Keith style
The Keith style of playing the 5-string banjo emphasizes the melody of the song. Also known as the "Melodic" or "Chromatic style", it was first developed and popularized independently by Bobby Thompson and Bill Keith in the early 1960s. It is used primarily by bluegrass banjoists, though it can be applied to virtually any genre. Most banjoists who play Keith style do not use it exclusively, but integrate it as one aspect of their playing, a way of adding spice to the more common 3-finger style of Earl Scruggs.
The Keith style is a fingerpicking style played with picks on the thumb, index and middle fingers. It centers on playing scales in a linear fashion. This contrasts with "3-Finger" or
A distinct advantage of melodic style is the ease of playing fiddle tunes using the melody verbatim while maintaining a right hand technique in line with Scruggs-style. Accomplishing the same goal in single string style often requires a different right hand approach. While at times the thumb may be used in a manner inconsistent with a banjo roll-based style, the "cascading" effect of the roll is still present in many examples of melodic style playing (especially with the bombastic descending runs, popular in the 1970s).
The earliest recordings of the melodic style were made by Bobby Thompson in the late 1950s when he was in
Tony Trischka has written several instructional books that discuss the Keith Style: Hot Licks For Bluegrass Banjo, Teach Yourself Bluegrass Banjo, and especially Melodic Banjo. The latter has interviews with many prominent Keith style banjoists, including Bill Keith and Bobby Thompson. Ken Perlman has helped to popularize the style in clawhammer banjo playing.