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NAME="keywords" CONTENT=""><META NAME="robots" CONTENT="index,follow"><META NAME="revisit" CONTENT="30 days"><META HTTP-EQUIV="pragma" CONTENT="no-cache"><meta http-equiv="imagetoolbar" content="no"><meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE"><META HTTP-EQUIV="pragma" CONTENT="no-cache"><BASE TARGET="_top"><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> <!-- function NCyc(no) { window.open("/web/20041217110929/http://musicaviva.com/encyclopedia/lookup.tpl?topic=" + no,"lookup","width=520,height=450,scrollbars=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no,location=yes,resizable=yes"); } function Midi(url) { Window= open(url, "midi","width=100,height=100,scrollbars=no,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no,location=no,resizable=no"); } // --> </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" TYPE="text/javascript"><!-- if (top.location != self.location) top.location.replace(self.location) //--></SCRIPT></HEAD><BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFAF4"><A NAME="top"></A><H1 ALIGN="center">Basic right hand technique</FONT></H1><BR><BR><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%"><TR><TD VALIGN="top" ALIGN="center" WIDTH="90" ROWSPAN="2"><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="2" CELPPADDING="4" WIDTH="100%"><TR BGCOLOR="beige"><TD ALIGN="center"><A HREF="/web/20041217110929/http://irish-banjo.com/index.html"><BIG><B>Main page</B></BIG></A></FONT></TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="2" CELPPADDING="4" WIDTH="100%"><TR BGCOLOR="beige"><TD ALIGN="center"><A HREF="/web/20041217110929/http://irish-banjo.com/new-visitors.html"><BIG><B>New visitors</B></BIG></A></FONT></TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="2" CELPPADDING="4" WIDTH="100%"><TR BGCOLOR="beige"><TD ALIGN="center"><A HREF="/web/20041217110929/http://irish-banjo.com/buyers-guide/index.html"><BIG><B>Buyer's&nbsp;guide</B></BIG></A></FONT></TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="2" CELPPADDING="4" WIDTH="100%"><TR BGCOLOR="beige"><TD ALIGN="center"><A 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map</B></BIG></A></FONT></TD></TR></TABLE><BR><BR><TABLE BORDER="1" BGCOLOR="beige"><TR><TD><SMALL>Site last updated <FONT COLOR="green">12/09/2004</FONT>.<BR>This particular page was created <FONT COLOR="red">11/23/2003</FONT> and last updated <FONT COLOR="red">11/20/2004</FONT><HR><A HREF="/web/20041217110929/http://irish-banjo.com/sitemap-updated.html">Site updates</A></SMALL></TD></TR></TABLE></TD><TD VALIGN="top" WIDTH="16" ROWSPAN="2">&nbsp;</TD><TD VALIGN="top" WIDTH="*"><CENTER><TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="6" CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD>"The left hand is the craftsman, but it's the right hand who is the artist."<DIV ALIGN="right"><I>Anonymous Norwegian fiddler</I></TD></TR></TABLE></CENTER><BR><BR><H3 ALIGN="center">Hand position</H3>There are lots of different ways to hold your right hand when you're playing the irish banjo, but here's what players like Barney McKenna and Gerry O'Connor use:<UL><LI>Rest your little finger lightly on the banjo head close to the bridge.<LI>Rest your arm close to the wrist on the armrest.<LI>Play using your wrist, without moving the arm very much.<LI>Relax!</UL><BR><HR><H3 ALIGN="center">Picking</H3>Irish solo banjo is nearly always played with a <A HREF="/web/20041217110929/http://irish-banjo.com/instruments/equipment/pick-and-thimble.html#plectrum">pick (plectrum)</A> or a <A HREF="/web/20041217110929/http://irish-banjo.com/instruments/equipment/pick-and-thimble.html#thimble">thimble</A>. The rules for picking patterns are the same in both cases. They are also more or less the same as for rhythm playing, so if you already have read through the <A HREF="/web/20041217110929/http://irish-banjo.com/technique/accompaniment/basic-rhythm-1.html">basic rhythm playing</A> section of the site, you should already have it down pretty well. The only real difference between rhythm and solo playing is that you play only one string at the time when you play solo. Oh, usually you play solos a bit louder and perhaps faster than chords too, but those are mere details.