Bela Fleck teaches us his 'three-finger' style banjo technique 

Bruh that made me literally lol, cuz it’s spot on

Glad it's helpful. So impressed that you took on a new instrument at 76. Inspirational to say the least.

Glad we could help! :)

Well said! How's your three-finger technique?

@@cbcmusic Good! I am not a die hard pro, but have some knowledge and skill in different approaches.

That's great, thanks for sharing!

Don't give up, Karen :)

@@cbcmusic Oh, I'm not. I'm determined to play the thing. IN hte meantime, I'm looking for inspiration at the Palm Beach Bela Fleck/Chick Corea concert on Friday.

Glad you found it helpful!

More?! You want MORE?!?!

Exactly Jesse

Lol...i been picking mando and guitar as long as I can remember. Picked up my dad's 5 string and started just trying to figure out the rolls. I been doing good. Then he said that and i was devastated. I think I know what he meant now. Wish I woulda picked up a banjer years ago.

A finger is not a thumb, is it?

@@AnthonyJacobsMusic Then why is it called three finger picking if it uses two fingers and a thumb?

@@MrGrahawk You both bring up good points. In the early 20th century when the Banjo was really gaining popularity around the Appalachian region, it was quite likely the people who played them had more digits than the average person does today. I don't know what combination of digits they preferred to use so I can't comment any further.

Ryan’s great but to be fair Bela also plays 3 finger single string style. It’s just that he advocates that people start out with the 2 finger approach to single string first.

Fools among us!

Glad you like it!

He wrote what is essentially the definitive bluegrass banjo method book. He (and those who helped him make it) left behind far more information in that one book than fifty of these youtube videos, including tons of transcriptions. Check it out ""Earl Scruggs and the 5-string banjo"

Stamped Out Productions aka tony Trischka 😉

Try this. Pick a string and a fret. ..or make a chord and roll hold it down hard....now start backing off....keep going until the sound goes dead. Two things. When you cram down on the strings you raise the pitch...bad. (unless you meant to) and you wear out your frets and fingerboard. You will be amazed at how light you can go. This will add speed and precision too as time goes by... Amazed at how soft Bela's touch is. THANK YOU BELA!

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-F5LeYKLhk6Q.html

@@RicBergstrom Thank You Ric ! I’m getting my 1971 Kasuga restrung next week and your tip is timely!

Chance, how is the band working out for you?

@@jasonk876 Actually very well. Thanks for asking.

@@Chance-ry1hq wow, that's great. I played banjo in a band, but it was just too hard to keep everyone in order. It was just too many problems.

The video is quite clearly about right hand technique. The title has "three-finger style" right in it, referring to the three fingers with picks and the techniques he discusses are related to the picking hand. I'm not sure what you're talking about. Fretting is pretty universal on stringed instruments.

If your right hand is wrong it doesn’t matter what your left hand is doing.

Yeah... I agree. Now I would killll for a introduction video like this to Bela's more original and complex approach, but this is stuff that's smack dab in the front of Earl's method book or any "first banjo lesson" on youtube. I imagine they must have paid him a pretty penny to do this. (I will say the video was a good quick reference for me to check whether Bela anchors 2 fingers or just his pinky, but I could have found that in a ton of other videos)