A Book Of Five Strings - online tutorial

Strategies for mastering the art of old time banjo.

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Example Three
In this example we are changing the drop thumb slightly by playing a brush-strum after the thumb note.
The count is 1& 2& 3& 4&, 1& 2& 3& 4&.
This is a good technique to know and it has it's uses, but don't believe all of the hype surrounding the drop thumb.
This technique looks cool in action but it has a nasty way of throwing your right hand rhythm completely out of whack. That's why we recommend fretting hand techniques (slides, hammer-on's and pull-off's) or picking hand techniques like double thumbing to play eighth notes. You can apply those techniques without breaking the stream of the rhythm. Drop thumb almost always throws off the rhythm unless you have trulys mastered your right hand technique.
It's not a bad technique just use it judiciously.