The Drop Thumb
This is the second most important technique of clawhammer playing and as well as thumbing the drone string the thumb now drops down to play the third string on the note labelled T above. In terms of 4 whole beats labelled 1,2,3,4 and 8 quavers labelled 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &, it falls on the & after 3. There drop thumb is usually louder than the drone thumb but quieter than the downstrokes as it falls on a typically weaker note. If the note forms part of the melody or a funky syncopation then it can be played louder. Practice this bar over slowly until you can hit that note with accuracy and the correct volume. This is where a larger use comes in useful as there is more string gap for the picking hand to work with.
Ex B1 above tests you a bit further, work on each bar individually. Note in bar 2 the thumb now falls on string 2 rather than string 3. As mentioned in the bum dit-ty section, resting your third and fourth fingers on the top of the use during downstrokes can give you a firmer foundation for the dancing drop thumb. You can see this in the video. Practice the two different bars separately then try the four bar pattern as a complete exercise. Play slow with a metronome and only increase by 5bpm if you are hitting all the notes cleanly.
Here is further tune fragment working around a C5 chord (which consists of just C and G notes and sounds neither major or minor in tone). As per the previous exercise only the drop thumbs are labelled.
