PRACTICING (ALMOST) SILENTLY !
by Fingerstyle Productions®
Practicing the six bluegrass rolls will be a staple in your banjo-playing life—forever.
There’s a good case for taking down the volume so we don’t drive everyone mad.
Feeding a folded tissue between the strings and the fingerboard at around the 15th fret is a great dampening tool. It also firms up the strings.
If you’d like something more
sophisticated, try a mute.
This type seems to be a hit with experienced pickers. It comes in the form of a cork-dampened sandwich—the strings between the tailpiece and the bridge are the jam of the sandwich.
Bonus is, the mute also gives a range of tonal surprises. Experiment by shifting it right up to the bridge (banjo quiet mode), or closer to the tailpiece—a weird metallic sound. Like a digitised bee in a bottle!
Try shifting it in various positions. It locks with just two finger screws