For clawhammer banjo players who are tired of noodling through the same tunes without feeling like they're getting anywhere
Finally play the songs you love start to finish, from Shady Grove to Friend of the Devil.
The Clawhammer Journey is a structured membership for banjo players at every level, built around the right-hand feel and musical groove that turns mechanical playing into music you actually love to make. Even if you've tried other courses, YouTube, or taught yourself into a plateau.
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You love clawhammer. So why does it feel like you're always just a little bit stuck?
You practice. You learn tunes. You watch tutorials, download tabs, follow along with videos. And yet there's this gap, between the music you hear in your head and what actually comes out when you play. You can get through a tune, but it doesn't quite have that feel. That bounce. That loose, natural sound the good players have. You're not a beginner exactly. But you're not where you want to be either.
You've probably tried:
- Spending hours on YouTube following along with tutorials, but the moment the video stops, you're not sure what to work on next or how to actually progress from here.
- Downloading tabs and learning tunes on your own, only to noodle through the same handful of songs and never feel like your playing is really developing.
- Trying to copy what good players do by watching them closely, and still thinking "how is he doing that??" because the feel behind it isn't something you can see in a video.
- Starting with a different style (or a different course), and either sticking with it even though it never quite clicked, or starting over so many times that the banjo has spent more time on the stand than in your hands.
The frustrating part isn't the effort, you clearly love this instrument. It's the lack of a path that builds on itself. Every month without real momentum makes the banjo a little easier to put down.
But what if the problem isn't your dedication or your ear or your hands? What if it's that you've never had a system designed to build the one thing most clawhammer instruction skips entirely?
What changes when clawhammer finally has groove, direction, and songs you actually love to play
Six months from now, you're sitting down with your banjo and it just flows. Not perfectly, but with that bounce and looseness that makes clawhammer sound like clawhammer. You know what you're working on this month. You have songs in your hands that sound like you. And most importantly, you want to pick it up again tomorrow.
Close the groove gap, play with bounce, not just accuracy
There's a specific reason some clawhammer sounds like music and some sounds like notes. I walk you through the right-hand mechanics, relaxation, dynamics, drop-thumb placement, that create the loose, natural feel you're chasing. Your fingers will know the difference within the first few sessions.
Always know what to work on next
No more opening your case and wondering where to start. Monthly practice challenges give you a clear focus so every session builds on the last. The kind of structure that makes "I'll just play for 15 minutes" turn into an hour without you noticing.
Play the songs you actually want to play
Tom Petty, Taylor Swift, traditional old-time, folk, murder ballads, clawhammer works across all of it. You'll build a repertoire that fits who you are musically, not just what a beginner clawhammer student "should" learn. Because the songs you love are the ones you'll actually practice.
Build momentum that carries itself forward
Early wins matter. The 15 Day Breakthrough Challenge gets 15 classic tunes in your hands in 10 minutes a day. The 30 Day Right Hand Challenge builds the mechanics underneath. You don't need hours of daily practice, just consistent, purposeful sessions that stack.
Ask real questions, get real answers
Twice a month, I run a live session with members. Ask whatever's been stumping you, learn new tunes together, and hear how others are working through the same things you are. Every session is recorded, so you never miss one.
Progress at your level, on your schedule
Whether you're in your first week or your third year, the Journey is built for where you are right now. Eleven courses, 70+ tabs, monthly challenges, you'll always have something to move toward, and you'll always be moving at a pace that actually sticks.
Here's what makes this work when everything else hasn't: it's not about learning more techniques. It's about learning the one thing most clawhammer instruction doesn't teach, and building from there.
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You don't have a content problem. You've never had a path, or the feel to make it sound like music.
Be honest: you already own more tabs, tutorials, and half-finished courses than you'll ever get through. So the problem was never a lack of content. More videos won't fix it. Two things will, and free content can't give you either.
The first is feel. Most clawhammer instruction teaches from the outside in, what notes to play, where to put your hand, what pattern to follow. All of that matters. But it stops short of the thing that actually makes clawhammer sound like clawhammer: the bounce, the loose right hand, the groove. Learn tune after tune without it and you can play everything correctly and still sound stiff. You're executing, not playing. And no number of new tunes fixes a foundation built without feel in it.
The second is a path. Free content is built for discovery, not progression. Nothing tells you what to work on this month, what to do when you get stuck, or how to go from "I know this tune" to "I own this tune." So you noodle. You repeat what's comfortable. Months pass without real movement, and your repertoire never grows past the same two or three songs.
The Clawhammer Journey is built around exactly these two things: groove-first technique and a structured path with monthly momentum. Every course starts with the right-hand feel as the foundation, not an afterthought, that's the whole reason the 30 Day Right Hand Challenge exists. Then monthly practice challenges give you a clear focus, so you always know what's next and your playing actually compounds.
