I just bought a banjo and I desperately want to learn how to play it, but it’s going to be a couple weeks until I get lessons lined up. In the meantime, I want to practice a few rolls and whatnot to get my fingers limbered up. But - what’s the right way to pick the strings? Do you always pluck them from top to bottom, or can it vary? Do you wear two or three finger picks (not counting the thumb pick)? I noticed the picks have a smooth side and a not-smooth side; I assume the smooth side is always the side you want touching the string.
Thank you for this thread. I won a nice five-string banjo in a poker game a few years ago and since then I have wanted to learn how to play. And thanks also goes to Ice Wolf for the link.
Well, I must be a “gentleman” because I can play my 5-string banjo, but rarely do anymore. I used to work with a professional banjoist, and he got me up to doing “Cripple Creek”, and that’s about where I stopped.
I think it was Earl Scruggs who, when asked what the basics of banjo instruction were, said “Keep pickin’ till you find something you like. Repeat 10000 times.”