How do you move your wrist while frailing? If you basically lock the arm and make all the motions from the wrist, that's (a) the problem and (b) not how frailing should be done anyway. The rapping/frailing/clawhammer motion is primarily from the elbow, and the wrist is more or less fixed, not moving much. Then hand drops onto the string and the thumb, coming to rest on a string (5th string is most common and easiest) stops the hand. The finger has already gone past the string, striking it, by the time the thumb stops the hand. And all of this pivoting on the elbow. I used to get a sore elbow and shoulder when I played long hours of old-time banjo, but not a sore wrist. Now that I use a mouse a lot, I get a sore wrist, so have to watch my posture and hand positions.

Anders, if you'll send me your snail-mail address, I'll send you a copy of my banjo book, which reiterates how the hand and arm are used in down-picking. No photos, I'm afraid, but a description that you can use, and tabs of 25 tunes as well.

E-mail me at

rjclayton@aol.com

Good luck!