Mirek Patek from Prague, Czech Republic, presents New tenor banjo playing styles: frailing and fingerpicking Visit also www.youtube.com/user/mirekpatek

NEW	My articles at MelBay's Banjo Sessions web-zine
	December 2009 Intro to bluegrass, frailing, melodic style	February 2010 "pinch+frail" pattern	April 2010 Travis picking
	June 2010 Bluegrass rolls	August 2010 Frailing tutorial	...

1	Buy the "banjo" fingerpicks for your thumb, index, and middle finger Grow and strenghten your ring fingernail (or buy the fingernailpick) I am using plastic thumbpick, two metal fingerpicks for index and middle finger up-picking, and the plastic fingernailpick for ring fingernail down-picking (frailing).
2	Retune just one or two outer strings of your tenor banjo CGda => CGdg => DGdg (Irish GDae => GDad => ADad) The purpose of these tunings is to come close to 5-string banjo tunings so you can adopt the techniques from it. I am using most of the time the "high bass" DGdg tuning (equivalent of open G tuning gDGbd or sawmill tuning gDGcd), but for the key of C the "low bass" CGdg tuning (equivalent of standard C tuning gCGbd or double C tuning gCGcd) may sometimes work better.
3	Start to adopt the picking hand techniques from 5-string banjo, guitar or ukulele
	Frailing with thumbpick, ring fingernailpick and index fingerpick	Scruggs rolling with thumbpick, index and middle fingerpick	Travis picking with thumbpick, index and middle fingerpick	Syncopated strums with thumbpick, ring fingernailpick, and index and middle fingerpick

Not so NEW	Handouts from my workshops at Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in September 2009
	for CGdg and DGdg tuning derived from jazz CGda tuning	for GDad and ADad tuning derived from Irish GDae tuning

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Get more from your instrument! If you are flatpicking tenor banjo player, you can now easily play frailing and fingerpicking techniques without buying 5-string banjo. Retuned tenor banjo is also ideal second instrument for fingerpicking guitar player - there is no misleading thin string on bass side, so you can trade the picking patterns from guitar to banjo and back. Become the "first generation" tenor banjo fingerpicker!

About Mirek Patek Send me an e-mail

Page created July 2001 Last update July 28, 2010

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