I've been teaching clawhammer through BanjoSkills for years, on YouTube, in courses, and in live sessions with members. Ron S., one of my students, put it well: "I learned a whole lot about what makes clawhammer banjo unique, and how to bring out that clawhammer flavour instead of sounding like a guitarist with a banjo." That distinction, sounding like a clawhammer player, not just someone playing a banjo, is exactly what this system is built to develop.
So let me show you exactly what's inside The Clawhammer Journey, and how each piece fits the approach.
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Introducing…
The Clawhammer Journey
The Clawhammer Journey is a membership built around groove-first clawhammer instruction, for players at every level who want real feel, a song repertoire they love, and always knowing what to practice next. Eleven courses, 70+ tabs, monthly challenges, and twice-monthly live sessions, all in one place.
Every new course and tab I create goes to members first, automatically. And because this is a subscription, not a one-time purchase, the library keeps growing while you're inside it. There's always something new to work on, and I'm always adding more.
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Here's What's Inside The Clawhammer Journey
11 courses, 70+ tabs, monthly challenges, and live sessions, everything you need to play every day and keep getting better.
Course One
QuickStart Guide to the Banjo
If you're new, this is where you start. I walk you through how to hold the banjo, tune it, and play your first song, clear and simple, no prior experience assumed. Most students are making real sounds within their first session.
Course Two
Clawhammer Banjo Unlocked
The foundation of everything. Eight tunes, three tunings, and the complete technique toolkit, including drop thumb, syncopation, and chord changes, taught in a way that builds groove into the technique from the start, not as an afterthought. This is where you go from beginner to someone who actually sounds like a clawhammer player.
Course Three
30 Day Right Hand Challenge
This is the course that closes the groove gap. Thirty days of progressive exercises designed to build the loose, relaxed right-hand mechanics that create bounce and feel. It's not about playing faster or more notes, it's about developing the physical foundation that makes every other technique sound musical.
Course Four
15 Day Breakthrough Challenge
Fifteen classic old-time tunes in 15 days, 10 minutes a day. I designed this one to build your repertoire quickly and give you early wins, because nothing builds momentum like having real songs in your hands. By the end, you'll have 15 tunes you actually know.
Course Five
14 Day Hear It, Play It Challenge
Daily exercises to develop your ear so you can hear a tune and start finding it on the banjo. This is the skill that makes everything else compound, once your ear starts leading, you stop depending on tabs for every new song you want to learn.
Course Six
Playing Modern Songs on the Banjo
Tom Petty, the Grateful Dead, Taylor Swift, this course proves that clawhammer belongs in 21st-century music. You'll learn how to arrange and play modern songs in clawhammer style, so your repertoire doesn't have to be limited to traditional old-time. Play the music you actually love.
Course Seven
Survive the Jam
Walk into any jam session with confidence. This course covers the chord changes, common progressions, and group-playing skills you need to hold your own when there are other musicians in the room, without the panic of not knowing what to do next.
Course Eight
Cuckoo Bird Masterclass
A one-hour deep dive into one of clawhammer's most beloved tunes. I use this as a vehicle for advanced technique, drop thumb applications, dynamics, ornamentation, so you're not just learning a song, you're learning how a complete player approaches a tune.
Course Nine
Mastering Double C on the Banjo
A full hour on one of clawhammer's essential alternate tunings. You'll understand how Double C opens up a completely different sonic world, how to move between chords in the tuning, and how to play tunes that simply don't work as well in standard G.
Course Ten
Mississippi Sawyer + Tab Book
One of old-time's most iconic fiddle tunes, taught in full with a 35-tab book included. This is an intermediate-to-advanced course built around getting one important tune deeply into your hands, and using it to push your technique further in the process.
Course Eleven
Beginner Tab Book
Fifteen beginner arrangements with both slow-practice and up-to-speed backing tracks. If you're in your first few months, this gives you something real to play right now, tunes that are simple enough to learn quickly but satisfying enough to keep you coming back.
And because it's a membership, you also get…
70+ Tabs (and growing)
New tabs added every month, always included with your membership. Whatever you're working on, classic tunes, modern songs, style studies, there's always something to take your playing in a new direction.
Monthly Practice Challenges
Each month, I give members a structured focus: a technique to develop, a tune to master, or a challenge to work through. This is how you stop noodling and start progressing, a clear target, every single month.
Twice-Monthly Live Sessions with Jack
Ask questions, learn tunes together, and hear how other players are approaching the same challenges you're working through. Every session is recorded, so you never miss one. Seven past session replays are available on day one.
Work through these courses, show up for the live sessions, and take on the monthly challenges, and something shifts. You go from someone who owns a banjo to someone for whom clawhammer is genuinely part of daily life. Not because you forced it. Because the music is finally sounding the way you always heard it in your head.
