Comment by Jody Stecher on June 14, 2026 at 21:42

This is the first rendition of Bach I've heard on banjo that I've liked. For once it doesn't seem like a gimmick or a mismatch. It just works.  Well done!

Comment by Trapdoor2 on June 14, 2026 at 23:30

Steven, what a delight!

I remember waking up one morning in 1992 at the Tennessee Banjo Institute and walking over to the Lodge. I could hear the Gavotte being played inside. I opened the door and John Bullard was sitting in front of the fireplace playing all by himself. I sat down near him and got a personal concert. I think he was playing a Gibson clone. He played several Bach pieces.

Here's him doing the Prelude:

https://youtu.be/R4pACCHg2Hw?si=v9hEkZPOCl_r-KpY

Comment by Jody Stecher on June 15, 2026 at 1:36

The Bullard Prelude is —obviously – very well done, but for my taste the long sustain and natural echo of the banjo setup does not cooperate with the music well.  Classic banjo setup and non-metallic strings does the job better I think. The playing itself is superb. Better than I could do.

Comment by Steven Watson on June 15, 2026 at 12:21

Thanks both! Bach like this, the pieces that dance more, seem to work especially well on these banjos. I've been looking at a Chopin nocturne transcription by Farland (not the famous nocturne!) and it's not working for me at the moment. It perhaps requires tremolo on the melody, but so far the technique defeats me...

Comment by Jody Stecher on June 15, 2026 at 13:19

For single finger tremolo every teacher, printed tutor, and tradition I have encountered prescribes the index finger. It doesn't work for me. It is awkward at best, painful at worst. But if I use the middle finger there are no problems. 

Alternating finger tremolo is somewhere between for me, but I stick to middle finger. It ain't broke so I don't try to fix it.

Maybe it'll work for you.

Comment by Steven Watson on June 16, 2026 at 16:42

Thanks Jody, I'll give the middle finger a try, as it were. I don't experience pain or awkwardness, it just sounds bad. Especially as the back of the nail and the fingertip have such different sounds -- it sounds uneven as I strike up and down.

Comment by Joel Hooks on June 16, 2026 at 18:49

Having long fingernails, modern classical guitar school style, will likely produce an uneven tone.  I expect that there is a good reason why the Spanish guitar version of tremolo, alternating ring, middle and index, took control post Segovia and nails.  American Spanish guitar books (pre Segovia) teach tremolo the same as banjo tremolo. 

Doug Back found a workaround for guitar nails, he would tremolo the same way as one would with a pick only using his nails.  Pinch the index and the thumb together, strike down with the index nail and up with the thumb nail. Back and forth.  This is what you hear him doing on his recordings.  I don't think you will be able to play duo style.  

Somehow the zither banjoists could tremolo with nails like Oakley.  But reading Cammeyer's book, the nails are still quite short compared to the post WW2 school of classical guitar.

With that said, I do not see why the Spanish style tremolo should not work just fine on banjo.  I have played around with the idea, but I don't have long nails and I think it was slowing me down.  To be fair, I did not spend that much time with it. 

Comment by Steven Watson on June 16, 2026 at 20:07

Joel, I should clarify that I play without nails on both guitar and banjo. The unevenness is from the fact that the upstroke of the tremolo is with flesh alone, while the downstroke uses the back of the nail. I wondered if perhaps the nail is supposed to be avoided entirely, but with my index finger it is nigh impossible to avoid the nail on the downstroke.

Comment by Jody Stecher on June 16, 2026 at 23:08

I have 2 thoughts.

If you hold the tremolo finger parallel to the vellum and perpendicular to the string it is going to be awkward and the difference in sound between down and up will be extreme. If when playing tremolo you don't change the position of this finger from when you are normally plucking the strings —which is parallel and perpendicular to nothing — the tone will be better and the difference in sound between the two directions will be less.

and

I would suggest not focussing on the difference in sound between down and up at first. It's more extreme on a mandolin which has double courses. The downstroke strikes 2 strings and the upstroke strikes only one. And yet mandolin players get it to sound good. It's only one string on a banjo.  

Comment by IAN SALTER on June 17, 2026 at 5:15

Steven,

If you haven't already done so, read the tremolo instructions on p.58 of Herbert J Ellis' 'Advanced School' tutor book and also, the use of finger tips and nails in the instructions for the right hand on p.10.

On p.43 of the Barnes & Mullins 'Banjo School', you will find a comprehensive chapter on tremolo playing; it is worth noting the right hand instructions on p.11 and the illustrations, all of which feature a zither banjo.

Both are in the Banjo Tutor Books section of this forum.

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