For clawhammer banjo players who to play the modern songs they love
Finally Play Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, and the Grateful Dead on Your Banjo
In 4 focused modules, you'll build the strum patterns, backup techniques, and song-decoding toolkit that turns any modern tune into a song you can actually play. Even if everything you know right now is old-time.
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You love old-time. You also love Tom Petty. And right now, only one of those fits on your banjo.
You can get through Cripple Creek. You know the bum ditty. You've got a couple of old-time tunes you actually feel good about. But the songs that have been in your head since you were a kid, Landslide, Friend of the Devil, Country Roads, those still feel like they belong to the guitar. You pick up the banjo, try to figure out a modern song by ear, and within about 30 seconds the strum pattern falls apart and it sounds like you're trying to play Boil Them Cabbage Down over a Fleetwood Mac track.
You've Probably Tried:
- Searching YouTube for clawhammer versions of modern songs and finding two half-finished videos, both in a weird tuning, neither of which quite fits the song you actually wanted to learn.
- Downloading a tab for a modern song, memorizing it note for note, and realising a week later that you can't play any other song because you never learned what was actually going on underneath it.
- Sitting down with a chord chart from the guitar world and trying to force the bum ditty on top of it, only for the rhythm to feel stiff and weirdly square against the vocal line.
- Telling yourself the banjo is just an old-time instrument and you should stick to what works, even though the songs you most want to play are sitting right there on your Spotify.
Maybe the banjo really is limited. Maybe the instrument you fell in love with can only take you so far, and the music you actually listen to will always belong to somebody else.
But the banjo is not the limit. The problem is that nobody has ever shown you the small set of patterns that let you play modern music with clawhammer style banjo.
What changes when your banjo can play the music you actually listen to?
You pick up your banjo on a Sunday afternoon, put on I Remember Everything, and just start playing along. A little Travis picking on the verse. Your own backup pattern under the chorus. By the second time through you're finding melodic hooks. You're not reading a tab. You're not copying a YouTube video note for note. You're playing a song you love, in your own voice, on the instrument you've been working on for months.
Play modern songs start to finish.
No more stopping halfway through because the strum pattern ran out of ideas. You'll play the whole song, verse to chorus to outro, the way you'd actually want to hear it.
Build your own arrangements from scratch.
Hear a song on the radio and think "I'd love to play that on the banjo"? You'll know where to start. Chords, pattern, melodic hooks, done. No waiting for someone to post a tab.
Finally have something to play for your family.
Instead of explaining for the fifth time why Soldier's Joy is actually a great tune, you'll play Wagon Wheel or Country Roads and watch them sing along.
Sound modern, not like a square dance.
Syncopation, the Hilltop Strum, the Ghost Hammer, Travis picking on banjo. You'll have a toolkit that makes the banjo sound like 2026, not 1926.
Feel like the banjo is a complete instrument again.
Old-time is still yours. But now classic rock, folk, indie, and pop are also yours. One banjo, almost any song you love.
Stop begging for tabs.
You'll understand chord progressions and strum patterns well enough to decode songs on your own. That's the skill that keeps paying off for the rest of your playing life.
And none of this requires music theory lectures, reading notation, or being a natural ear player. It comes down to a specific set of patterns that work on almost every modern song.
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The banjo isn't the problem. Old-time is the only playbook you've ever been handed.
Almost every clawhammer resource teaches you one thing: how to play old-time tunes. Bum ditty, drop thumb, a handful of standards, done. That works fine for Cripple Creek. It falls apart the moment you try a song with a syncopated feel, or a chord progression that isn't I-IV-V.
The reason modern songs keep collapsing on you isn't the banjo. It's that the old-time strum has one rhythmic feel, and most modern songs need something different. A slower groove. A bit of syncopation. A hammer that lands off the beat. A way to drop into fingerpicking for a verse. Small adjustments, but nobody shows them to you, because the clawhammer world is almost entirely focused on the traditional stuff.
I built this course from the opposite direction. I took the songs I actually wanted to play (Wagon Wheel, Big Iron, Landslide, Friend of the Devil) and worked backwards until I had a small set of patterns that cover 95% of modern music on the clawhammer banjo. The Hilltop Strum. The Ghost Hammer. Travis picking, clawhammer style. A growing library of backup patterns in the Pattern Vault. Once you have these, any modern song is a matter of plugging in chords and adjusting the feel.
Introducing...
Playing Modern Songs on the Banjo
The complete toolkit for playing classic rock, pop, folk, and indie on clawhammer banjo.
This is a 4-module video course for intermediate clawhammer players who can already play the basics and want to finally play the songs they love. You'll learn 11 full modern songs plus the pattern-based system that lets you decode any modern tune on your own.
