briggs-stroke-style · winans1994-minstrel-classic-banjo

Briggs' Banjo Instructor, published in 1855, was the second earliest American minstrel banjo tutor, and the first to describe and show clearly the minstrel stroke style of playing. Briggs supposedly invented "thimble playing," which was a version of the stroke style using a "thimble" (that is, a metal finger pick over the nail), a style which became widespread among stage performers.