Let me get some details straight. By bargain-basement banjo book describes what it calls the "basic banjo strum" which sounds like claw-hammer style.

As I understand it, in this style the nails are used to brush the strings rather than actually pluck them. Is that right?

Dale's point interests me. What kind of strings are traditionally used with the open-backed banjo and the claw-hammer style?

Does tradition dictate using picks, or the nails?

Murray