Double thumbing

[Sooze]

How long did it take any of you to learn the knack of double thumbing?! It sounds great when others play it, but I am having some trouble with it - no co-ordination at all! Admittedly I have only just started having a go at it, but it's not looking too hopeful so far!

Any tips, apart from lots of practice, and take it slowly?!

Sooze.

[mark]

I am guessing you may be referring to Drop Thumb?

Double Thumb (Sounding the 5th with the thumb after each note/chord to form a series of 8th Notes) is not really a major problem (certainly no more than the bum-ditty is) and shouldn't take too long to get to grips with.

Drop Thumb (similar to double thumb except that every other "thumb" is dropped down to play an additional melody note, forming a series of 8th Notes) on the other hand I, like plenty of others I am sure struggle with.

I tend to stay with Patrick Costello's "Core Teaching" (G Tuning using the Basic Frailing Strum [bum-ditty]) for the most part, embelishing with a bit of melody and a few hammer-ons / pull-offs and slides where I can. I do devote a little time to learning Double D Tuning and Drop Thumbing now and again (using Dan Levenson's "From Scratch" material) but nothing too serious as I find I enjoy playing more than learning!

[Sooze]

Thanks for that Mark - it is Double Thumb I'm having trouble with, but it is early days for me yet so perhaps I just need to persevere a bit more. I can do it, albeit very slowly, if I am following tab, but can't quite work out how and where to use it if I try to play something without tab!

However, now I know you yourself generally only use the bump-ditty pattern, (which I can manage ok!) I don't feel so bad! I'm only learning for fun, and am never likely to be heard by anyone other than whoever is in my house when I'm playing, so I guess it doesn't matter too much if I don't progress any further than basics. Will 'Google' Dan Levenson - haven't seen his stuff before - all I have learned so far has been from Pat and Patrick, and The How and The Tao of O.T. Banjo. Excellent stuff!

[mark]

Sooze, the double thumb will come don't worry about it.

I got it quite quickly because I started on the Dulcijo (which lends itself to playing in this manner very well) before moving onto the Banjo in September. In fact I still find double thumbing on the Dulcijo much more natural than on the banjo but I guess that's what comes of drilling yourself into the bumditty!

Don't doubt your ability either Sooze, we are all learners and with one or two exceptions the vast majority of those here have less than 12 months or so with the Banjo under our belts.

Just enjoy yourself, it's not that important to be technically brilliant unless your striving to be a proffesional musician. That said, even a beginner can "get away with it", I played on stage for the first time ever in April at a charity dinner with a vocalist and a couple of guitarists and it went pretty good (even though my stomach was churning the whole 30 minutes I was up there!), we even had an encore!