Sycopated Rhythms & Melodies in Clawhammer
Mon Nov 18, 2024 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM EST
Online, Zoom
Description
In a 3-class series, Ken Perlman presents a step-by-step method to playing syncopated rhythms & melodies in clawhammer. Based on a very simple element Ken calls a "skip-stroke" (others refer to it as a "ghost brush"), this 3-class class series covers everything from shuffle endings and pushing the beat to complex rhythmic patterns, the "Turkey in the Straw" lick, and full-fledged ragtime. If you already own or have an interest in Ken's book, Appalachian Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo, or enjoyed his work performing with renowned Appalachian-style fiddler Alan Jabbour, this is the series for you!!
Classes take place on three successive Mondays:
- Mon. Nov 18, 2024. 7:30 - 9:00 PM
- Mon. Nov. 25, 2024. 7:30 - 9:00 PM
- Mon. Dec. 2, 2024. 7:30 - 9:00 PM
Tuition: $100 for all three classes
Class 1 (The Skip-Stroke/Ghost Brush)
- Learn the skip stroke, or ghost brush – on its own and enhanced by such characteristic clawhammer techniques as Hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, drop-thumbs, and extra drone-notes
- Use the skip stroke as a vehicle to automatically “push” the beat for creating rhythmic interest in a song or tune arrangement
- Use a “skip stroke” technique to create one of the characteristic “cadential” (concluding) rhythms for Appalachian fiddle tune parts
- Adapting the skip stroke to double thumbing “groups” yields one of the most common contemporary rhythmic fillers and accompaniment patterns – analogous to “Travis-picking” on guitar
Class 2 (Some Great Rhythmic Applications)
- Learn several ways to play the famous “Turkey in the Straw” Lick
- Learn to situate skip strokes so they begin on a weak beat or even on the “upbeat
- Develop a variant of the skip stroke where the technique leads to a long-string note instead of a 5th-string note; enhance this technique via such characteristic clawhammer techniques as Hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, drop-thumbs, and extra drone-notes
- Create extended syncopated rhythms by stringing various kinds of skip strokes together (I call these “compound” skips
Class 3 (Ragtime)
- The 3:3:2 rhythmic pattern and its African Heritage
- The thumb-crossover technique (essential to getting the right “phrasing”) for ragtime
- Using variants of the skip-technique to create simple and extended ragtime phrases.
- Try out passages from clawhammer settings of such classic “raggedy” fiddle tunes as “Ragtime Annie,” “Pig Ankle Rag,” “Dill Pickles, ” “Colored Aristocracy,” and “The L & N Rag.”