Clifton Hicks

Jenes Cottrell | West Virginia Banjo Maker

Besides his amazing banjo making skills check out the hot square dance shuffle he plays toward the end around 03:15 (including fanning up the neck). The tune is typical of the Hook & Line/Shout Lulu/Minnow on a Hook body of early breakdown songs (aka square dance, hoedown, "corn" songs and so forth). 

Phoebe Parsons | West Virginia Banjo Player

She plays a nice rendition of "Hook & Line" and then wears her shoes out dancing!

Phoeba (Phoebe) Cottrell Parsons (1908-2001). Find more of her music here: https://fieldrecorder.org/product/old-time-music-from-clay-calhoun-counties-wv/

Q&A | "Open C" & Tuning LOW

"I've been dying to try out open C, but I'm afraid I'll blow my second string if I try to tune it that way and how do I tune down from open G? Is it a full step lower so I basically go from a G to a G (I don't think that'll work for me and my banjo as the strings go all limp noodle if I try). I apologize for the rather ignorant questions, but I am rather ignorant and I am trying to rectify it, hop...

Q&A | To Scoop or Not to Scoop?

"My dilemma is, I got it my head that a scooped banjo would suit me style. Living in a rural part of Canada, there are not a lot of dealers around, so just accessing a scooped banjo to play is a challenge. So do you think the scoop makes much of a difference. Like Tyler I am tempted to order a scooped Goodtime banjo, again I would consider it a 'safe' purchase. Thanks again." - John

  2018-05-13 16:12:23 +0000 UTC View Post

"Cackling Hen" | Recording

Here's a nice HD recording of banjo #13 playing "Cackling Hen," an early southern dance piece that probably originated among African-American musicians. I learned it from George Gibson. eAEAC# tuning.

I am mostly using a straight overhand picking style here, incorporating left-handed double noting and right-handed up-strokes here and there--either to get that "hen pecking" sound or when laying d...

Banjo #13 Show & Tell!

(gCGCE, relative aka "Cackling Hen" tuning) 

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http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com

Banjo 13

 Banjo #13: Ambrosia maple neck, black walnut tuners, bridge and tailpiece. Antique bent wood hoop (I think oak). Brass tacks and iron tacks. Goat hide from Jeff Menzies. Photos by Robyn Latham. 

...

George Gibson | Frankie & Albert

(f#DEAD)

Well Frankie had a bad man this everybody knows

Lord she spent one hundred dollars to buy him a suit of clothes

He was her man but he done her wrong

Yes Frankie had a bad man Albert was his name

Lord she spent one hundred dollars to buy him a coat and hat

He was her man but he done her wrong

Frankie went down to the bar room

George Gibson | "Reubin"

(f#DF#AD, relative)

Here's another recording of George Gibson from the summer of 2011.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Look up look down that lonesome road hang down your head and cry,

The best of friends must part sometimes but why must you and i?

True love true love what have I done that you should treat me so? 2018-05-07 13:52:10 +0000 UTC View Post

George Gibson | "Barbara Allen"

(gDGAD or f#DGAD, relative)

I have been sorting through my old field recordings (most made between 2008 and 2013 when I was based out of Boone, North Carolina) and managed to recover several that are worth sharing. 

This was recorded at the home of master banjo player, researcher and mentor George R. Gibson in Knott County, Kentucky during a summer gathering in 2011. Almost all of the...

Q&A | Lyon & Healy vs Deering Goodtime Americana?

"I currently have a really junky Epiphone MB-100 banjo. I've learned to play some basic stuff, but the banjo is not easy to play which makes practicing frustrating. I'm looking to upgrade to something a little better and was hoping you could throw some advice my way. I'm considering a Deering Goodtime Americana with a 12 inch head. I feel like this is the safest option. I also found a restored tur...

Let's Talk BUSKING

busk [bəsk]: to play music or otherwise perform for voluntary donations in the street or in subways.

 "My main goal is to get a decent repertoire together and do some busking. It doesn't have to be much, just a few tunes will do, but it has to be impressive enough to get people to stop and listen and perhaps contribute to my beer fund. This is actually a pretty BIG step for a novice player...

Q&A | Variety, Improvisation & Transitioning from Guitar to Banjo!

"How do you keep your repertoire (and playing style) varied enough that it doesn't all sound the same? Do you have any tips for making very similar songs more distinct and interesting for listeners? All the best." - Mick

"I was wondering if you could talk a little about the roll improvisation played in old time music. Did the old timers tend to just improvise within songs people were playing, gi...

Bonnie Blue Eyes & Rye Whiskey

Playing for the family down in South Carolina. 

(Filmed by my sisters.)

New Banjo Build!

Howdy All: I am out-of-town for a few days visiting family members, I'll get more Q&As and lessons uploaded for yall upon my return. In the meantime, here's a few photos a sister took of a banjo I'm about halfway through. 

Hoop is an antique dry measure and the neck is a super wormy old piece of maple.

