Wow. You guys are too kind!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean R Gray
...Tell me about your right hand approach, it seems you use the thumb and middle finger combination a lot more than thumb and index. How did you come to that decision, or has it evolved naturally over time?
The more I play the more I realise that the right hand really shapes our sound, and I am always interested in other peoples' approach...
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Yeah, I do favor my middle finger over my first finger. Merle Travis, as many know, ONLY used his first finger and thumb (As did John Jackson and others).
I tend to use my first finger for third and fourth string stuff and the occasional syncopated beat. My middle finger really just feels more natural.
I probally kind of ended up playing that way from two things:
1) Learning early on from others the old time way of playing (Sometimes called "Frailing the Guitar" or "thumb lead".) This is how Mother Maybelle Carter played (which was also her approach to AutoHarp). Basically the Thumb plays the melody, while the two fingers down stroke the back of the nails combined with upstrokes of the fingers for rythmn and sometimes offbeat notes. (I hardly am able to play that way anymore as I haven't practiced it in a long time!)
2) I used to play Clawhammer Style Banjo. There is lots online about clawhammer, so I won't explain it here. But, it relies heavy on right hand brushes with the back of the middle finger nail punctuated with up "plucks" of the index finger with rythmic droning from the thumb.
I allways played Alternating bass/Travis style, the above just influenced it a lot.
Try a lot of stuff, but in the end use what works for you.
I believe that for this style of playing the righthand is like 90% of the technique.