[Ads-l] Frailing (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

The banjo sense of "frail" (verb) may be a subset of the one the OED currently includes (to beat, to thrash).  But maybe it deserves its own.

_Keystone Folklore Quarterly_ v IV, nos 1&2, Spr/Summer 1959, p 140
"Even more traditional is his manner of playing the banjo, a relatively simple picking and frailing style."

_Greensboro [NC] Record_ 26 Jun 1965, p 1 col 4
"Old timers still play a style known variously as "frailing," "framing," or "double knocking" while younger banjo pickers generally prefer the fast, rippling three-finger style of picking whose invention is generally credited to the Grand Ol' Opry's Earl Scruggs."

[book title]
Eric Muller & Barbara Koehler, _Frailing the 5-string banjo: an instruction manual_ Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Prods., 1973

_Billboard_ 30 May 1992, p 50 col 5
"Best known for his exotic "double drop thumb" frailing technique, Bird plays tribute to the pre-World War II music he performed with his cousin who was killed in that war."

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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