Banjo
Some Technical and Musical Aspects of the
Banjo Part 3: Right Hand Technique - 13
Douglas Rogers ARAM
I
N THE LAST INSTALMENT I touched
on the subject of rasps. These are of
course strokes – singly or in combinations
– in which the nail-side of the thumb or
finger leads. There is little question in
my mind that tonal clarity and power –
without pain – produced by the use of
nails in executing rasps is far greater than
when using the mere nibble-end of a
digit. The nails must however be a certain
minimum length, and one would expect
that to be the length which is effective in
ordinary plucking. If the nail is allowed to
grow excessively, it might compromise
the ordinary pluck even if it still works well
in the rasp.
No-nails or short nails lack the )