Hello all -
I've been recently learning "Little Birdie" from TWO of Art Rosenbaum's books. He teaches an up-picking style that I'm relatively familiar with - but I'd always wondered quite what Roscoe Holcomb was doing when he rapped the banjo head in his filmed version. Then I found the video here:
http://robertfrostsbanjo.blogspot.fr/2011/05/little-birdie.html
(Thanks to Robert Frost for the site! )
A couple of paragraphs down in the discussions below the video, there is THIS explanation:
"What Roscoe played on this wasn't standard two finger back-and-forth; it's called by some 'Kentucky sling finger'. He tapped on the head with his middle/ring/pinky fingers, while he stuck down(and out) with the index nail on the downbeat(with the head strike), then plucked with the thumb, THEN plucked up with the index. That got the "bum-ditty"." (C K Walter)
Well, I've been trying that but it doesn't quite seem to work, or even really seem logically possible. Do I just need to keep working at it, or has anyone got another explanation? I'd really like to work out how to get that rhythm...
Thanks -
Luke