<BR><BR><HR><H3 ALIGN="center">The importance of picking patterns</H3>I work mainly as a guitar teacher and my students often ask me what the big deal with those picking patterns really is. There are two answers to that:<OL><LI><B>Control</B><BR>Picking each note in the direction that seems best at that moment may sound like a good idea, but you soon get lost. Suddenly you don't know where the pick is in relation to the string, and either you have to stop up and check or you play a wrong note (or even miss the strings completely). When you're playing you simply don't have time to think of the basic techniques. That has to run automatically, and to achieve that you have to follow to very fundamental rules:<OL><LI>If you play the same thing twice, play it <U> exactly</U> the same way.<LI>If you play similar things, play them as similar as possible.</OL>(Btw, these two rules don't apply to irish banjo picking technique only. They are fundamental rules that apply to <U>all</U> playing techniques on <U>all</U> musical instruments.)<LI><B>Phrasing</B><BR>Downstrokes automatically gives a louder note than upstrokes. Classical musicians often spend lots of time and effort trying to eliminate this difference to get the smoothest possible playing. In traditional and folk music we don't want to do that. We want to <U>use</U> the difference musically.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;The notes in a bar are never played identically. Notes on the beat are louder than notes off the beat and notes on downbeats (that is the first and third beat in four-time) are louder than those on the upbeats (second and fourth beat). The banjo picking patterns are designed to empasize this.</OL><BR><HR><H3 ALIGN="center">Fourth notes</H3>If we play a full bar of fourth notes, the picking pattern is easy. Simply start with a downstroke and play every other note up and down:<P><IMG SRC="/web/20041217110929im_/http://irish-banjo.com/pics/pick-ex-01.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="Picking example 1"><P>(In case you wonder: the sign <IMG SRC="/web/20041217110929im_/http://irish-banjo.com/pics/downstroke.gif" BORDER="0" WIDTH="8" HEIGHT="9" ALT="Downstroke symbol"> above a note means a downstroke and the <IMG SRC="/web/20041217110929im_/http://irish-banjo.com/pics/upstroke.gif" BORDER="0" WIDTH="4" HEIGHT="9" ALT="Upstroke symbol"> means an upstroke.)<BR><BR><HR><H3 ALIGN="center">Eight notes</H3>Steady eight notes are just as simple. Again play alternating down/upsrtokes starting with a downstroke:<P><IMG SRC="/web/20041217110929im_/http://irish-banjo.com/pics/pick-ex-02.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="Picking example 2"><P><BR><BR><HR><H3 ALIGN="center">Mixed rhythms</H3>Phrases with both eight and fourth notes are a bit more complicated of course, but not much. I tend to think of them as regular eight note phrases with some notes left out. That is the hand moves as if it were playing eight notes, but sometimes it doesn't hit the string.<P>Does that make sense to you? If not, just forget what I just said and look at these examples instead:<P><IMG SRC="/web/20041217110929im_/http://irish-banjo.com/pics/pick-ex-03.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="Picking example 3"><P><IMG SRC="/web/20041217110929im_/http://irish-banjo.com/pics/pick-ex-04.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="Picking example 4"><P><IMG SRC="/web/20041217110929im_/http://irish-banjo.com/pics/pick-ex-05.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="Picking example 5"><P><IMG SRC="/web/20041217110929im_/http://irish-banjo.com/pics/pick-ex-06.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="Picking example 6"><P><IMG SRC="/web/20041217110929im_/http://irish-banjo.com/pics/pick-ex-07.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="Picking example 7"><BR><BR><HR><H3 ALIGN="center">Exceptions</H3>Of course there are always exceptions to the rules. We have <A HREF="/web/20041217110929/http://irish-banjo.com/technique/solo-playing/triplets.html">triplets</A> and music in triple time where we've got three notes on each beat. There are also times when we deliberately break the system to simplify string changes or even to achieve a special musical effect.<P>You can read all about that in the <A HREF="/web/20041217110929/http://irish-banjo.com/technique/solo-playing/picking.html">"picking" chapter</A>, but maybe we shuold leave that for now. This is supposed to be an <U>introduction</U> to the technique after all. 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