Yes, I Want to Play Modern Songs30-Day Money-Back Guarantee · Instant Access
Here's What's Inside Playing Modern Songs on the Banjo
4 modules. 11 full songs. Lifetime access plus the Pattern Vault.
Module One
Foundations
I'll walk you through the essential modern clawhammer strum pattern, clean chord changes, capo use, and tuning the 5th string for different keys. By the end of Module 1 you'll have your first three modern songs under your fingers: Wagon Wheel (Old Crow), Big Iron (Marty Robbins), and Achilles (The Dead South). This is where the banjo stops being an old-time-only instrument.
Module Two
Modern Strum Patterns
Where we steal the best stuff from guitar and ukulele. You'll learn syncopation from the ground up, plus two patterns I use on almost every modern song I play: the Hilltop Strum and the Ghost Hammer. Then we put them straight to work on Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkel), Yer So Bad (Tom Petty), and Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead).
Module Three
Fingerstyle Guitar, Clawhammer Style
Travis picking on a banjo sounds wrong until you see it done properly, and then you never go back. I'll show you how to adapt it for clawhammer players, walk you through I Remember Everything (John Prine), Landslide (Fleetwood Mac), and break down Mystery of Love (Sufjan Stevens) verse and chorus in deep detail. This is the module where a lot of students tell me the banjo finally starts sounding like the songs in their head.
Module Four
Time to Fly
You put it all together. I walk you through Nice To Meet You (Myles Smith) and Take Me Home Country Roads (John Denver) piece by piece: chords, structure, strum patterns, melodic hooks, the whole arrangement. By the end you won't just know two more songs. You'll know how I built them, so you can build your own versions of any song you love.
Included with every module
The Pattern Vault
A growing library of backup patterns I drop new entries into whenever I find one that works. Think of it as the spare parts drawer for building your own arrangements. Any pattern in the Vault can slot into any song with a compatible feel.
Plus
Module 1 Q&A Video
A 10-minute video where I answer the most common questions students ran into during Module 1, so you're never stuck wondering if you're doing something wrong.
By the end of all four modules, you won't just have 11 new songs. You'll have a system for turning any modern song you hear into a clawhammer banjo version you can actually play.
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I Didn't Stop at the Course
Three bonuses stacked on top of everything above. Together they're worth more than the course itself.
Bonus 1
Live Wildcard Song Workshop
Thursday April 30, 7pm UK. 60 minutes. Replay included.
Here's how this one works. After you buy, you email me any song you'd love to see taught on clawhammer banjo (any genre, any artist). On Tuesday April 28 I film myself picking one song out of a hat. Then on Thursday April 30 at 7pm UK, I do a live 60-minute session: full breakdown of the wildcard song. Can't make it live? The replay lives inside the course area forever.
Value: $97
Bonus 2
3 Bonus Songs Module
Drops Friday May 15 inside the course area.
Three additional modern songs taught with the same pattern-based approach from the core course. I film these after the promo closes, drop them straight into the course area on May 15, and you keep them forever as part of your library. They use the patterns from Modules 1 to 4, so they double as reinforcement and a bigger repertoire.
Value: $47
Bonus 3
Action-Taker Feedback
First 15 buyers only. First 48 hours only.
If you're one of the first 15 people to buy inside the first 48 hours after the cart opens, you get to send me a short video of yourself playing any song from the course. I'll record you a personal 5-minute Loom video with feedback, suggestions, and what to work on next. Hard cap at 15 spots. When they're gone, they're gone. This is as close as I can get to 1-on-1 lessons inside a course.
Value: $97
Total bonus value: $241
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Here's What Students Say About Playing Modern Songs on the Banjo
9,000+ banjo players worldwide
"I love oldtime and bluegrass music. But I also love modern folk and rock classics. Unfortunately, the basic clawhammer bum-ditty does not always work well with some of these modern tunes. So I was really glad when Jack offered this course, and I highly recommend it if you want to expand your clawhammer horizons. The course opened up a whole new world of banjo playing for me. I can now play a Tom Petty song on the banjo, and it sounds great! I congratulate Jack for his pioneering work in expanding clawhammer technique. I know of no other banjo instructor who has devoted this much energy to making the banjo a contemporary, modern, cool instrument."
Tim P
Modern Banjo student
"The Modern Banjo Course was just fantastic.! You could see the amount of time, effort and expertise that went into creating every session."
Tom T
Modern Banjo student
"Thank you so much. I have learnt lots from the course."
Chris Tr
Modern Banjo student
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Buy the course, go through Module 1, try the essential modern strum pattern on Wagon Wheel, and see how it feels in your hands. If at any point inside the first 30 days you don't feel like this is changing how the banjo sounds in your living room, just email me for a full refund. No questions. No forms. No hoops.
Where Will You Be Six Months From Now?