2018-04-28 21:31:29 +0000 UTC View Post

Darling Cora | Close-Up

Here's my attempt at a close-up shot of both hands playing Darling Cora out of gCGCC (actual tuning is eAEAA).

I learned this song from George R. Gibson (master musician and prolific researcher from Knott County, Kentucky) who said he learned it this way from his father, Mal Gibson. When I have heard George play this tune he often starts out finger picking before jumping into overhand style.

Darling Cora | Lesson

(eAEAA, relative gCGCC aka "Darling Cora" tuning or "dulcimer" tuning)

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http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com

Darling Cora | Performance

(banjo is tuned eAEAA, relative to gCGCC aka "Darling Cora" tuning)

As per your requests here is "Darling Cora." I use the same tuning, melody and words as George Gibson learned from his father, Mal Gibson, who was born about 1900, if I am not mistaken. George says this tuning, one of several known as 'dulcimer tunings,' was once common in south east Kentucky.

In some versions of the song,...

George Gibson: Mountain Banjos were "Durable Copies" of Gourd Banjos

"The earliest mountain banjos did not have a 'can' rim to support the head - the head was tacked on just as it is on gourd banjos. I have proved that gourd banjos were in the Carolinas by the 1780s; they were likely widespread on the frontier by that time. The first person who made a mountain banjo did not have to be acquainted with any instrument other than a gourd banjo. He made the mountain ban...

Art Rosenbaum | Backroads & Banjos

Somebody recently sent me a question about an odd version of "Little Maggie" they were learning; in searching around for some different versions of the song I stumbled across this great resource from former UGA professor and noted folklorist Art Rosenbaum. 

I'd never seen these particular instructional videos of his before and wanted to share them with you here. I have heard it said by reli...

Q&A | Jig, Flatfoot, Hoedown or Square Dance?

"At the Brooklyn Folk Festival there was a woman named Jane Henderson who danced to one of your songs. May I ask what genre of dancing was that? I thought it was Irish but I was wrong." - Josh 

Flatfoot, Hoedown, Square Dance, Double-Shuffle, Heel-and-Toe, Jig and Buck Dance are just a few of the numerous terms used to describe a broad style of traditional North American folk dancing where ...

Wild Bill Jones | Discussion

eBEAB (relative gDGCD or "Pretty Polly" aka "Sawmill" aka "G Modal") 

I learned this song mostly from George Gibson's 2000 album "Last Possum up the Tree." On this recording Gibson used a six string guitar banjo tuned DADGAD and a three-finger picking style so the arrangement demonstrated here is my own.

https://patr...

Wild Bill Jones | Left Hand

... and here's the left hand.

 eBEAB (relative gDGCD, a.k.a. "Sawmill" or "Pretty Polly" tuning) 

Wild Bill Jones | Right Hand

eBEAB (relative gDGCD, a.k.a. "Sawmill" or "Pretty Polly" tuning)

Here's the right hand two finger picking Wild Bill Jones. I learned this song mostly from George Gibson's "Last Possum up the Tree" album. Gibson uses three-finger picking pattern on a six-string guitar banjo tuned DADGAD on his recording, so this is my approach using two fingers and five strings.

2018-04-14 22:54:24 +0000 UTC View Post

Female Blues Singers in 1790s Jamaica?

While waiting on my pre-ordered copy of 'Banjo Roots and Branches' (https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/23cnd4ft9780252041945.html) to I arrive, I'm meticulously going through this outstanding work by Dena Estein: 'Sinful Tunes and Spirituals.' On p. 70 we note the following ...

Relative Dating the "Mountain" Banjo

(photos by R. W. Gordon, 1924-25, Library of Congress)

"Mr. Cohen, et al.:

"As far as I know, banjos with internal tensioning systems (vaguely similar to the "mountain" banjos we are discussing) began there development right in the middle of the war with George Tweed's banjo design patent of April 1862. I do not mean to suggest that mountain banjos (sometimes called "can" banjos by actual ...

Wild Bill Jones | Performance

 eBEAB (relative gDGCD, a.k.a. "Sawmill" or "Pretty Polly" tuning!)  

I learned this song from master banjoist, storyteller, and researcher George R. Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. The last verse is original.

Notice that both sung and played parts to this song are somewhat irr...

Q&A | Wood Shopping & Names for Tunings?

Michael asks where I acquire all of the different woods that I use and Alex wants me to start using names for tunings (not just "gDGBD" etc.).

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https://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com

Q&A | Hand-Carved Tuning Pegs?

"Any chance you can show us the process of carving the small parts like the tuning pegs and bridge? What tools do you use for that kind of thing?" - Michael

Michael asks just how exactly we hand make the tuning pegs for a traditional fretless banjo. There are only a couple of basic tools required to create a fine friction tu...

"Morphine" on Banjo #12

I'm calling Banjo #12 done at this point. Since we've been listening to a lot of Bill Cornett lately I played and sang some of his verses to Morphine.

gDGBD, relative tuning. 

I'm already thinking about the next banjo and the next person on the "potential buyer" list...