BluegrassParlor

Here is a brief introduction to Banjo technique, more detailed posts will follow.

Banjo technique, it almost strikes you as an oxymoron. For a large portion of banjo players out there technique, how they play the banjo, is not something they devote much time or effort to improving. This is really too bad because improving, or at least being aware of, how you play your instrument can pay large dividends. Paying a little attention to your right and left hands and to your posture can allow you to be more relaxed, more confident, more aware, and more musical, by removing the obstacle of poor technique and allowing more of your true ability to show through.

Banjo technique breaks down in to three different areas. Right hand, left hand and posture. Posture is the simplest but the most overlooked, while right and left hand technique are much more involved and recieve more attention, but not anywhere close to the attention they deserve.

Posture:

Lets run through posture first. This area will have the least impact on your actual playing, the main benefit here is preserving your ability to comfortably play the banjo for long picking sessions and, long term, to prevent injuries to your back, neck, wrists, and other areas.

Good banjo playing posture boils down to this: back stright, head held upright, fairly straight wrists, and relaxed everything.

Right Hand:

Banjo playing is driven by the right hand more than by the left hand to a greater degree than any other instrument, save possibly the dobro. Right hand technique affects timing, tone, volume, stamina, comfort and almost any other aspect of banjo playing one could name. This greater emphasis on the right hand means that anything that can be done to improve right hand technique will greatly benefit our overall playing. I can not count the number of students I have encountered who had previously taken lessons from other fine banjo instructors that had never had any substinative disscusion of their right hand technique. Often times problems with their right hand technique were directly causing problems with their playing that they were hoping to improve upon. In my experience, many instructors approach technique, if they spend any time on it at all, as something that is highly variable from one student to the next lacking any right or wrong. I taught this way for many years when I started teaching but as I have seen more students and had time to reflect on this aspect of banjo playing I have come to believe that there is such a thing as good technique, this technique can be identified and defined, and most importantly students can learn and benefit from this attention to technique.

Good right hand technique boils down to this; ring and pinky fingers resting lightly on the head, picks default position should be within 1/2 inch of the strings, finger motion should be as efficient and minimal as is possible and your hands, wrists, and forearm should be as realxed as possible.

Left Hand:

Left hand technique is an area that has much in common with other stringed instruments, unlike the right hand. The guitar, banjo, and mandolin, among others, all use the left hand in bassically the same way. The neck width, sting count and scale length all vary but the same rules apply to all the instruments. On the plus side this means there is a lot of very good information out there about left hand technique. Unfortunately, many banjo players do not bother to take advantage of this information or think that somehow it does not apply to the banjo.

Good left hand technique boils down to this: thumb rest on the back of the neck, fingers curve evenly around the neck, fingertips hover within 1 inch of the strings when not actively fretting a note, place finger centered on string as close to fret as possible, press down with the fingertips as lightly as possible while still producing a celan note, only push back with the thumb enough to counteract the pressure form fingertips, and as always be relaxed.