Besides Drag Notes: Neglected Characteristics of the Signature Kilby Snow Style on Autoharp

By Joe Riggs
May, 2006

This article focuses on aspects of Kilby Snow’s playing style other than drag notes, as drag notes have been well-documented by Mike Seeger, and are best explained and demonstrated by Jim Snow, the only heir to the secrets of Kilby Snow’s captivating style of playing autoharp.

Jim plays on a right-handed harp, picking right-handed below the chord bars, so that other harp players can more easily learn how to play in a style like his dad’s, since most players are right-handed pickers, and most harps are right-handed harps. Among the other features of Kilby’s playing to be presented herein are these principles, taken from about 25 years of careful and purposeful listening to recordings and observing of video footage of Kilby Snow, primarily Traditional Music Classics, with Mike Seeger, Shanachie Entertainment, 2002, available from Autoharp Quarterly:

* “Double-clutching,” depressing a chord bar twice in this way for two consecutive, identical, notes in rapid succession:

1. Push down the bar;
2. Pick the string;
3. Release the bar;
4. Push down the bar again, immediately;
5. Pick the second note;
6. Release the bar.

*Pick melody notes using both thumb and index finger leads, picking both up (sometimes), and down with the thumb, and up only with the finger, using a pendulum motion with wrist and/or forearm. Demonstration with Molly Hare.

*Keep the notes on the harp with the notes you are singing, note for note.

*Keep your picking hand moving at all times to reach, pinch, and strum rhythm “accompaniment” to your melody line, referred to herein as “reach-and-grabs,” or “dips,” what can be heard between the melody lines.

These dips are a very important but little-recognized picking characteristic in the music of Kilby Snow, descriptively called by me) the “Reach-and-Grab” dip toward the bass notes, or “dips” for short. These occur after a melody line, and may comprise a single grab, or two, three, or four lightning fast hand movements ending in a pinch of thumb and index finger on lower strings from the melody octave, before resuming the melody line.

They are so fast that even in slow-motion the “grab” is nothing but a blur. What is apparent is, if the melody is playing in the upper register of the harp, the dips would be down in the middle octave, but if the melody is playing in the middle octave, the dips would be down in the serious bass strings. Slowing down the action in the Traditional Arts video with Mike Seeger allows one to see what seems to be Kilby pinching in the lower strings, which gives a crisp bite to the string release and creates a pleasing fill of rhythm accompaniment to the melody line.

That it is an important part of his playing can be illustrated by the frequency of dips in all his playing. In the following songs and tunes from the Traditional Music Classics video, it can be seen that these dips outnumber drag notes in every instance. Generally speaking, the more vocals, the fewer drag notes, but there are no such constraints for the dips.

A Comparison of the Frequency of Drags and Dips in Kilby Snow Music

Tune/Song Time Drag Notes Dip Fills

Ain’t Gonna Work 120 sec. 26 146
Ragged But Right 129 sec. 0 Unable to count
Wind and Rain 175 sec. 0 Unable to count
Arkansas Traveler 108 sec. About 15 Unable to count
John Henry 235 sec. 21 119
Greenback Dollar 103 sec. 31 43
Autoharp Special 144 sec. 28 100
All My Friends 120 sec. 4 95

Using only the data in the above 5 selections which have both a drag and dip count, AGW (Ain’t gonna Work) shows an average of one drag every 4.6 seconds, and an average of one dip every 0.8 seconds. Other data show one drag every 11.1 sec. and 1dip/1.9 sec. in JH; one drag every 3.3 sec. and 1dip/2.4 sec. in GD; one drag every 5.1 sec. and 1dip/1.4 sec. in AS; and one drag every 30 sec. and 1dip/1.3sec. in AMF.

These fills may be compared to the distinctive guitar fills and strums associated with Jim Snow’s guitar work on what is titled “Old Crossroads” and other recordings with his dad on Mike Seeger’s albums of Country Songs and Tunes On the Autoharp and Mountain Music on the Autoharp, both available from Smithsonian-Folkways.

The Carter Family music also had its distinctive licks, and both the dips of Kilby and the licks of the Carters affect the timing of the music and must be attended to or there will be a massive pile-up at the first intersection if you are trying to follow someone playing in the authentic style of either. I will now try to describe how the dips are executed insofar as I can tell from the video.

From the last note of any given melody line, while you maintain the same bar down as the last melody note, dip down, grabbing toward bass strings, with thumb cocked and fingers extended, then with a slight twisting motion, grab at the strings, bringing the fingers and thumb all together in almost a closed fist, as if you were trying to grab a pesky fly zooming in on your mashed potatoes at an outdoor picnic. This results in a pinch by thumb and index finger. It is not so much a strum as a pinch to inject underlying bass notes into the melody. This is on the down stroke. Drag your thumb pick back up the strings lightly and grab down again. Repeat as fast as you can, and as many times as you can within the limits of the timing framework of your tune or song in the spaces between the melody lines. Remember, be aware that anyone familiar with the music and playing with you will not know to honor your beat or two extra in between lines at first.

These characteristics and principles, “double-clutching,” keeping the notes of the harp with your voice, picking melody lead with both thumb and finger as needed, and reach-and-grab dips are a quartet of supporting techniques which are noteworthy elements to practice and master if you aspire to play in a style like unto Kilby Snow.