DESCRIPTION:
Hello Banjo folks!!.....Some of my students have asked me to post a few of my playing techniques. The last time I posted anything here on Youtube I got a lot of hits. Unfortunately, they were all to the face and now I must avoid showing anything above the shoulders. Not pretty folks....Really, it's just that I'm so low tech I can never get the darn camera set up right. I hope to get better.......Here, I demonstrate a few right hand techniques that you all might like to try. I'm not trying to show how to play the song just show how the techniques can be used. I sometimes refer to these techniques as melody driven where the thumb and or index finger follows the melody while the other strings (notes) are kinda like fillers or support sounds. Similar to what a dulcimer player does where the melody is played on one string and the other strings act as harmonic drones but have little to do with the basic melody. I hope you'll see what I mean. Of course, some of these techniques, can be used to play more advanced melody lines, like note for note stuff. I hope to show this in a subsequent video where an index lead style can be used instead of clawhammer to play a melodic claw-hammer tune. Most tabs in frailing, or melodic style, can be played with index lead. ....This is for folks who already have some experience on the banjo. The tuning here is GCGCC (5, 4 3, 2, 1)
I teach here in Arlington Virginia since 1968, Been playing since 1961. If you wish to contact me I can be reached at: banjodaddy@hotmail.com