Pete’s banjo style was notable for its dynamics. He could play soft on it and then very intense by switching from his basic strum (bum-ditty) to what he called whamming, the two parts were the Toggle (a term coined by a member of the Kingston Trio, I believe George Grove) and a more intense double whamming on the fourth and the fifth string as well as the other strings.

Switching into the whamming style enabled Pete to induce the audience to sing along by raising the dynamic level.

Dynamics were never a part of banjo playing as an accompaniment before Pete came along.