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What is it? How do you learn how to do it?

The 5-string banjo is capable of great versitility when it comes to accompaniment which we call back-up. There are 3 styles of back-up; vamping over closed chords (called up-the-neck back-up); other up-the-neck back-up such as repeated phrases that may be partly rolls, and may also include fill-in licks; and down-the-neck back-up.

Down-the-neck back-up sounds especially effective under fiddle and sometimes mandolin but can also be heard under vocals. This type of back-up is roll and slide based with fill-in licks and connections between chords. Experienced players can take this further to develop counter-melodies and harmonies with the soloist. The same creative process can be used to develop your own banjo solos.

It's one of those banjo things that sounds terrific when you hear it, and is simple - when you know how! It's fun to play and it's stimulating to work out but it's curiously difficult to find instructional material on how to do it. Partly because there are almost no rules, and partly because it's improvised - you play what's appropriate at the time depending on what instrument you're backing and what kind of player they are - and it's never the same twice!

In August 2007, Wendy presented a Fingerstyle workshop to twelve intermediate bluegrass banjo players to thrash out exactly what down-the-neck back-up is. This workshop, recorded on video, received such positive comments the video has been edited into a DVD so you can share this knowledge. Join the Fingerstyle workshop participants in gaining an enlightened understanding of all the factors that make up good down-the-neck back-up.