https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/touch-and-go-pull-off-exercise-banjo
Let’s work our pull-offs and have fun doing it! This is a song called “Touch and Go” that I wrote to focus directly on our pull-offs, and essentially work an incredible exercise into a song that we can enjoy playing. Go ahead, make 'em SNAPPY!
That… was a left hand workout!
Yep! It’s a good’n!
Was just trying to figure out which finger Ben used to pull off in that measure. I went back to the video and payed close attention and found he is using his ring finger. I was grabbing it with my pinky!
Diane, I also use the pinkie from time to time, It’s good practice to use both. You find when you start learning to play bar chords up the neck you’ll use your pinkie a lot to reach other note. I can’t remember if @BanjoBen teaches Cumberland Gap. That’s a great tune to practice fretting notes with you pinkie.
So, having a very hard time in the measure 2 pull off on the 4th string 3-2. When I try to pull off, often when I pull off by flicking upward towards me, it pushes the string to the end of the fret board and I get a muted sound.
@ambergkeith try increasing your finger pressure for the pull-off. If your 4th string is moving that much on a pull-off, sounds like maybe you are not pressing hard enough. Pull-offs are the one time that you want to put a little extra pressure on the fretted strings.
made a video to explain the problem a little better.
Hi Keith, try to position your middle finger slightly further away from the fret wire and pulled down slightly (in opposition) as you push off with your ring. Personally I don’t use those fingers for that push-off. I use index and middle. That fingering is unique to @BanjoBen.
You need good calluses for pull-offs it takes a couple of years to get the skin good and hard.
Pull Offs are tough it takes a while to get a good snap so don’t beat yourself up too much. Trust me you’ll nail it one day.
Archie, thanks for the tips. For this lick, you have to use those fingers as there’s no way to finish the lick otherwise. I’m pretty sure Ben designed it to be have to use those fingers (he talks about using those fingers in the lesson).
No you don’t, I use index and middle on both push-offs it’s just the way I learned to do push offs. As I said earlier. That fingering is unique to @BanjoBen. You don’t see Alan Munde doing push offs that way. Not to say it’s wrong., just an alternate way of doing things
Yes you do. Look at measure 2. You’re doing a pull off then immediately have to fret the second string. Sorry, you can’t do it. Don’t believe me? Just try it. Also, it’s the way Ben demonstrates it. Maybe at half speed you can do it but no way you’re doing it at full speed. That’s the whole point of that part of the lesson. Archie, did you watch the lesson? He talks about how if you can learn to do it then you will be able to when you have to. If you can do that lick at speed (not just the pull off) the way you describe, post it.
I say again. It’s the way I do it. You’ll just have to take my word. I can no longer create videos. But your free to check out my YouTube Channel. Alas I don’t have that lesson uploaded.
I just tried this and actually found it more natural to pull-off downward rather than push-off. Maybe I’m just weird, but I typically do that when pulling-off on the D string.
I ran into the same problem you did when pushing-off, though I’d guess that there is a possible remedy if you feel like you must push-off: practice extremely slowly and use extra pressure with the middle finger, maybe even pulling the string back slightly, so it doesn’t roll off. This is a really small movement and a tough habit to build, honestly, and it might just be easier to pull-off downward for that note.
I’d be interested in Ben’s opinion, as I notice he’s playing his Phantom banjo which has a tunneled 5th string. It’s got quite a bit of extra fretboard real estate on that side, meaning pushing off would never be a problem.
I just tried it on my Davis and I push off toward the ceiling. Like @rspillers said, I probably put a bit more pressure on the rear finger to hold the string in place.
@ambergkeith it could be an individual banjo issue due to the setup and how rounded your fret wire ends are. Try it on another banjo if you can and see if there’s a difference.