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I hope I can shed light on differences between current and older banjo playing styles by explaining the method by which most older mountain banjoists learned to play, and then contrasting this with the way most people learn to play today. Diversity in old time banjo playing styles is being lost and the different learning methods help explain why this is occurring.
The role of the banjo in mountain culture is not well known today. Also, some people do not know that there were a variety of old-time banjo playing styles in the mountains. I was at Augusta in Elkins, West Virginia, in August 2001, and was considerably taken aback to learn that students were being taught banjo as an adjunct to the fiddle. Many students viewed the banjo as an instrument for playing fiddle tunes, and felt this had been its historical role.
Some of the students were considerably surprised that I sang with most of the tunes I played. However, this is what most old-time banjo players did in East Kentucky. I suspect this might have been true in other areas of the mountains. Dr. Josiah H. Combs said the following about East Kentucky banjo players in Folk-Songs of the Southern United States , which is an edited version of the doctorial dissertation Combs wrote for the University of Paris in 1925: