One of the reasons I love the banjo is because there are so many incredible ways to make music on it. When you take all the many variations on the banjo form, from the deep sounding gourd to the tone rung modern banjos, and combine that with all the various playing styles, learning the banjo is like getting 50 instruments for the price of 1.
I recently created the above demonstration video of 2 finger thumb lead style for students of the Breakthrough Banjo course for fingerstyle banjo. I teach all styles of up-picking as part of the course, using the Brainjo Method, and that includes 2-finger thumb lead, which is considered one of the “old time” styles of picking.
It’s one of my favorite ways to pick a banjo. A perfect example of beautiful simplicity, and it’s also ideally suited for playing behind the voice. Perfect for accompanying yourself or someone else.
If you’re interested in learning the style (if you have any clawhammer experience, you’ll pick it up quickly!), you can click here to learn more about the course for fingerstyle banjo.