CITATION — REFERENCE ENTRY
frailing · seeger1954-banjo-instructor
- Citation
- seeger1954-banjo-instructor
- Claim ID
- frailing
- Assertion
- In Pete Seeger's 1954 instruction, frailing is a way of strumming the banjo in which the player picks down on a string with the back of the fingernail of the right index (or middle) finger, then with the same fingernail goes down across the top strings, and then sounds the fifth (thumb) string with the thumb; left-hand hammer-ons and pull-offs can be worked into the pattern. Seeger calls frailing the best way of playing many fast square dance tunes, such as "Cripple Creek".
- Quote
Here's a new way of strumming the banjo, called 'frailing'. On music paper the notes you are playing may look the same, but they sound differently. "Try picking down on the 3rd string with the fingernail of your right index finger (or middle finger) - the back of the fingernail . . . now hammer on with your left hand. . . then with that same back of the fingernail, go across the top three strings. . . and thumb the 5th string ... "Now, frailing is the best way of playing a lot of fast square dance tunes. Here's the tune "Cripple Creek".
- Quote language
- en
- Locator
- page: 3 (Side I, Bands 6a-6c)
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