would eventually build them.

    • @karawethan
      @karawethan 6 років тому +1

      @@captainkev10 Still doubtful, for two reasons...
      1) The slaves that were brought to the New World were bought and sold as slaves in West Africa. Meaning, they were already enslaved well before being transported. So we should assume that they had few (if any) possessions to begin with.
      2) Historically, it doesn't appear that the banjo really entered white consciousness until the advent of minstrel shows (basically white performers playing their own version of slave music on their own versions of slave instruments), which was many generations after the beginning of the slave trade. It's only within the last generation that people have identified the connection between banjo and West African instruments like the akonting. One would expect that if banjo-like instruments were common cargo on slave ships, this awareness would extend back much further than it does.

    • @captainkev10
      @captainkev10 6 років тому +1

      1. a.You're assumption is that zero banjos were visible and theavailable for sale in and around any West African port city and trade area -- which is an amazing stretch. b. Slaves wouldn't own the banjo, the traders would. lol
      2. "Historically, it doesn't appear that the banjo really entered white consciousness until the advent of minstrel shows ". This is nearly unverifiable, so I'm not sure where to start with this...
      But honestly whatever, dude...

    • @karawethan
      @karawethan 6 років тому +1

      @@captainkev10 Firstly, "banjos" did not exist at that time, and anything resembling a banjo was certainly not sold at the market. The instruments in question like the akonting were (and are) tribal folk instruments, often handmade by the players themselves.
      And yes, it is verifiable. Minstrel shows are the earliest historical evidence of white Americans actually playing the banjo. This would be around 1810-1820.

  • @pfatalbert
    @pfatalbert 6 років тому

    do you need fingernails to do this? I would assume so

    • @janettek40
      @janettek40 6 років тому +1

      I play with short enough nails to play piano, no issue

    • @zachmclaughlin8605
      @zachmclaughlin8605 6 років тому +1

      Mostly in terms of sound quality it helps to have long nails. That being said, I have pretty short nails that dont extend past my fingertip and I am able to play just fine.

    • @kwvh
      @kwvh 6 років тому +1

      She mentions in another video with Bela that she uses acrylic nails.

    • @amycatestl
      @amycatestl 5 років тому

      Fake acrylic nails on the first two fingers on your right hand make it easier and make it sound better, too.