There is more than one way to play and more than one way to tune a banjo. The most common style in country music is bluegrass banjo. It's played with the banjo tuned to a G chord and the player usually wears a plastic thumb pick and metal fingerpicks.

After that is what I'd call "folk" style banjo as played by Pete Seeger and my old buddy, the late great Bob Gibson. Here the banjo is tuned to a G, with a low C note and is usually played with a thumbpick.

Next to that, you'll find "frailing" or "claw-hammer banjo, made popular by Grandpa Jones. The frailing banjo is tuned many different ways, with the G tuning being most popular. The right hand picks the banjo in a downward/inward stroke, leaving the thumb to rest on the high 5th string, which is then plucked on the way back up. Grandpa Jones wore fingerpicks, but it is traditional to use bare fingers.

Finally, what used to be the most popular form of banjo, the plectrum style. This is played on a four string banjo and uses a flatpick. The usual tuning is G. This is the banjo that is fast strummed with a lot of chord melody, it is the style of banjo used in dixieland bands.

None of these styles utilize the guitar tuning. You can, however, find "banjo guitars" which are, basically, guitars that have a banjo body. My friend Jim Post uses one of these in his one-man show about Mark Twain.

If you can fingerpick guitar, it's not terribly hard to pick up a little banjo.


There are probably more banjo jokes in Nashville than any other instrument. My favorite is:

What do a banjo player and a lawyer have in common? Everyone is glad when they finally close their case.

It's a wonderful instrument. Happy pickin'

Mike

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Mike Dunbar Music

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

It's only music.
-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music