Fingerstyle Guitar Classics for Clawhammer Banjo

When I started out on fingerstyle guitar I just had to learn a wonderful repertoire of guitar arrangements by such giants as Mississippi John Hurt, Elizabeth Cotton, the Reverend Gary Davis and Doc Watson. I used to think there was no point trying to adapt them to clawhammer banjo, but recently I figured out how to do it. Essentially, we banjoists can capture the special syncopations and string rhythms of fingerstyle guitar using such techniques as alternate-string pull-offs, skip-strokes or ghost brushes, and the "arpeggio-stroke" (dragging the picking finger from string to string as in a Galax Lick). The resulting banjo arrangements capture the essence of the original guitar piece but - where appropriate - also incorporate banjo friendly phrases and fillers. In this class we'll look at and learn clawhammer versions of such guitar classics as "Freight Train" by Elizabeth Cotton, "Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" by Mississippi John Hurt, "Candy Man" and "Cocaine Blues" by Rev. Gary Davis, "Little Stream of Whiskey" by Doc Watson, and - another old favorite of mine - "Mole's Moan" by Jeff Muldaur (of the old Jim Kweskin Jug Band).