Comment by marc dalmasso on December 20, 2014 at 13:08

tryin to play without anchoring ;;;; gggrrrrr

Comment by thereallyniceman on December 21, 2014 at 12:34

The question is.... pourquoi?

I have tried in the past and found it very awkward when I don't rest my little finger. I don't think that Bill Ball's sound was any better by not resting, but perhaps it is only my ears that don't detect a difference between resting or not resting?

 I always think that dirty marks on the vellum make it look as though you have been practising really hard!

So, I guess that if it was good enough for Ossman, Van Eps, TBj  et. al...  it is good enough for me :-)

Comment by Trapdoor2 on December 21, 2014 at 14:28

There's something odd about me and the way I learn things. I decided to try playing "in the air" and found it not particularly difficult (even after 20 yrs of solid "pinky plant bluegrass"). I learned "Berkeley March" while I was experimenting with the technique.

It is the only tune I tried it on...and now I have a hard time playing it with my pinky planted!

However, I no longer worry about whether it is there or not. I think that little bit of "one tune training" sort of freed up my RH and sometimes I find myself playing out in the air, esp. if there are bass string solos.

Comment by thereallyniceman on December 21, 2014 at 14:46

Funny you should mention that Marc.

I used to press so hard that I ended up with a flat little finger end! Nowadays I float about a bit, when relaxed,( ie. when not in front of a video camera!) and in bass solos my hand too some times becomes airborne.

Comment by Trapdoor2 on December 21, 2014 at 16:07

In my first training sessions, my instructor insisted I plant both ring and pinky (because "that's the way Earl did it"). He recommended wrapping them together with rubber bands or tape until they would stay planted by themselves.

Frankly, it was painful. My middle finger would not hit the strings without a sharp pain from between the ring and middle. Fortunately, I was old enough (and independent enough) to stop the torture after a week or two and tell him to stuff it...which didn't phase him a bit. He simply shrugged and we stopped worrying about it. 

Ya gotta find your own way sometimes.

Comment by marc dalmasso on December 22, 2014 at 9:18

cannot   say in English ; i hope Mike can translate this :

Dommage qu 'il y ait eu un " trou " dans la période de mode du banjo classique ; les anciens sont morts sinon nous aurions eu plus de témoignages ; maintenant ; il faut tout re-découvrir

Bien sur , jouer avec le petit doigt posé sur la peau ( voire les 2 comme je fais en bluegrass ) est plus précis ; mais je me suis aperçu que c 'est aussi plus fatiguant ; fatiguant dans le sens sujet à apporter des crampes à la main et aussi dans l 'avant bras , en ce qui me concerne dumoins , et aussi un raidissement qui fatigue à la longue quand on veut jouer longtemps et donc une perte de précision sur les phrasés .  J 'ai commencé à compenser ceci en lachant de temps en temps la pression de mon petit doigt sur la peau et maintenant j 'en suis arrivé à  essayer de temps en temps à faire le contraire , ç à d , jouer " in the air " et reposer le petit doigt en cours de phrasé .  je suis en période de transition mais je ne sais pas encore si j 'arriverai à jouer comme ça . Quant au banjo que je joue , c 'est un Windsor que je ne joue pas habituellement  ; les traces noires sur le vellum , ce n 'est pas moi qui les ai faites

Comment by thereallyniceman on December 22, 2014 at 9:47

Hi Marc,

I had an attempt at translating (with the help of our friend Google):

(I don't understand dumoins..anyone help?)

Too bad there is a "hole" missing in the history of the period of classical banjo playing. The original players have died otherwise we would have had more evidence; right now we must re-discover.

 

Of course, playing with the little finger on the skin (or even 2 as I do in bluegrass) is more accurate; but I realised that it's also more tiring; tiring as it causes cramps in hand and also in the forearm, in my case "DUMOINS?", and also a stiffening after playing a long time and therefore a loss of precision in phrasing.

 

I've started to compensate for this by occasionally dropping the pressure of my little finger on the skin and now I am trying to play "in the air" and resting a finger being phrasing.

 

 I am in transition, but I do not know yet if I will continue to play like that. As for the banjo that I play, it's a Windsor I do not usually play. The black marks on vellum were not made by me!

You may well be correct that cramps and stiffening are caused by pressure on the fixed finger. I get these pains too but put them down to old age!

I hope that your experiment works... please let us know as aching elbows, sore tendons and stiff fingers can be a real problem for me.

Comment by marc dalmasso on December 22, 2014 at 13:27

yes ; it 's what i wanted to explain ; Thx Ian

Dumoins : at least

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