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I Didn't Stop at the Courses
The Clawhammer Journey includes structured live access, monthly challenges, and an ever-growing tab library as part of the membership itself, not add-ons. Here's what that means in practice:
Bonus 1
Twice-Monthly Live Sessions + Full Replay Archive
The biggest reason structured learning stalls is that you hit a wall and have no one to ask. Twice a month, I run a live group session where you can bring your real questions, work through tunes together, and hear how other members at your stage are approaching the same challenges. Every session is recorded, and seven past sessions are waiting for you on day one, so you're not starting from scratch.
Bonus 2
Monthly Practice Challenges
Without a clear monthly focus, most players either noodle through familiar tunes or overwhelm themselves trying to learn everything at once. Each month's challenge gives you one specific thing to get good at, a technique, a tune, or a practice method, so your progress compounds instead of plateaus. This is the same kind of structured monthly focus I'd give a private student.
Bonus 3
Early Access to Every New Course and Tab
Every course I create and every tab I add goes to Journey members first, automatically included in your membership. There's no hunting for new content or waiting to find out if something new is right for you. If I make it, you get it.
Bonus 4
70+ Tabs (Growing Monthly)
One of the most common frustrations I hear from clawhammer players is: "I can't find a good tab for this." The tab vault inside the Journey currently has 70+ arrangements, traditional, modern, and in-between, with new ones added every month. If you're looking for something specific, the odds keep getting better the longer you're a member.
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Here's What People Say About Learning Banjo With Me
2,500+ students and 10,000+ subscribers learning banjo with Jack
"Not only did it help me get my fundamental technique to a level where I'm confidently playing tunes, I also learned a whole lot about what makes clawhammer banjo unique."
Ron S.
Clawhammer Journey member
"Thanks Jack. I found the course invaluable, especially as it covered many practical aspects that other instruction doesn't."
John
Clawhammer Journey member
"After watching your videos and doing the course I was able to play. I have less than 6 months of trying to teach myself clawhammer banjo and you made the bum dittity finally make sense. Just wanted to say thank you!"
Spencer P.
Under 6 months playing
"I've tried, unsuccessfully, to learn banjo with other online videos as well as books. I've tried different styles of playing that didn't work for me, but clawhammer with Jack's approach, patience and yeah, his personality, just works so well for me! I'm learning and look forward to every lesson."
Denise St. J.
Long-term student
"I have learnt so much from Jack's YouTube channel. However, the Modern Banjo Course was so much more in depth, and thoroughly enhanced my banjo playing and knowledge. The course enabled me to learn different rhythms, some theory, songs, and more importantly, how I can use these new techniques in other arrangements. Jack is an amazing teacher and a talented player. He even took the time to offer advice, specifically based on my playing: he really cares about helping you to improve."
Chris T.
Modern Banjo Course student
"I have been playing clawhammer for only about a year and this instructional series has quickly identified areas where I struggle and helped me re-learn problem areas correctly before moving forward. Your videos are a great balance of verbal instruction with complimentary video instruction."
Lloyd G.
About a year playing
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Try it completely risk-free. If it's not right for you, you get every penny back.
Take your first 30 days to work through the courses, try the challenges, and show up for a live session. Give it a real shot. If you don't feel more musical, more confident, and genuinely excited to keep playing, just email me at jack@banjoskills.com for a full refund. No questions asked.
Two Paths From Here
If nothing changes:
- You've still only got a tune or two ready when someone asks you to play something.
- You learn a tune, it feels good, and a few days later it's gone again.
- Every new song starts you back at zero, with no real sense of what to learn next.
- A year from now you're still "learning banjo," still wondering if you'll ever actually play it.
With The Clawhammer Journey:
- You've got a pile of songs you love, ready whenever you pick up the banjo.
- Each new tune builds on the last, so your repertoire sticks and keeps growing.
- A fresh tune lands every month, so there's always a clear next one to reach for.
- You stop being the forever beginner and become someone who actually plays.
The only thing standing between these two paths is the decision to start. I'll be right there with you for the rest.
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"I've already got free tabs and a course or two. Why pay for this?"
…and a few other things you're probably wondering about.
Honestly, why pay when I can get free tabs anywhere?
You don't have a content problem. You already own more tabs and tutorials than you'll ever finish. What gets you unstuck isn't more content, it's a path through it and a person to ask. The Journey is the first thing here that isn't just more stuff to watch. It's a sequence where each tune teaches the next, plus me live to help when one won't stick.
I'm busy. How much time does this really take?
You go at your own pace, there's no schedule to fall behind on. Learn this month's tune when you've got twenty minutes, drop into a live session when you can, and watch the recording when you can't. The path is there whenever you sit down with the banjo.
I'm past beginner but not great. Is this the right level for me?
That's exactly who I built it for, the player who can get through a tune or two but can't build a repertoire that lasts. The path meets you where you are and builds from there. And if you ever want to shore up the basics, the beginner courses and tab books are included too.
