A question for you guys from a newby - when you are playing 2 finger how many of you anchor with one of your fingers on the head? Having played a bit of fingerstyle and classic guitar I can't really see the point of this as it restricts the movement of the hand and the other fingers. It also stops you moving your hand towards either the neck or bridge to alter the tone as you play.
8 Comments |
 | majikgator says:
8/21/2011 9:50:17 AM
i do lightly and no it doesn't restrict my hand placement, the idea is not to press into the head you just somply lift and move the "anchor". Feel free to not do this, there are no rules but you may want to try it on banjo or even on guitar, a lot of great pickers do. Index lead players of the Pete Seeger ilk play free hand as a must. Also remember that classical guitar and OT banjo are very, very diffrerent both from a right and very much from a left hand standpoint. For two finger thumb lead i would very much encourage you to be able to do it before abandoning it.
There are a numer of classical guiatrist playing clawhammer style banjo and boy does it sound like it, a banjo should sound like a banjo for my ear. It may not be as bad to apply this idea to picking banjo as opposed to frailing(right hand wise at least), But at this stage of my playing, i'll leave that one up to you.
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 | raharris says:
8/21/2011 11:36:58 AM
Free fingers are the goal, and anchoring is a bad habit to get into. It's all too easy to start anchoring, rather more difficult to get out of the bad habit; like smoking, it's something I wish I'd never started! But I've been off cigs almost two decades now, so maybe someday I'll be able to stop anchoring -
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Bowyer says:
8/21/2011 12:27:31 PM
thanks guys- i find it natural not to anchor I have to work at it to do it. I know you can play the banjo any way you want but wanted some ideas of the pluses and minuses of different techniques
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 | Pluckin Mutha says:
8/21/2011 3:07:34 PM
Like "Gator", I rest my little and ring finger lightly on the head.
I have no difficulty moving from near the fingerboard to nearer the bridge for different tonal effects.
I think anchoring helps to accurately hit the strings with the thumb, and my middle finger which occassionaly moves to the second string.
Mutha
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| majikgator says:
8/21/2011 5:13:16 PM
i should have added that playing without the "anchor" seems very natural to me playing classical style with three fingers and a thumb, not quite as well but OK with two fingers and a thumb and down right awkward for two finger thumb lead, but that's me. i see no advantage whatsoever in playing freehand as unStrung seems to think of as an ambition, i started that way the anchor came later.
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 | blindsniper says:
8/22/2011 11:42:04 PM
When I started learning Bluegrass, I tried to anchor my pinky. I gave up. Right or wrong, I am not doing it for 2F or BG. maybe this will change when I set up my banjo for lower string action.
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kevinwholmes says:
9/12/2011 4:40:46 PM
I wouldn't say I anchor my pinky and ring finger on the head, it just seemed natural for me to put them there, but it does seem to provide a natural reference point for picking and brushing (strumming) so my picking hand doesn't wander and produce unwanted change in tone. If the piece seems to require it I will sometimes move or pick with those fingers.
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stigandr5 says:
9/19/2011 4:32:39 AM
I seem to hear and see many old timers lifiting their free fingers regularly in order to tap rhythm while they're picking. A good example of this is Roscoe Holcomb's "Little Birdie" video played on Pete Seeger's TV show.
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