Alternate Fingering...continued

[thereallyniceman]

My original post seems to have disappeared but: 

It was interesting to hear Jody's comments in reply to my post mentioning Rob's repetition of the same finger on one string in one of his videos. I was amazed to see that Rob made it look and sound so easy and was interested to see if others stuck to the "traditional" way or used repeats with the same finger as Rob does.

The fact that Rob made it sound and look so smooth "his way"  made me question whether I should stick to what I was taught, using alternate fingering wherever possible (with the exception of repeats using the thumb) or concentrate on trying a "new" (to me, that is) method. Van Eps was insistent that HIS "alternating" way was the only way to get the desired speed, but Rob has disproved that. 

I agree with Marc S that on many occasions the fingering on the score just does not seem to work in a way that the fingers tell you they should...so perhaps a rethink for me, is in order.

 

Oh what fun classic style banjo playing is... always something to worry about!  :-)

[Jody Stecher]

I think Van Eps argued that his method allowed him to increase his own speed which was already rapid before he adopted his own new method. Did he also say that pieces played at moderate speed need to be played by everyone with always alternating and always "clockwise" ("forward roll")?  I guess he might have but if he did, much of his own recorded output would be invalidated. Anyway I've never seen a Standard Hand on a human being. Each player has different proportions and different strengths so sometimes adjustments to playing position and technique need to be made. I have seen more than my share of classical guitarists and violinists who have injured themselves by playing "correctly" instead of using gravity in place of muscle. It just occurs to me now that to date I have never seen a banjo related injury. Well, not to the player. I was walloped upside the head with the peghead of prewar mastertone when I was 17 and it almost knocked me down. There was a recent case of a man in Indiana beating his wife with his banjo and wasn't there a 19th century banjo assault that was recently discussed here?