Tone bar

[Austin]

I recently took a lesson from Douglas Back and let me just say he is an amazing teacher who fixed my posture and he has a thing called a tone bar that allows him to plant his pinky while keeping his wrist up. Currently I don't think I could do it very accurately without that kind of thing that raises what you can plant on by a few centimeters. Then again maybe it's just new so it's a little difficult for me to correct since I've only been doing it for a small amount of time. Does anyone have any advice or know how to get a tone bar?

[Joel Hooks]

The "Hartnett Tone Bar" was a finger rest gizmo invented and patented by D. E. Hartnett.

There were two patents, one was produced, one was not.

First patent (not produced) https://patents.google.com/patent/US896826A/

Second patent (this was produced) https://patents.google.com/patent/US914660A/

These quickly became a fad, and can be seen on many photos of banjoists from around the 1908-1910 time.

While I like these, and think they look cool, I would recommend working on good form and not relying on finger rest gizmos. If your banjo uses a 1/2" bridge then this is not going to make that big a difference.  

Doug is a fantastic banjoist, but he is primarily a guitarist. As such (from my observation) he plays with fingernails in the Segovia school of guitar playing.  This uses a very different hand position than what classic banjoists typically use (or guitarists pre Segovia). 

Try not to let this sort of stuff distract you.  Ossman, Van Eps, Farland, Eno, etc, got along just fine without Hartnett tone bars.

It is easy to convince yourself that there is some other "thing" you need that will solve all your problems.  It is pretty much never true. A poor craftsman blames his tools. 

[Austin]

Yes Doug uses nails and plants a little differently however I like the idea of this posture a lot better as it enables me to play faster and more accurately. Gotcha I won't let something like that get in the way. Although I kind of realize how stupid my goal is if I have no ability to achieve it, but that's neither here nor there. 

Joel Hooks said:

The "Hartnett Tone Bar" was a finger rest gizmo invented and patented by D. E. Hartnett.

There were two patents, one was produced, one was not.

First patent (not produced) https://patents.google.com/patent/US896826A/

Second patent (this was produced) https://patents.google.com/patent/US914660A/

These quickly became a fad, and can be seen on many photos of banjoists from around the 1908-1910 time.

While I like these, and think they look cool, I would recommend working on good form and not relying on finger rest gizmos. If your banjo uses a 1/2" bridge then this is not going to make that big a difference.  

Doug is a fantastic banjoist, but he is primarily a guitarist. As such (from my observation) he plays with fingernails in the Segovia school of guitar playing.  This uses a very different hand position than what classic banjoists typically use (or guitarists pre Segovia). 

Try not to let this sort of stuff distract you.  Ossman, Van Eps, Farland, Eno, etc, got along just fine without Hartnett tone bars.

It is easy to convince yourself that there is some other "thing" you need that will solve all your problems.  It is pretty much never true. A poor craftsman blames his tools. 

[Joel Hooks]

I'd rather play slow or moderate and keep time than play fast and not.

[Austin]

Yes that's also what he told me. He compared it to an ancient Greek Olympic athlete who would carry a calf on his shoulder throughout the town and as time went on the calf would get heavier and he would grow with it. So basically I start with a slow tempo maybe about 50% of what it should be and then work my way up

Joel Hooks said:

I'd rather play slow or moderate and keep time than play fast and not.