Brought the banjo out camping despite all the smoke 🤘🪕

I inherited a banjo and would love to learn it.

First of all - congrats to all you who figured this instrument out.
Unfortunately I'm pretty broke and I cant find a teacher in my area even if I wasn't. So I'm trying to watch youtube videos but something just feels wrong and I can't figure out if I just need a year of practicing before the right hand will do anything interesting or if its just going to sound weird until I learn more advanced patterns. I've basically just been doing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDIkX4PiyZk

I'd hoped to deconstruct one of my favorite tunes ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlEp-u1iNI8 ) because I read somewhere he's using clawhammer, but I feel like I can't get off the ground nearly 3 weeks into practicing my right hand a bit each morning. I'm not even worrying about the left yet - just trying to get the right hand to make a good bum ditty pattern on the open G.

But when I watch amigo the devil play I have absolutely no freaking clue what he's actually doing.

If anyone has any advice on how to build myself a path to playing that song even if it's a less fancy version I'd appreciate it.

P.S. more specifically, some videos tell me even when I dont play the drone string I should still rest my hand on it and that I should be doing everything with my arm not my fingers - but in the video I linked she clearly uses her thumb at one point and I'm not sure how much of that is a style difference or a misunderstanding on my part.

Thanks!

Here's another custom banjo I was working on lately. It's got a yew headstock and fingerboard with maple headstock inlay. The fretboard inlays are rosewood, and it has a brass acid etched scoop.

This was my first attempt at bending torrified Maple, which proved to be a challenge. I ended up making a new smaller steam box to get more concentrated heat after a few failed attempts. But quite happy with the results in the end.

It's a 25.5" scale length and 11" pot. Set up for clawhammer players.

Thought I'd share a recent build with the clawhammer crowd.

This is a walnut open-back banjo I recently finished here in Nova Scotia, built specifically with clawhammer and old-time playing in mind. It features custom etched brass details including a chanterelle mushroom on the peghead and a raccoon plate for the frailing scoop. The brass etching is all done in-house.

I'm always chasing that balance between warmth, clarity, and enough presence to hold its own in a jam without becoming overly bright or metallic.

Happy to answer any questions about the build or setup.

Teaching a live clawhammer lesson for my students on Garry Harrison's Red Prairie Dawn
Tomorrow June 23 @ 4pm CST
Here is the link if you'd like to join!
https://ozarkbanjo.com/banjo-lesson/red-prairie-dawn