If nothing changes:
- Still playing the same couple of old-time tunes, still feeling like the banjo is stuck in one genre
- Still hunting YouTube for half-finished clawhammer versions of modern songs, still coming up short
- Still memorizing other people's tabs instead of building your own arrangements
- Still quietly wondering if the banjo can really cover the music you actually love
With Playing Modern Songs on the Banjo:
- Playing 11 full modern songs, from Wagon Wheel to Landslide to Country Roads, on your clawhammer banjo
- Decoding new songs on your own with the patterns from the course plus the Pattern Vault
- Building your own arrangements of songs nobody has ever tabbed out for clawhammer
- Picking up your banjo on a Sunday afternoon, putting on Spotify, and just playing along
The only difference between these two paths is the decision to build the patterns. The banjo is the same. You are the same. The system is what changes.
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. No questions asked.
"I mostly play old-time. Is this course going to help me or just confuse me?"
...and a few other things you might be wondering about.
I mostly play old-time. Is this course going to help me or just confuse me?
It's going to add to what you already have. Nothing in this course replaces your old-time playing. The modern strum patterns, syncopation work, and Travis picking sit on top of your existing technique as extra tools. Most students come out of it playing both styles, depending on the day.
How much time does this actually take?
Each lesson is a self-contained 10 to 20 minute video. Most students do one lesson per practice session and a full module over a week or two. Go at your own pace. Lifetime access means there's no rush.
Am I good enough for this course?
If you can play the basic bum ditty and get through at least one tune at home, you're ready. This isn't a beginner course, but it doesn't assume you're advanced either. If you finished a beginner clawhammer series and you're looking for what's next, this is it.
How is this different from the free modern song videos on YouTube?
YouTube gives you a handful of songs with no connecting system. This course gives you the underlying patterns (Hilltop Strum, Ghost Hammer, Travis picking, syncopation work) plus 11 fully taught songs that use those patterns. You're building a toolkit, not collecting arrangements.
How quickly will I see results?
Most students have Wagon Wheel under their fingers by the end of Module 1 and feel a real shift in the first week. From there, progress depends on how often you pick up the banjo, but the course is built to give you wins early so you stay motivated.
How long do I get access?
Lifetime access. The course, the Pattern Vault, the bonus songs that drop in May, the Live Wildcard Workshop replay, all of it is yours to come back to whenever you want.
What if it doesn't work for me?
30-day money-back guarantee. Go through Module 1, try the patterns, and if you're not feeling it, email me for a full refund. No questions asked.
Do I have to read music or know theory?
No. I don't use notation in this course. I show you the patterns on the banjo, name the chords in plain letters, and walk you through everything visually. If you can watch a video and move your hand, you've got what you need.
What if the wildcard song isn't one I would have picked?
Totally fair question. The wildcard is picked at random from all the suggestions submitted, so it might not be yours. But the 11 core course songs plus whatever gets picked live are yours either way, and the replay stays in the course area forever. You also get the 3 Bonus Songs Module on May 15, so there's more coming after the live session too.
About the Instructor
Hi, I'm Jack
I played piano as a kid. Every lesson was Mozart or Beethoven, and I quit by 13 because none of it felt like music I wanted to play. Years later I picked up a banjo and almost walked into the same trap with old-time. So I started working out how to play the songs I actually listened to, and this course is the result.
I've taught thousands of clawhammer players on BanjoSkills and YouTube, and the question I get most is "can I really play modern songs on this thing?" I built this course so the answer is yes. I can't wait to hear what song you play first.
Enrol Before Friday April 24 at 23:59 UK and Get Everything Below for $97
Cart closes Friday April 24 at 23:59 UK. After that, the course goes back to its regular $147 price and the three launch bonuses come off the table.
Playing Modern Songs on the Banjo includes:
- Module 1: Foundations. First three modern songs plus the essential strum pattern
- Module 2: Modern Strum Patterns. Syncopation, Hilltop, Ghost Hammer, three more songs
- Module 3: Fingerstyle Clawhammer. Travis picking on banjo, three more songs
- Module 4: Time to Fly. Full song builds, Nice To Meet You and Country Roads
- The Pattern Vault. A growing library of backup patterns for any song
- Module Q&As. Short answers to the most common questions from each module
Plus these bonuses:
- Live Wildcard Song Workshop. Thursday April 30, 7pm UK, replay included. Value: $97
- 3 Bonus Songs Module. Drops Friday May 15 into the course area. Value: $47
- Action-Taker Feedback. First 15 buyers, first 48 hours only. Personal 5-minute Loom from me. Value: $97
All backed by a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. No questions asked.
Course + bonus value: $388
Regular price: $147
Your price today: $97
(save $50)
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee · Instant Access
Cart closes Friday April 24, 2026 at 23:59 UK
You're one click away from finally playing the songs you love on the banjo you've been working on. So get to work. I'll see you inside.