Although modern convention might lead one to believe that clawhammer style banjo playing is only applicable to common time signatures* like square dance or contra tunes, I beg to differ.
If you don’t know what time signatures are, don’t worry about it. You will NOT need a functional understanding of time signatures to learn the techniques and tunes presented in this course!
There is a growing number of modern-day frailers that have successfully and creatively adapted the clawhammer technique to musical realms that are commonly considered beyond the reach of the style.
A quick search on the internet will turn up a whole batch of clawhammerists who have defied traditional “wisdom” and shown that the clawhammer banjo can function quite nicely in any number of musical settings.
Armed with the right attitude, information and techniques, one can apply the clawhammer banjo to such musical styles as: blues, rock, world music, pop, jazz, & who knows what else?!
With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that “jig time” playing is not only possible but actually quite conducive to the clawhammer approach.
In fact, many banjo scholars assert that playing “jig time” tunes in the clawhammer style was most likely common practice among early American banjo players and only faded out of the traditional “mainstream” in the last century or so.
Popular banjo tutors (instructional books) from the 1800s often presented a number of tunes written in the 6/8 time signature (“jig time”).
Furthermore, a large number of the tune titles in these early instructional books contained the word “jig” even though they were transcribed in 2/4 time. I’ll have a little more to say on this subject near the end of the course when we take a look at a jig from one of these early banjo tutors.
Terminology & Context
What is a Jig?
Historically, the jig (a type of tune and a type of dance) is generally believed to have originated in England in the mid 1500s and then spread to neighboring cultures. Today, the jig is probably most associated with Irish and Scottish musical traditions.
There are three common types of jigs and, as is usually the case with folk music, the terms used to describe these different types of tunes often have different meanings across different time periods and different regional traditions.
If you start seeking out jigs you’re likely to come across terms like: slip jig, double jig, triple (or treble) jig, light jig, etc.
I’ll be doing my best to simplify your understanding of these terms and, when needed, I’ll be sure to include alternative designations when presenting you with each new type of jig in the course.
Double Jigs
In the jig tradition, double jigs are the most common. So common, in fact, that when musicians speak of a “jig” they are referring to what is historically known as a “double jig”.
The term “double jig” is pretty uncommon today so we’ll use the term “jig” or “standard jig” in place of “double jig” from here on out.
Musically Speaking
So what makes a jig a jig? Musically speaking, a jig is made up of six eighth notes per measure*, usually in the form of two “triplet units”. Here’s an example in tab form:
Note: Just a reminder that you do NOT need to understand terms like eighth note, quarter note, triplet, time signature, etc. If some of the technical terminology in the introduction is not making sense to you, never fear. You will learn all you need to know when I show you how to apply this info to your banjo.
It’s also not uncommon to see the space of a “triplet unit” (group of three eighth notes) covered by a quarter note & eighth note pairing. Example below:
The two examples above represent the two most important rhythmic scenarios you’ll need to have facility with in order to play any and all types of jigs.
So, now that we've got the foundational concepts covered, we'll start our exploration of the various ways you can integrate these two fundamental rhythmic units into your clawhammer playing...
