TScottHilton - Posted - 06/15/2026:  09:09:33

About 2 years ago I really started to hate the way my 3-2 pull offs on the g string were sounding. I envied the snappy triplet-like pull offs of others. I had always played those pull offs with my middle finger, so on the advice of some old forum posts here on the hangout, I decided to see if I could make a cleaner sound with my ring finger. This made an immediate and substantial improvement. Now it's second nature.

I'd like to know how many of you use the middle vs the ring finger, if you've ever switched from one to the other, and if it made as big a difference as in my case.

RB3 - Posted - 06/15/2026:  10:00:57

I've always used my index and middle fingers. I worked long and hard to get a crisp pull-off using those fingers, and I've always been satisfied with the effect I've been able to achieve doing it that way. I was surprised when I once noticed that Jim Mills used his index and ring fingers. Questioning his choice of technique is fraught with peril, so I think either way is viable.

Will Frady - Posted - 06/15/2026:  10:07:34

I get a better pull off with my ring finger until I’m capoed at the 4th and 5th frets then I use the middle. Only because my Mitts are pretty hefty and not enough room. Overall I use the ring finger.

Laurence Diehl - Posted - 06/15/2026:  10:19:34

I used to use middle but now I do it both ways depending on the situation. Ring is probably cleaner for me because I get a better 90 degree angle to the string.
But all our hands are different, so it’s whatever works.

eagleisland - Posted - 06/15/2026:  10:35:22

I do either, and I rarely think about it with my own playing.

But when teaching this skill to students, I present both as an option. I make clear that ultimately, they should be able to do it both ways - but in my experience most newer players find they get much better snap from the pulloff if they go ring finger to index, rather than middle finger to index.

TScottHilton - Posted - 06/15/2026:  10:42:41

quote:

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Originally posted by Laurence Diehl

I used to use middle but now I do it both ways depending on the situation. Ring is probably cleaner for me because I get a better 90 degree angle to the string.

But all our hands are different, so it’s whatever works.

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I totally agree. I get a better angle with my ring finger. My middle tends to pull slightly away from the feet for whatever reason. 

Texasbanjo - Posted - 06/15/2026:  11:14:50

I usually use my ring finger because it seems to give me a better, clean, clearer sound. I sometimes use the middle, it just depends on the song, the pulloff and what comes after it.

Old Hickory - Posted - 06/15/2026:  11:40:45

I do both. But mostly middle, pulling off to to index . . . I think.

I also believe that decades ago I initially used my ring finger to pull off to middle. It was a holdover from my first guitar lessons at age 13 in which my teacher and the Mel Bay book taught index for first fret, middle for second fret, ring for third fret, and pinky for fourth. So my inclination on banjo was to use my ring finger for pull-offs and slides beginning on third fret. Can't say when I changed. But this is part of why I do both.

Pretty sure I've always slid and hammered 2 to 3 with middle, holding 2 with index.

chuckv97 - Posted - 06/15/2026:  12:50:03

I do middle to index better, but also do ring to middle, a carryover from guitar playing where I learned pinky to ring in certain situations (fifth to fourth fret, for example)

Edited by - chuckv97 on 06/15/2026 12:50:49

stanleytone - Posted - 06/15/2026:  16:03:25

Middle to index 99% of time

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 06/16/2026:  05:31:07

I first heard about this from Tony Furtado back in the 1990s. A number of my students have found it useful. I don't do it often myself because in most cases it necessitates a slightly awkward change of fingers in mid-lick.

I get my best (middle-to-index) 3-2 pulloffs when my middle finger nail is slightly too long. It's not that the nail actually touches the string; it's more that it acts like a retaining wall to stiffen the blob of flesh at the tip of the finger.

eagleisland - Posted - 06/16/2026:  06:21:09

quote:

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Originally posted by Ira Gitlin

 It's not that the nail actually touches the string; it's more that it acts like a retaining wall to stiffen the blob of flesh at the tip of the finger.

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Would never have thought of the nail as a retaining wall, although it makes sense.

That said, I'm one of those guys who's always believed that if God wanted us to have long fingernails, he wouldn't have give us teeth. 

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 06/16/2026:  06:29:16

FWIW, I think Terry Baucom--arguably the GOAT of snappy pulloffs--felt the way I do about the fingernail, though he expressed it somewhat differently. (I'd have to dig out my 1998 interview to see exactly what he said.)

Pick-A-Lick - Posted - 06/17/2026:  04:44:37

I was primarily a guitar player for decades and I use my ring finger for pull offs and push offs as well string bending (both up and down) which I often reinforce with my middle finger.

When it dawned on me that my fingerstyle guitar mechanics might easily be transferred to banjo I jumped feet first into bluegrass banjo picking and along with that came my tried and true fretboard fingering hand mechanics.

I tried using my middle finger for pulloffs but it felt ridiculously foreign. I also (generally) subscribe to the method of having the fingers of the fretting hand assigned to certain rows of frets for efficiency in motion. Example: Pointer finger is assigned to all of the strings of the first fret. Middle finger frets second row. Ring finger takes the duties of fretting third row notes including pull offs (this promotes speed as well as efficiency) etc. Pinky is a go anywhere guy.

So yeah, I’m a ring finger pull off guy.

Edited by - Pick-A-Lick on 06/17/2026 04:46:40