Clawhammer and frailing

Clawhammer is sometimes known as frailing. It is primarily a down-picking style, and the hand assumes a claw-like shape and the strumming finger is kept fairly stiff, striking the strings by the motion of the hand at the wrist and elbow,


rather than a flicking motion by the finger. Typically, only the thumb and second or first finger are used and the finger always downpicks, flicking the string with the back of the fingernail.


A common characteristic of clawhammer patterns is the thumb does not pick on the downbeat, as one might in typical fingerpicking patterns for guitar. For example, this is a common, basic time signature
2/4 pattern:


1. Pick a melody note on the downbeat (quarter note)


2. On the second beat (music)
beat, strum a few strings with your strumming finger (roughly an eighth note)


3. Immediately following (on the second half of this beat), pick a note with the thumb, usually the shorter fifth string. (roughly an eighth note)


Here, the thumb plays the high drone on the second "and" of "one and two and". This combined with the second finger strumming provides a characteristic "bum-ditty bum-ditty" sound.


In frailing, the first fingertip is used for up-picking melody, and the second fingernail is used for rhythmic downward brushing.


In clawhammer, only downstrokes are used, and they are typically played with one fingernail as is the usual technique on the banjo.