Ken Haferman, playing my first gourd banjo, "Great Gourd A'Mighty". (2005) About 1975, I was working in the Positive Note Music store, on Milwaukee's East Side (Farwell and North), when this somewhat weathered fellow came in, looking for Ralph. I told him Ralph wasn't there. So he sat down, pulled out an ancient Vega, and proceeded to frail like nobody I'd ever seen before. I asked him about using the middle finger, instead of the index. You see, MY index finger has an unusually thin fingernail, and it tends to rip and bleed. However, the BOOK from which I had been studying, SAID to use the index finger. And I figured, for once in my life, I was going to follow the book, as written by some EXPERT. Yet, here was an obvious expert, mid-fingering away with consummate skill. So I asked him if it was really OK to use a finger other than the one indicated by the Expert. I have passed along to every one of my students, the advice Ken gave me:

Kid, it's YOUR banjo. Play it any way you WANT!

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(Psst! Down HERE! It's the first Squared Eel banjo ever made!)

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In case it's a heart-wrenching ballad?