Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Arkansas Traveler Advice

#1

Hi Ya’ll

I’ve been learning AT for the past weeek and noticed that I’m playing the fourth fret with my ring finger and it feels natural but I see that Ben plays it with his middle finger

Should I change to using that finger?

Thanks

#2

Yes, on the mandolin you generally stick to two frets per finger. So your first finger will take frets 1 and 2, your second will take 3&4, third will take 5&6, and fourth gets seven and eight. This brilliant system keeps you from needing to use your pinky almost at all, and works very well for most styles.

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#3

I did see the video Ben did in that but didn’t know if it was something that is always stuck too

Thanks for confirming :+1:

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#4

Unless you go up the neck. Yeah