Are Your Fingers Muting other Strings?

Question:

Hi Ryan,

I am a beginner (1 week) and one (of many) problem that I have consistently is that when I try to press one of the 2,3 or 4 strings to make a chord I mute one of the adjacent strings. Is this just a case of fingers too big or hand not positioned correctly?

Even if I take my time and place my fingers on each string of the chord it is difficult to get a clear sound on all the strings. I notice that you keep your nails cut short, does this help. Is there a finger sharpener that I can buy?

Thanks for the lessons, I am enjoying them very much.

Cliff

Answer:

Cliff,

Hello, thanks for the question. I would imagine that every banjo player has struggled with this issue at some point and it usually occurs when your first starting out.

The size of ones fingers would make a difference to some extent; however I have seen some awesome banjo pickers with huge fingers. They seemed to play effortlessly and never muted an unwanted string.

The real problem is that your fingers are still unfamiliar with the strings and not quite exactly sure what to do. This “problem” will definitely fade as you progress.

I would try to picture my left hand as if it were holding a tennis ball. This will give you more of the proper structure to your hand. Your fingers need to come straight down on the strings. Picture the ends of your bones in your fingers doing the fretting.

Start doing some forward rolls and some slides and pull-offs to work on the crisp sound without the muting. For what it’s worth it really doesn’t matter if your finger mutes a string that’s not being played at that time. As you progress you will instinctively know which strings these are.

In short, try to pick your fingers up a bit and press straight down. I do keep my nails short which is probably good, and if I find a good finger sharpener I’lll let you know. You’ll see some improvement soon with some good hard core practice.

Thanks for the great question!
Ryan