Good night we are on lock down for the COVID19 so i just decided to learn the banjo to help pass the time

Very, very informative. Have only been playing for two weeks and had not a clue as how to wear or adjust my picks. Your techniques have given me a lot to think about and try. Gotta subscribe to your page.

I've had my banjo two days. Seems i had my picks on the wrong way round. Thank you for the heads-up, Mike.

Thank you for that lesson. I got may first banjo two days ago and I´ve already watched many beginner lessons here on you tube, but your lesson was the most important because your way to wear the picks and hold the hand made me feel much more comfortble. Now I can really start learning.

I'm a total newbie of a few months, and this video was very helpful. My banjo teacher is really a guitarist and never covered the basics... I gave up on using picks early on, and now I'm going to go back to trying them again. Many thanks for posting this kind of stuff for the true beginners like me.

"I wear the same picks on the same fingers". I reckon that's really important. The two fingers are different, if you interchange the picks they won't fit properly. I always mark one pick to identify it for the index finger.

I just started playing. learned a little clawhammer first. twisting the picks a little helped me plant the pinky real solid and get a clean pick. thanks

Thanks for the tip, Mike. I appreciate it.

Thank you so much, so very helpful!

I LOVE the way you explain how. I'm a newbie, and yeah I had my picks on wrong. 74 years old and learning, my Deering googtime banjo arrived yesterday, so I hope to be able to play a simple tune in a couple of months. 😀 Hi from Dorset County England.

I like what you address in what order better than anyone else; I learn like you teach -- thanks

Hi Mike. , My first and brand new banjo is on its way to me by UPS and arrives tomorrow. Just looking around for some total beginners inspiration and found this. It is a great tutorial. I cannot wait to get started. I have left it a bit late in life but hey better late than never. I am 70 (seventy). So many other good teachers on the Tube but am going to follow you. Thanks again D.

I just got my banjo 2 days ago and I'm so in love with this instrument. I'll definitely use these tips for playing as I'm a beginner. Thanks!

Thanks for this video, you explain everything perfectly :) Really helpful!

Some great tips on using the finger picks. I put mine on the wrong way at first. Thanks for posting

I just started learning banjo yesterday. Thank you for the Great insight. I am struggling with hand placement....

Great tips, Thank You!

Thanks! Great tips!

Thanks for tip on wear picks I’m just starting out

As a newbie to banjo playing I want to thank you for the basic instruction on getting started. Finger picks the wrong way around, been there and done that but it is not intuitive which way they should go. Again thanks for the tips, now where’s that banjo I bought.

Useful stuff bro, thanks

Great lesson thanks 🙏🏻

Thank you! A lot of good tips!

Thank you 🙏

Turn your picks, don't turn your hands. That's what I've been doing while others look down at me for doing it, but it works for me to avoid playing off the "side" of the pick. Great video.

Yes very helpful

Thanks...you answered some questions I have had since I started two years ago.

Bending the picks are essential. If the edge of the pick strikes the string, it sounds squeaky compared to the full on attack.

Great tips, Mike - I’ve been trying to figure out what’s the most comfortable position for my right hand. Only been playing a couple of weeks, but I’m a 45 year piano veteran and 12 year Irish whistler. Nice to have permission to put a bit of space between thumb and fingers and use pinky for resting. Fourth finger was not working for me

gonna try the tip about slightly rotating the two finger picks to the side, no matter how i hold my hand i feel like im pulling them up at too diagonal of an angle to the strings, thanks.

Putting picks on the wrong way, lol. That is what I immediately did.

I have slender fingers too Mike, and when you don't have wide fat fingers it's much easier to see what's going on between fingerpicks and strings! Plus for the same reason you don't rest your ring finger on the skin, I can't keep mine resting on the skin.

Very useful lesson. I need to get me some metal finger picks cuz the plastic ones I got aren't working out so well.

My right hand works great sometimes and sometimes it makes me so mad lol

Thanks brother, just learning here in Australia, with thick work man hands stubby fingers , I wear the picks the same way each time as middle finger needs pick extended a bit.Have you heard of wrist position having ,as if a tennis ball under it?

I have one question. My index finger and middle finger end up hurting a lot after a bit cause the finger pick is pinching the skin so much. If i loosen it, it doesnt stay put. Do u have any suggestions?

Very nice discussion of what I'm trying to grasp at this moment with the new picks I just bought. Thanks for the input. I was looking for which finger should reach for what string in a roll.

Actually, I found this _very_ inspirational - and I don't even _own_ a banjo yet!!! 😄 But I see there's a number of nice instruments for sale at bargain prices! - As the saying goes: _Que sera, sera!_ . . . . Greetings from Norway! 😉👍

I find that my picks always catch on the strangs I can definitely play better with no picks but not as loud and after about 20 mins I get worse cause my fingers start hurting

This should get some reaction from the peanut gallery, I'm starting to learn the banjo, no string instrument experience, but the first few frets are a bit too far for my arms, so two questions 1) can I just capo at the second fret and spike the 5th string and just leave it like that or 2) can I cut off 2" of the neck at the end pot and refit it? My banjo is a Sonart cheappy starter banjo at the moment. Needs duel control rods installed anyway, neck rotates with string tension. Enjoying your free lessons for the moment.

Hi I belong to a ukulele band in Scotland and I play the banjolele and I love it but as we are adding new songs to our repertoire I realised that I would have to learn how to pick. They arrived today and before watching your extremely helpful video, I put them all on the wrong way. Now that I have that sorted I am ready to add a whole new dimension to our band, eventually. TATA the Noo.

This is not really covered in any of the book. I play guitar, finger picking mostly. So I just recently took interest in the banjo. One thing I have noticed is the pick on my middle finger hits the 1st string when I go to strike it in a rolling pattern and I keep getting a "metallic ting". Is there a way to get rid of this?

I played traditonal and scrug vs style without picks for a couple months and it's going great, but now I've decide to pick scruggs style with picks but I'm struggling to even play a sime cripple creek, which I could do almost flawlessly and fast without picks. I've got metal picks for thumb and finger 025 Dunlop. Does anyone know why I'm struggling to use picks ?

hey thanks. I've picked up a few things I didn't know. as of right now I have a metal thumb pick. why plastic? also my thumb pick, the end that wraps around, occasionally gets stuck up in the strings. why? Is the problem there because it's different from a plastic pick?

Hi you guys are there any left hand banjo 🪕 teacher out there 🙏 thank you

No wonder my picking hand felt so akward. I had the metal finger picks on backwards lol

Haha, "A lot of guys will say plant both because that's what Earl did", LMAO. I love when guys go on about that. Play 5 string, play it well, have fun doing it, because that's what Earl did.

Mike, can you expand on your comment that your particular banjo has a bit more spacing between the strings. Is this peculiar to your model banjo or are there banjo’s designed specifically for one string spacing versus another spacing. I think I could definitely benefit from a greater spacing between strings. Thanks. Love your instructional videos. Well done.

You should bend your thumb upwards Otherwise, your thumb pick will not hit the string in parallel but will hit diagonally.

Thank you! :D:D:D

The only issue I find playing is that my pinkie which I only plant opposed to ring and pinkie slowly begins to hurt. I don't know if I'm damaging my finger or maybe I just need to strengthen my finger?

I feel like I need to feel the strings to know which one I'm plucking. Am I a super noob if I don't use picks?

Why is the thumb pick plastic ? Thanks

I thought the standard was three metal picks and one thumb pick?

You've been using the same two picks for over 10yrs. As guitar player how did you manage that lol