This is the banjo. That is the 5th string right there. There are some slight differences between different banjos but they basically all have a head, the rim, neck, the frets, the knot, the bridge (Banjo playing). When you hold the banjo, you wanted to have it sit right in the middle. You do not want to set it off to the side or anything like that.
We have it in the middle and usually, it is a good idea to have a strap, so you do not have to think about holding a banjo in that gap with your left hand (Banjo playing). Then, there are picks, we have two metal finger picks and a plastic thumb pick. The thumb pick goes on like that and the picks go on like that, there you have it. They go into an opposite side from your fingernails (Banjo playing).
First thing we will talk about is, just how to hold your right hand. So, just sit about like this (Banjo playing) not too far down, not drop too far and not reaching up. People are usually in trouble by a set in the hands so they can see there picks that goes from both hands and that ends up causing you to have your banjo in your and funny angles.
Your hand should have just about an angle like this to it. I think I am having the strings in my hands, your hands should have a nice round shape to it like this and just bring it around, and you open it up. The best way to place your hand is to have these two fingers resting head. All the legends that defies string banjo, play that way and it seems to work the best (Banjo playing).
What happens with most people is as soon as they open there hand up and start placing their fingers on the strings, the first thing that happens is, their thumb jumps up and their hand flattens out. At first, you just need to do what you can do to play the strings (Banjo playing) like hit the right string. But later, you want to try and get your hand into this round shape.
It is not something that you will be able to do right off the back but there is something to keep in my mind (Banjo playing). So, that is a little bit something about the right hand. Place it pretty close to the bridge, not too far up here for just basic playing.
Sometimes you want to play up here and you get certain effects and (Banjo playing) get a nice sounds of the neck, quite large (Banjo playing) you want to hand down by the bridge. But do not grab under the bridge (Banjo playing) that is something to watch out for. Let us just try playing some single notes with our thumb (Banjo playing). The thumb will be playing on the (Banjo playing) 5th string, 4th string, and the 3rd string. The index uneven on the 2nd string (Banjo playing) the thumb can play anything. That is the place to be there (Banjo playing).
The index will be playing most sound on the 2nd string and the 3rd string (Banjo playing). The fingers strike the strings in upward motion; the thumb strikes the strings in a downward motion. This is all pretty rudimentary for people who have already played some on the banjo (Banjo playing) as there is a lot of things that we are going to talk about here, but it is good to think about it anyway, you might find some new information anyway.
With the left hand, you can place your fingers just behind the fret, really close to the fret (Banjo playing). Without placing your fingers and you will get the open strings but by placing your fingers, you get an extra note (Banjo playing). That is how the string works in general.
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