The frail, or frailing strum, is the heart and soul of old-time banjo playing. 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 best deal with rests when playing a frailing strum on the banjo. Get started "playing" rests on your own banjo with this frailing how-to.
