My banjo student had a wonderful breakthrough moment today. His fingers aren’t quite as flexible as mine and he was struggling with a particular part of an arrangement I’d worked out for the tune Barlow Knife. It’s been quite a few weeks now, in between other things, but today I suggested a different way of playing it. Particularly due to the way the 5 string banjo is tune, there are choices about which combination of string and fret to use for each note. You get that on guitar, bass and similar instruments but the ones with ‘re-entrant’ tuning, like banjo and ukulele have even more options, with the same note being available on both sides of the neck.

I’m looking forward to seeing how he has got on working with the new fingering when we meet again next week. We’ll also have a look for other songs where a few changes can turn what is unnecessarily difficult into something within easier reach.