Lifting off the knee

[David Barnert]

Here, Alistair is playing in a duo with the banjo-picker, who is not exactly as stiff as a statue either!

Slight off-topic quibble, here. You're also a banjo player (I've just had a look at your web page), so you should know that in the video, Dan Walsh is not picking but frailing. You pick with the pad of the finger (and from the pictures on your page, it looks like that's how you play) but you frail by throwing the back of the finger (usually the middle finger) across the string, letting the nail slide off the string, setting it in motion. Another common word for "frailing" is "clawhammer."

[wes]

Yes, i totally agree with a previous reply to my tongue-in-cheek post. In the Tony O'Connell clip i posted, all the movement of his body (i believe) adds to the emotion and outpouring of joy his interpretation gives. It wouldn't be or sound the same with out it. I think most of the good players (of any instrument) use their body to express themselves in the music or as we say, "become one with the music". maybe lifting the box does add a change in timbre, i'm not sure. now moving it around in the air as Alistair does, most surely.

[Anglo-Irishman]

Slight off-topic quibble, here. You're also a banjo player (I've just had a look at your web page), so you should know that in the video, Dan Walsh is not picking but frailing. You pick with the pad of the finger (and from the pictures on your page, it looks like that's how you play) but you frail by throwing the back of the finger (usually the middle finger) across the string, letting the nail slide off the string, setting it in motion. Another common word for "frailing" is "clawhammer."

 

David,

Thanks for the off-topic terminology clarification. Now we'll be able to use more precise banjo terminology here on Cnet!

 

Yes, Dan's hand position is definitely a frailing position, but he's wise enough to pick occasionally when the situation calls for it - e.g. in the intro. I was using "banjo picker" as a generic term, less high faluting than "banjoist" and probably more comprehensible to non-banjoists than "banjo frailer" or "clawhammerer!"

 

To be precise, I play "finger style" AKA "gutiar style" or "classic style", using my finger-nails and the side of my thumb. It's not typical "picking," because I'm more melody-driven, and tend not to use hard and fast licks, and use downstrokes occasionally. I do use licks for simple accompaniments, though.

 

Cheers,

John