The old frailing rhythm is perfecty suited to simple versions of “Old Joe Clark” or “May the Circle Be Unbroken,” and tunes like that can bring great pleasure. The problem begins when the melody of a song that we love is more complicated than that, and, in order to hit the melody notes, we have to disrupt that frailing motion with various compensating fingerings. Too many “skip-string drop thumbs” or “alternate-string pull-offs” in a row and the old sound simply falls away. It is the curse of the clawhammer player. When we play a common, but melodically intricate, fiddle tune like “Bill Cheatham”—which has long and lovely strings of eighth notes that are hard to frail—something has to give. Lately, I have been making a bargain with the banjo, one that pleases me, at least for now. Instead of sacrificing the rhythm by using intricate right hand motions, I sacrifice the open strings—by going up the neck. Of course, like any compensation technique, this method of going up the neck finding chords that suggest the melody along the way, comes at a price. You lose the open strings. Still, this little compromise for now gives some peace.