LH fingering.....or in John Masciale's case RH fingering

[Al Smitley]

I've been talking to a few banjoists lately about the fingers they use on the fretboard.

I've always used the index and ring finger to form the 'G' chord (Brigg's tuning).  That seems most efficient to me because you can merely put the middle finger and pinky down to get the 'C' chord and merely pick them up again to get the 'G' chord.  Same goes for the Am...just put your middle finger down and pick it up.  But I asked Tim about it and he said that he uses both methods (index and ring finger AND index and middle finger) for the 'G' chord.

I could be wrong but after viewing videos, it appears that Paul Draper, Carl Anderton, and Mark Weems and Tim Twiss (usually) use the index and ring finger.  With Leonidas Jones and Greg Adams and the last video I've seen of Strumelia, it appears they use the index and middle finger.... though my observations, in both cases, may be too limited a sampling to say for sure.

I guess I've concluded that whatever is most comfortable is probably best, but Just out of curiosity, I wonder what fingering is used by most on this site and why/what got them started with that method.  And.....let me know if I jumped to erroneous conclusions on those mentioned above.

[Al Smitley]

I guess you can tell by my photo (C chord) which method I became accustomed to.

[Paul Draper]

You're correct in my case, Al. I started using the ring finger so I could get a clean pull-off on the first string.

[Al Smitley]

.....and Pete Seeger used to hammer-on the 2nd fret of the third string a lot with his free middle finger.

His playing was what got me going in that direction.  I guess I don't see that very much in the minstrel genre.

[Leonidas (Lee) Jones]

I would never have thought of usaing the 3rd finger on B. Of course, I learned straight from Briggs, as in the 3rd of his movements, 1st finger on the 2nd string for G, 2nd finger on the 1st string for B, and 3rd finfer on the 1st for C. Atthis point, I've got this great callous built on on the 2nd finger, ann I'm now seeing good success for the pull-offs, so I guess I'll stay with it. i do use rd finger on B for an e minor chord form though.

[Al Smitley]

Yes, Lee.   I meant Em, not Am.   Even though I haven't played in the current 'C' tuning in years, I sometimes still think in those terms if I don't catch myself.

[Wes Merchant]

I normally use index and ring as well, I will use the other fingering, but I have to really think about it. So Al if you're keeping a tally put me down for 1&3, oh and Happy Birthday, I'll be the same age in couple weeks.

[Strumelia]

I'm lost.  Can somebody post a picture?

[Al Smitley]

IMG_132 is using the index and middle finger to play the 'G' chord and work off from there.

IMG_133 is using the index and   ring    finger  "     "     "     "      "        "      "       "    "         "

By "..and work off from there" I mean that, how one plays the 'G' chord might tend to effect how some other chords are played such as the 'C' , 'D7' and possibly the 'Em' and 'B7'.

[Strumelia]

Thanks Al!   I definitely use my index and middle.

What's more, I usually use my PINKY for the next step up on the first string, which I do not do when I play clawhammer.   I'm not sure why this is so...wish I could explain it.   But when I switch back and forth between strike style and clawhammer, that's one of the defining factors- it's almost like I change my whole position.

[Leonidas (Lee) Jones]

As I recall, Briggs did generally indicate 3rd finger for the C on the 1st string. However, after that, 4th finger seemed to become more common. I speculate that its due to the long scale lengths on many early banjos. I know playing double bass we play 1-2-4, since few people have hands large enough to stretch the 3rd finger. You're doing well to make a half step between 2 and 4.

[Al Smitley]

I just looked at the Briggs book and found the same thing.  I hadn't really looked at it that closely, before.

I noticed that Bob Winans was using the index and ring finger for the 'G', but then he started learning from the same book I did back in the 60s.  I wonder if the difference between playing with the index/ring or index/middle is a tendency that is parallel to genre or at least to the genre of one's first introduction to the banjo.

[Strumelia]

I think it's more about hand size.  At least, i can assure you that's why I use my pinky as per Leonidas' post above.

I didn't get that from any book- I remember at the time thinking how odd it was that my hand was so strongly wanting to use the pinky when I don't typically do that in clawhammer...but it was a no-brainer once I 'gave in' to my hand and discovered how much easier it was for me.   I do have much smaller hands than most of you fellers.