Editing Banjo (section)

== Technique ==
[[File:Banjo forward roll on G major chord.png|thumb|right|175px|Forward roll<ref name="Davis">Davis, Janet (2002). ''[Mel Bay's] Back-Up Banjo'', p.54. {{ISBN|0-7866-6525-4}}. Emphasis original.</ref> {{audio|Banjo forward roll on G major chord.mid|Play}}.]]
[[File:Banjo drone in Yankee Doodle.png|thumb|300px|right|Melody to ''[[Yankee Doodle]]'', on the banjo, without and with drone notes<ref name="Erbsen"/> {{audio|Banjo Yankee Doodle.mid|Play without}} and {{audio|Banjo drone in Yankee Doodle.mid|with drone}}.]]

Two techniques closely associated with the five-string banjo are [[banjo roll|rolls]] and [[drone (music)|drones]]. Rolls are right hand [[accompaniment]]al fingering patterns that consist of eight (eighth) notes that [[subdivision (music)|subdivide]] each [[bar (music)|measure]].<ref name="Davis"/> Drone notes are quick little notes [typically eighth notes], usually played on the 5th (short) string to fill in around the melody notes [typically eighth notes].<ref name="Erbsen">Erbsen, Wayne (2004). ''Bluegrass Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus'', p.13. {{ISBN|1-883206-44-8}}.</ref> These techniques are both [[instrumental idiom|idiomatic]] to the banjo in all styles, and their sound is characteristic of bluegrass.

Historically, the banjo was played in the [[claw-hammer]] style by the Africans who brought their version of the banjo with them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bluegrassbanjo.org/banhist.html|title=History of the Banjo|website=Bluegrassbanjo.org|access-date=2 December 2016}}</ref> Several other styles of play were developed from this. Clawhammer consists of downward striking of one or more of the four main strings with the index, middle or both fingers while the drone or fifth string is played with a 'lifting' (as opposed to downward pluck) motion of the thumb. The notes typically sounded by the thumb in this fashion are, usually, on the off beat. Melodies can be quite intricate adding techniques such as double thumbing and drop thumb. In old time Appalachian Mountain music, a style called two-finger up-pick is also used, and a three-finger version that [[Earl Scruggs]] developed into the [[Scruggs style|"Scruggs" style]] picking was nationally aired in 1945 on the [[Grand Ole Opry]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.princetontraditional.org/Articles/Art1502.htm |publisher=Princeton Traditional Music Festival |title=Banjoes Rang Out |access-date=2 December 2016}}</ref> In this style the instrument is played by plucking individual notes. Modern fingerstyle is usually played using [[fingerpicks]], though early players and some modern players play either with nails or with a technique known as on the flesh. In this style the strings are played directly with the fingers, rather than any pick or intermediary.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://robmackillop.net/banjo/early-fingerstyle-banjo/|first=Rob|last=MacKillop|title=Early Fingerstyle Banjo |date=22 January 2011 |access-date=2022-10-29}}</ref>

While five-string banjos are traditionally played with either fingerpicks or the fingers themselves, [[#Tenor banjo|tenor banjo]]s and [[plectrum banjo]]s are played with a pick, either to strum full chords, or most commonly in [[Irish traditional music]], play single-note melodies.