• Home
• Blog
• Banjo Store
• Contact
• Search

After many years as a Bluegrass lover and a few years of playing the banjo I have grown used to the little ups and downs associated with practice routines and striving to pick faster and cleaner. But I’d never experienced pickin’ pain before! Earlier this year I attended a workshop run by an eminent and highly respected 5-string picker and musician from the USA. A large part of this session was devoted to practice routine and technique.  A major area of interest for me was the old question,  ‘whether to plant one finger or two on the head of the banjo while picking?’ The answer was a resounding “two fingers is the way to go,” - the only way to achieve the stability to pick well.

A realistic appraisal of my style revealed a firmly planted pinkie finger with my ring finger sort of doing its own thing. A little fly away but comfortable and reasonably stable. After canvassing a few other advanced players attending the same session I realised that by far the majority were in agreement with the pro’s and had two fingers firmly planted. So I set about changing…

The advice given was to start planting two fingers for roll practice, then gradually introduce this technique while playing and within only a short time the change would be complete and I too could count myself among the ranks of the two finger planters!

I think the pain started within about three days, it came on quickly at any rate. I managed this by lessening the duration of my roll practice and telling myself that all would be well it was just my hand getting used to this new style. After about two weeks I could pick no longer. My pickin’ hand and forearm were both stiff and painful with reduced fine motor skills in my fingers and forearm pain just from using my hand. At the height of this for example, I could not turn a doorknob with my pickin’ hand!

A quick visit to the physio identified what I think I already knew, repetitive strain injury (RSI) of the wrist and tennis elbow or in this case banjo elbow! Treatment was to remove the cause, which of course meant no banjo pickin’, and rest, which affected everything else I do in daily life.

I was quite an unhappy camper for a while…!

I am about eight weeks on from the acute stage now and just starting to pick again. My ring finger is under no obligation to do anything but fly around with the others and I’m resigned to the fact that I’ll never become world class, mind you, I knew that years ago!

On reflection, it was no ones fault but my own. The phrases “…no two hands are the same and everyone’s style is different,” were mentioned at this workshop many times, they just didn’t register as overly important in the face of achieving what I believed to be the key to improving my banjo pickin’.

Happy pickin' ...