How quickly will I see a difference?
You'll have a tune to work on from the very first day, plus 14 recorded live sessions to dig into right away. From there it depends on how often you pick the banjo up, but the path is built so each tune sets up the next one, instead of you starting from zero every time.
What do I get access to, and for how long?
You get everything: all 11 courses and tab books, the full tab library, the monthly tunes and practice challenges, and the live sessions, for as long as you're a member. A new tune gets added every month, so it keeps growing the whole time you're in.
What happens in the live sessions? Do I have to play?
You never have to play for anyone. The live sessions are watch-and-learn, and you ask your questions in the chat: a tune you want broken down, a part that's tripping you up, what to learn next. I answer right there, and every session is recorded so you never miss one.
What if it doesn't work for me?
Join, work through the path, learn this month's tune, and sit in on a live session. If after 30 days you don't feel more confident with the banjo in your hands and like your repertoire is finally going somewhere, just email me at jack@banjoskills.com for a full refund. No questions asked.
Can I cancel if I need to?
Yes, anytime. It's a quarterly membership and you can cancel whenever you like, no awkward phone call, no hoops. I'd rather you stay because your repertoire keeps growing, not because you're locked in.
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About Me
Hi, I'm Jack
I know the one-tune trap from the inside. For my first four years of playing, the only tune I could play start to finish from memory was Cripple Creek. One tune, four years. Every new song reset me to zero, and I stayed stuck because nobody had given me a path where the tunes actually connected.
Once I figured that out, my repertoire finally started to grow, and it's what I've built BanjoSkills around ever since, teaching over 2,500 students through my courses and reaching more than 10,000 of you on YouTube. I made the Journey because it's the thing I wish I'd had back then. Come learn this month's tune, ask me what you're stuck on, and let's get you playing the songs you love.
Don't Miss This, Start Your Clawhammer Journey Today
Everything you get when you join today:
Here's everything you get:
- QuickStart Guide to the Banjo — Your first week: hold, tune, and play your first song. Clear and simple, no prior experience assumed.
- Clawhammer Banjo Unlocked — Eight tunes, three tunings, and the complete technique toolkit, groove built in from the start, not as an afterthought.
- 30 Day Right Hand Challenge — Thirty days of progressive exercises to build the loose, relaxed right-hand mechanics that create bounce and feel.
- 15 Day Breakthrough Challenge — Fifteen classic old-time tunes in 15 days, 10 minutes a day. Real songs in your hands, fast.
- 14 Day Hear It, Play It Challenge — Daily ear training exercises so you can hear a tune and start finding it on the banjo, the skill that makes everything else compound.
- Playing Modern Songs on the Banjo — Tom Petty, the Grateful Dead, Taylor Swift, clawhammer belongs in 21st-century music. Play the music you actually love.
- Survive the Jam — Walk into any jam session with confidence. Chord changes, common progressions, and group-playing skills covered.
- Cuckoo Bird Masterclass — A one-hour deep dive: drop thumb, dynamics, ornamentation. Learn how a complete player truly approaches a tune.
- Mastering Double C on the Banjo — A full hour on one of clawhammer's essential alternate tunings. Unlock a completely different sonic world.
- Mississippi Sawyer + Tab Book — One of old-time's most iconic fiddle tunes, taught in full with a 35-tab book. Push your technique further in the process.
- Beginner Tab Book — Fifteen beginner arrangements with slow-practice and up-to-speed backing tracks. Something real to play right now.
- 70+ Tabs (growing monthly) — New tabs added every month, always included. Whatever you're working on, there's always something to take your playing in a new direction.
- Monthly Practice Challenges — A clear monthly focus so every session builds on the last. Stop noodling, start progressing, a specific target, every single month.
- Twice-Monthly Live Sessions with Jack — Ask questions, learn tunes together, hear how other players are working through the same things. Every session recorded, 7 replays waiting on day one.
Plus these exclusive bonuses for free:
- Twice-Monthly Live Sessions + Full Replay Archive — Bring your real questions, work through tunes together, and hear how other members at your stage are approaching the same challenges. Seven past sessions ready on day one.
- Monthly Practice Challenges — The same structured monthly focus I'd give a private student. One specific thing to get good at each month, so your progress compounds instead of plateaus.
- Early Access to Every New Course and Tab — Every course I create and every tab I add goes to Journey members first, automatically included in your membership. If I make it, you get it.
- 70+ Tabs (Growing Monthly) — 70+ arrangements, traditional, modern, and in-between, with new ones added every month. If you're looking for something specific, the odds keep getting better the longer you're a member.
All backed by a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. No questions asked.
$147 / quarter
Billed quarterly. Cancel anytime.
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If you get in, practice for 30 days, and it's not right for you, I'll give you your money back. No questions, no hoops.