Peter T. the best metaphor I can come up with is that my fingers feel like they are dancing to the music when I am finger picking. Once I relax more, I bet other parts of my body will start dancing along too.

I suggest for those who are just beginning and may have some difficulty understanding some of the content on this thread, that if you have a printer, print it off. I have done this with several other technical related music threads and what I may not have understood a few months ago, now makes much more sense when I reread it.

If you are really new like I was and had never picked up an instrument, I suggest you do get a hold a a repair manual just to understand the instrument you have chosen to play. Although much of the manual I read was way over my head I got a deeper appreciation of the components to my banjo and how they related to each other.
The best test was when Rick told me to pull by banjo apart, change the head and put it back together. After doing that I was not so fearful of trying to fix some part that might be causing me some troubles.
Mind you, we are talking about a banjo which is built more like a machine.

Is it possible to start a Part II for this thread. The posting content is substantial and it is getting more difficult to bring up the thread as it gets longer?

Bonnie