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There are three major ways of playing
the banjo:
STROKE TECHNIQUES
The down picking taught in Minstrel Banjo method books
seems to be the earliest known five string banjo playing
technique and to have originated in Africa. A down
stroke by the nail of the picking hand index finger
on the first, second or third string, followed by
the thumb striking down on the fifth string in the
rhythm figure
is the basic movement. Two down strokes, followed
by the thumb on the fifth string, form the rhythm .
The “drop thumb” sequence of eighth notes
forms a flow .
This same technique has been dubbed “clawhammer”
or “single note drop-thumb frailing”,
or in Pete Seeger’s words, “double-thumbing
while you’re frailing” and is a staple
of traditional and contemporary Old Time banjo downpicking
technique. Frailing is another term to describe down
picking stroke technique, and the second downstrike
will often be a strum over two or more strings.
“Up Picking”, which Pete Seeger calls
“the Basic Strum”, forms the same
rhythm, but starts with picking up usually on the
first, second or third string, then a brush down with
the ring finger over at least two strings, and lastly,
as in down picking, the thumb picking down on the
fifth string.
Whether down picking or up picking, the stroke styles
are distinguished by repeated movement of the picking
hand.
Perhaps five string fingerstyle banjo was borrowed
from classical guitar techniques, yet the origin and
precise date of finger picking on the banjo is unknown.
Finger picking is alluded to as early as the 1860’s
in banjo methods, and was strongly emphasized by the
Dobsons in their method books for urban banjoists.
Fingerstyle is characterized by the use of the thumb
picking down on any of the five strings, along with
the index and middle fingers picking up. The ring
finger is sometimes used, but infrequently. The “three
finger” picking techniques are used for urban
classic fingerstyle banjo music, rural Old Time music
and in bluegrass music, and by jazz and classical
banjoists.
Two finger picking (sometimes called
“double thumbing”) is common in rural
Old Time music, and there are techniques employing
the ring finger as in classical guitar. Billy Faier
is the only player I know of who uses all five fingers
to fingerpick in some of his music and compositions,
but undoubtedly there are others.
Another category of fingerstyle
is the tremolo (from “trembling” or “wavering”,
a very rapid repetition of a note or alternation of
two notes), accomplished in several ways either by
rapid oscillation of a finger striking up and down
on one or more strings, or by classical guitar methods.
The effect is to sustain notes and their duration,
much as in flatpicking or plectral techniques.
Probably borrowed from mandolin techniques, plectral
banjo playing makes use of a plectrum, or flat pick.
The plectrum and tenor banjos commonly have four strings.
A thimble, a short cylinder which fits most often
over the index finger picking with the end for picking
cut at an angle, somewhat like a finger pick, was
and is used by Americans and some Celtic musicians.
Flat picks or thimbles pick downward and upward on
one or more strings. In plectral banjo techniques,
single notes, many rhythmic strums, cross string patterns,
trills and tremolos are used.
Below is a chart showing the many playing techniques,
and the terms used to describe them.
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