Banjo technique advice

I have a picky (groan) little question that I’m hoping some more advanced players might advise me on. It involve crossing over strings. I’m speaking specifically of situations like what one sees in the first couple of bars in London Lasses or Galway Rambler where I’m rocking my ring finger on the D and A strings to sound g and d notes, then drop down to strike an open e on the E string, and finally to cross over the A string to an upstroke g note on the D string. I find this last part difficult to do at speed (especially if I’m also putting in triplets). What I’ve ended up doing is shifting up and doing the g-d rock with my index finger, and hitting the e note on the 7th fret of the A string with my ring finger and then shifting down to 1st position. I’m curious as to how other players handle this. I know that “whatever works for you” is common (and often the best) advice, but perhaps other players might have good reason for suggesting that I take the time and effort to learn the “crossover”. Comments?

I finger the g & d with my third finger and finger the e on the seventh fret/A string with my fourth finger. This means you only have to play the phrase over two strings making your picking easier. Stretching from d to e is not all that difficult, so you’re on the right track.

Practice skipping strings at a slower tempo. Your mind just needs to get accustomed to directing the pick to the correct place, as it isn’t used to moving towards strings that aren’t next to one another. It is no different than issues a lot of people have with “inside picking” when using alternate picking. You do it slowly, cleanly, and correctly over time, and then it becomes automatic. It might be a matter of just doing what is currently working for you, but devoting time each day towards working on your technique with playing situations that involve skipping strings.

At the end of the day “whatever works for you” is probably the best answer. If what you are doing sounds alright, then there is no reason to not do it. However, I think that playing notes that are note on adjacent strings is a general skill that one should work on if they play a plucked stringed instrument.

I play it in F . Use the 2nd finger for rocking between FAnd C . Sorry not a lot of help 🙂

Sorry for neglecting to thank your guys for your input in answering my question. The end result is, not surprisingly, that I went with “what works for me”, i.e. shifting position and using my index finger to do the g-d rock on the d and a strings, and using my ring finger to hit the e on the a string. I suppose if one uses a similar technique for similar problems one gets used to that technique and it becomes much easier, e.g. I probably do more “shifting” than “stretching” to hit some of the notes higher up the fretboard. Anyways, thanks again.