The frail, or frailing strum, is the heart and soul of old-time banjo. The frailing strum is a down-picking technique where you play the first four strings of the banjo with the back of your middle fingernail while playing the fifth string with your thumb. This is used to create a quarter note/two eighth note rhythm pattern. In this video banjo lesson, you'll learn how to move an F chord along the chromatic scale when using a frailing strum on the banjo. Get started playing this frailing exercise on your own banjo with this how-to.
