You know the drill sir. Keep using them until that discomfort goes away in about 2 months.
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I'm buying a banjo
- Thread starter JimmyM
- Start date
You know the drill sir. Keep using them until that discomfort goes away in about 2 months.
That sounds about right. I'm getting better at using them, but one always seems to work its way off my finger, and it's not ever the same one!
lol. Hopefully as your fingers get more used to the motions you'll be able to get away with a lighter touch.
I mean. I could be off base but that seems to be ultimately what successfully developing a new technique boils down to ime. Getting comfortable enough to delicately and precisely strike the strings rather than hamfisting.
Good advice, bro. Working on it, but still very much in the hamfist stage with the finger and thumbpicks. But every day I get slightly better, so that's what counts.lol. Hopefully as your fingers get more used to the motions you'll be able to get away with a lighter touch.
You may have mentioned already, but what kind of finger picks are you using? There are metal finger picks out there that you can bend to fit as snug as you'd like.
Sorry Matty, didn't see this till today. Dunlop Ultex large thumb pick and .018 gauge Dunlop metal fingerpicks. Figured I'd start with the old standbys first. However, I noticed this pick called the ProPik that has split bands on each side and that looks like it's a lot more comfy than the single band picks. Could be wrong, but I'm digging the look.
You're all good. It's not like I actually play banjo. I just went a googling. Some had terms like "adjustable." I'm not sure if that applies to all metal picks.
I got a set of those when I first took up lap steel. They were instrumental in helping me decide that the bare-fingered approach was where I was at.
But I don't think it was the picks' fault; they can be smooshed to your finger shape pretty easily. I just couldn't adjust my ham-fisted guitar approach to work with the very light touch you need to get the most from the picks.
But I don't think it was the picks' fault; they can be smooshed to your finger shape pretty easily. I just couldn't adjust my ham-fisted guitar approach to work with the very light touch you need to get the most from the picks.
Chiming in again without any expertise but while I was doing my quick google search for finger picks, I did read an article mentioning that some banjo players prefer their fingertips. Which, might also be a good option for a bassist moving to banjo.
Don't feel bad about any hamfisting guys.. I'm trying to work my middle finger into my slap routine and I might as well be Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse about to rip the strings out of my bass's neck.
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Unfortunately, I prefer the sound of picks on a banjo, so I'm forcing myself to get used to them.
So here I thought I had this banjo set up all nice, then I get on the internet and read that I didn't have nearly enough tension on the head when I thought it was pretty darn tight as it was. But it turns out that it sounds a lot more like a banjo "should" sound when you make the head as tight as possible, like to where the bridge makes little or no indentation.
Unfortunately, it also jacks up the action, which seems to be OK with a lot of banjo players, since Deering ships their banjos with 1/8" action on the D string at the last fret (or E if you get a 6). Not as OK with me. I can get it lower with the coordinator rod, but I can't get the lowest strings to behave, so it looks like I'll be doing a little filing. I don't mind it being a little higher than my guitars but I don't want to have to work so hard. 1/8"??? HA! Forget that!
lol.. I just found these gems from "Tiptonic" made for fingerpickin'.
I mean.. also kind of perfect if you plan on venturing into the realm of emo/goth banjo.
Is it just me or does this man's smile tell us a story?
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That Tiptonic pic is unsettling, a ball-retractor if ever there was one.
Oh, it tells the story, alright! Not a horrible idea, but man, it sounds like work just picking out what nails you should get, let alone applying them!
Well tightening up that banjo head ended up with 5 or 6 J-hooks getting messed up. I was able to attach them but it was a lot of work and involved banging them with a light hammer as I tuned. I'll see how it goes but I'm thinking it's going to need all new hooks eventually. They're all kind of crappy. Definitely not a Gold Tone or Deering, but it was cheap
Going to let it sit a couple days before I bust out the bridge file, though.
I've been working on getting the action lower in my spare time and I've got it lower, but it's still not where I want it to be. Trying to keep my bridge filing to a minimum but I have to get more aggressive on a couple strings.
So I'm a little bummed about the head hardware being so cheap that it can't stand what's considered normal tuning without popping a few j-hooks. I managed to get them all on but it was work. But that's how it goes when you cheap out on a banjo, I guess...cheap hardware, sound that's decent but not great...at least it's really light Probably going to go Gold Tone when I feel I'm ready for a 5. They're semi-local so maybe they'll let me visit.
Anyway, got a new phone with a much better camera, so here's a new glamour shot:
So I'm a little bummed about the head hardware being so cheap that it can't stand what's considered normal tuning without popping a few j-hooks. I managed to get them all on but it was work. But that's how it goes when you cheap out on a banjo, I guess...cheap hardware, sound that's decent but not great...at least it's really light
Probably going to go Gold Tone when I feel I'm ready for a 5. They're semi-local so maybe they'll let me visit.Anyway, got a new phone with a much better camera, so here's a new glamour shot:
Ya, I was checking them all out last night. It would be grand, and it looks like a decent one starts at right around that price pointLooks the part, Jimmy. But there's Gold Tone in them there hills
