An important Left Hand Technique on the banjo is the choke. A choke is just another way of saying bending a string. A banjo choke is is usually done with the middle finger and stays in the same fret, don’t start on the tenth fret and end on the eleventh. The idea of the choke is to bend to a higher note - this note is usually a whole or half step higher. A choke is indicated by the symbol ~, which is printed below the note that is to be choked.
Playing a choke on the banjo is simple - place your middle finger on the 2nd string at the 10th fret. You can bend towards or away from your palm, it just depends what feels good and where your fingers are going next. Start your bend just after you have picked the string. In this example you bend up a half step and then pick the next note. For your interest, the note you are choking is an A.
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