Tenor Banjo: Intermediate to Advanced
Developing Your Right Hand Technique Lesson 6

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Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Mandolin Lesson: Developing Right Hand Technique
by Mickey Cochran
Copyright© 2003 Mickey Cochran

In my many years of playing, I've found that the most critical point of reference on tenor banjo is the "picking hand"...a few of the many questions that arise include: how to wield the pick for optimal performance, whether to use a loose wrist or a stiff forearm, where to pick the strings for the most appropriate tonal quality, and what would be the best pick size and gauge? Following are some of the highlights of my discoveries on my mando journey:

1. On a Natural Relaxed Tone: A loose wrist serves better than a stiff forearm approach. Keep in mind, most accomplished players use the relax wrist approach. That is not to say that there's a right or wrong way. For a smooth easy going flow of notes, the relaxed wrist seems to be the answer. A stiff forearm will perpetuate itself through the notes that are being played. It just doesn't seem to come through as sounding relaxed. Notwithstanding, when playing a tremolo (a rapid succession of notes), I've found that a stiff forearm works well. Over the years, I've experimented with both a stiff forearm and the wrist...I certainly can play with lots of speed with the stiff forearm, no wrist action, approach...only, the tonal quality and feel are somewhat compromised (unless used within special application such as tremolos or if you're looking for that particular effect). I now use a combination loose wrist and slight forearm movement while anchoring my finger on the face of the instrument (for anchoring see number 6).

2. On Flatpick Choices: Medium to Thick Gauge picks are the only way to go...Thin picks just slap the strings and seem to relinquish control in your picking. The thicker the pick, the truer the tone...the thinner the pick, the more the tone comes from the pick (instead of the instrument's natural voice). Dimensional size of pick would be personal preference...principally, there are three sizes: tiny teardrop, standard teardrop and large triangular. Of these three, I've personally found the larger triangular pick to be most comfortable. Having more surface of the pick striking the string seems to bring out more tonal presence...with a larger pick, you can push the limits of striking the string with lots of surface without sacrificing the area necessary to have a solid grip.

3. On Speed and Volume: When speeding up the alternating pick strokes, volume seems to always diminish. The best way to hedge up against this inversely proportionate phenomena is to:

1. a. Always listen closely to the dynamic range and try to retain an even volume whether playing slow or fast.
2. b. Always use a medium to thick pick to retain a consistent volume.
3. c. When necessary, use force with the picking hand to ensure a solid presence in volume.
4. d. Use medium gauge strings instead of light gauge.
5. e. Use more of the pick surface when striking the string...as opposed to a minimal surface...sometimes this will slow you down, even so, with practice, the speed will soon be easily accomplished; the volume will not diminish as quickly as using a small part of the pick surface.
6. f. Be careful not to play closer to the fingerboard as your speed increases. The closer you play to the fingerboard, the less projection and volume. Adding speed, in combination with moving your picking hand closer to the fingerboard, will only amplify the diminished volume.
   

4. On proper position of the pick: Holding the pick with the side of the index finger, as the index curves under the pick, while placing the thumb on top of the pick seems to be the most natural pick position. This way the hand movement, up and down, is perpendicular (at a direct right angle) to the horizontal plane of the strings. And, there isn't the transient sound that's encountered when the pick is not at a right angle to the string during its attack. For instance, if you hold the pick with the tip of the fingers (index and middle), the pick angle is no longer perpendicular to the string's plane (unless you arch your wrist). This works well on an electric; however, it doesn't seem to work well on acoustic tenor banjos where the wound strings, against the edge of the pick, may cause a scraping sound.

5. On supporting the picking hand #1: Bracing the wrist on the back of the bridge seems to add a solid support...unfortunately, the drawback is that it's difficult to jump quickly between strings. The positive side: you will be forced to use nothing but wrist action. This position is a great exercise to focus the wrist movement, however, I wouldn't recommend it as a permanent hand position since there's a limitation in jumping from string to string.

6. On supporting the picking hand #2: Supporting the hand with the little finger on the pickguard, or face of the instrument, seems to offer a solid support without sacrifice of not being able to jump from larger string intervals. I personally use this position quite often...and have found it to allow me to add syncopations that seem far more difficult with a floating hand. The drawback: transient sounds occur from the anchored little finger hitting and scraping on the face of the instrument.

7. On the floating picking hand: The floating hand this is the most practical position...no limitation on reaching the strings, no transient noise (as long as you're holding your pick at a perfect right angle to the string plane), total freedom of movement and the easiest method to combine both forearm and wrist to the picking action.

8. An essential tool: I'd have to say that an investment in a metronome could be critical to developing a solid picking hand. The metronome will assist you in measuring your progress along with ensuring that your meter and timing is unfailing.

9. On Crosspicking: I sincerely believe that crosspicking is one of the best exercises in developing a solid picking hand. Crosspicking involves lots of arpeggios forcing your picking hand to become well acquainted with jumping over and measuring distances between strings. Additionally, crosspicking seems to be more demanding in that it focuses the picking hand on developing picking accuracy...especially since there is very little margin for error. When picking out a crosspicking pattern, each string has to be picked in consecutive order...if the aim is off, the entire pattern, or song, becomes off center. Whereas, when flatpicking on one string at a time, it's far easier to regroup and find your place. Additionally, crosspicking melodies teaches you how to gain independence in accenting particular notes within the pattern...which is completely random and allows you to separate the "by rote" tendencies flatpickers can fall prey to. Therefore, I highly recommend developing your picking hand through as many crosspicking exercises as possible.

10. On using dynamics: What are dynamics? Defined in Webster as: "the variation and contrast in force or intensity." Oddly enough, this seems to be where many fall short...it doesn't matter whether you're picking on bluegrass, jazz or rock, dynamics establish the essence of the song. Varying the volume from pick stroke to pick stroke, depending on what the song dictates, or how you personally interpret the piece, is most critical to establishing the mood and feel. I'm sure you've heard your share of machine gun flatpicking...fun to listen to, however, it seems to start to drone like an auditorium class lecturer. No matter how fast or slow, without volume inflections, interest wanes quickly. I will always subscribe to: it's not about speed; it's about music. All effective songs communicate with interesting dynamics that contribute to the message being conveyed. The message within an instrumental setting, of course, can be quite abstract in that it might be a certain mood of grandeur, sadness, elatedness, or even cosmic awareness...of which cannot be communicated vocally. In light of this, my ultimate suggestion for number 10 is to carefully listen to your attack and determine:

1. a. Does the choice of accents (emphasis on certain notes) contribute or take away from the song's communication?
2. b. Can I attain a lyrical quality, as I choose my accenting, with my picking hand, that sounds natural and integral to the song's feel?
3. c. Am I focusing on allowing the song to breathe with my choice of note accents?
   

Focusing on dynamics, in my personal view, would be of the utmost consideration. I believe, if you're focusing on dynamics, during the developmental picking stages, you will be miles ahead of yourself in gaining a playing prowess that will supercede your highest expectations. This would be the one aspect of your playing technique that will separate you from being a predictable and monotonic tenor banjoist. Ten players can all play the exact same melody, with perfect timing and accuracy...only those who focus on the dynamics will have something different, and interesting, to offer.

Thanks for listening, Mickey

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