My dance with the banjo

I learned the 5-string banjo in high school in the 50s, using the first edition of Pete Seeger's instruction booklet. I mastered his basic strum, double-thumbing, and some elementary three-finger picking, then hit frailing and hit a brick wall. Couldn't get it down. I said hell with it, and played what I knew, the banjo becoming my main instrument through the Army (so a recent reconnection had an old army buddy asking, Do you still play banjo?). Now and again after the Army, when the guitar became my main instrument, and then quickly the 12-string, I'd go back to banjo and try frailing again. Recently I did the same -- and for some reason, this final time I got it down. I can frail the banjo!

But guess what? I like the softer "up stroke" basic strum sound better. So I think I'm going back to the way I played it in high school and let it go at that. For one, it doesn't destroy my fingernail, which is kept short in this style. I can learn songs with the same tablature. I like the sound better. My way or the highway, even though I seldom run into banjo players who play this ancient (?) way. I did find one old-timey book that had a chapter on "up stroke" banjo, so there were old-timers who did it. It's just the first style I learned and I like its softer sound better. There's no accounting for taste.

This decided, I want to learn a whole mess of new banjo songs this summer, using all this wonderful frailing material I gathered this time around. As if I had nothing else to do.