I'm no master at drop thumbing. I've been playing for just over 3 years. I use it a fair amount, but, have much improvement in my future. I was playing today and thinkg of the different drop thumb combination. At first thought, there must be quite a few. So, then I went through them. Could there be only ten? Yep, I'm pretty sure there are only ten, for a 5 string banjo. So I wanted to share this fact, in case you are having a tough time working with the drop thumb. Maybe it will help? I don't know...
Here's the nomenclature used below.
1 - 5
↑ ↑
| "Drop" Thumb
Downstroke with picking finger
Thumb on 5th String
1-5, 2-5, 3-5, 4-5
Thumb on 4th String
1-4, 2-4, 3-4
Thumb on 3rd String
1-3, 2-3
Thumb on 2nd String
1-2
Total of 10 Drop Thumb Combinations. That's a manageable amount of drop thumb combinations! Right?
Regards,
Scott