Music Education

Learning Banjo - Frailing Backup Banjo

Share page

Visit Us On FB

A few more things to mess around with with: Half thumb:

This one is laid out in a quasi-modal setting with your index finger fretting the second string at the first fret. You can play it out of G modal tuning just as easily, but I have yet to find a real reason to retune for this sort of thing.

The "lick" is in the second measure. It starts out like a drop-thumb. You play the first string with your middle fingernail and drop your thumb down to play the second string- the change comes when you play a phantom hammer-on on the third string at the third fret. As indicated above the lick the phantom hammer-on is given a quarter note value.

This is most commonly used in modal-ish settings but once you understand the idea behind the lick it's easy to drop into other places.

This major key version of House Of The Rising Sun uses drop thumb, double thumb and half thumb licks in 3/4 time. It's kind of freaky if you are used to the arpeggio-based minor-key version the Animals played in 4/4 time, but it's kind of banjo-bluesy in a cool sort of way. It's also an easy way to mess around with licks in 3/4 time. House Of The Rising Sun

3/4 Time Key of G

(I picked this one up from Paul Schoenwetter ages ago and I'm not sure where

he learned it)