Chords for Easy Clawhammer Banjo lesson 1

_ _ Hey there, I wanted to [G] make a quick little [N] intro video again that covers our right hand
a little more. _
We want to go back to basics, okay, and make sure you're getting this right before you
move on, okay?
So we got three [D] steps [G] in _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ the claw hammer stroke. _ _ _ _
First we gotta get our hand right.
_ _ Shake a broom handle or a hammer, alright?
That's basically your [Eb] position.
And [Em] you just leave out your middle or your index, just enough [Bm] at the strings.
And everything you do is gonna be [Eb] a downward movement, okay?
_ _ I personally, _ I like to use my middle so I leave it out a little more.
So there we go.
Now, [D] bottom string, _ _ _ that's our first step, alright?
We're gonna hit that first _ _ _ [G] and our thumb, it just always roots right here in our fifth string, _ alright?
So we go one, _ _ and then we bring it up for a brush.
And a brush is the three strings on the bottom _ _ played at the same time, alright?
So we do our, _ and then our brush, and then our thumb. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
And see, sometimes you might hit only the bottom two strings, sometimes you might hit,
you might, you know, you might hit the fourth string some.
Really you want to try to hit the bottom three, but it's not a big, huge concern if you miss
every now and then, it's fine. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ One thing we want to make sure of is that on our brush, that we're not doing this. _ _
So we don't want it to sound like this. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ That is not a brush, okay?
A brush is the three strings played at the same time, alright?
[N] I mean they're very [G] close, right after one another.
So it's not this _ _ kind of dragging, _ no, that's not it, okay?
So we got our clean, crisp, clear note.
Our brush, and our thumb, and our foot. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Feels really strange at first, you've got to do it a lot, for several weeks, just _ _ _ methodically do it.
_ _ _ You're going to want to be looking down to make sure _ you're trying to hit the strings
that you're trying to hit here.
_ _ After you get a little bit comfortable with that, just a little bit, you can go up to
the second string, third string, fourth string, you build it up, you get a little better,
you start, hey I'm going to try to find the third string now. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Later on, way down the road, then you'll be adding things and playing your brushes less
often, playing thumbs more, you change things as you go.
But to begin, we start like this, so later on you might, you know, you'll be doing things,
a lot of single notes. _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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[C] So later on you do other things.
But [G] for now, _ _ _ this is where you start, okay? _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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[N] _ _ Alright, so that should get you started, give you a little refresher if you've been doing
it a while. _ _ _
There's _ a million different ways you can hold your hand to be successful at this, so I don't
want to concentrate too much on that.
Just concentrate on rooting that thumb _ _ behind the fifth, [D] and trying [E] to hit clear, crisp
notes with that [G] step one. _
_ _ _ You want that to be a crisp, _ clear [Bm] note, okay?
If you're hitting two by accident, [G] you know, that's the beginning of it.
[D] But try to [G] hit crisp notes, that's your goal. _
Alright?
Have fun with it, you can go so far if you just start out right, slow and easy,