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Hello,
I am a rhythym guitar player who is interested in learning the banjo. What are the fundamental differences in the two instruments and is it easy to pick up knowing the guitar and chords as I know them?

Thanks,
Amee

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Amee Chapman's High Tide Rodeo
www.ameechapman.com
Sagebrush Soul/Americana

Hi Amee,

The banjo is an odd instrument. As a mandolin player, I can't condone the use of such an instrument as the banjo (sorry, inside joke) but I do know a couple of basics:

1. It is NOT tuned the same as a guitar, so prepare to relearn your chords & scale patterns.

2. For a good part of the neck, you have four strings. Then all of a sudden, a fifth string appears out of nowhere. Seriously.

3. It is LOUD, and to some folks, a bit abrasive sounding. People like Bela Fleck who have a nice touch can bring out a beautiful sound on the banjo, but it's not difficult to sound harsh.

Okay, so I'm not a fan of the banjo. But as a musician I do encourage you to seriously look into new instruments of all kinds.



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Shandy Lawson

http://www.shandylawson.com

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

hey i'm interested too - what notes are the banjo strings tuned to? wow i don't think that made sense... guitar = ebgdae banjo = ?
thanks, flo

First, you need to know about the five-string banjo.

Banjo strings are numbered like guitar strings...number one is the string that is physically on the bottom when you hold it in playing position. On the guitar, this would be the high sounding E string, string number one. So ebgdae would be 123456. On the banjo, in standard G tuning, you would have dbgdg 12345 one through four are set up normally like a guitar would be. String five, however, is attached to a tuner half way up the neck of the banjo so it can be tuned to a very high sounding note. 123 and 4 get progressively lower in tone, like a guitar, but 5 is a high tone, matching the fifth fret of the first string.

It was Joe Sweeney who stuck the fifth peg on the banjo well over a hundred years ago. The fifth string is rarely fretted, except by very accomplished banjoists. The fifth string is used as a "drone" note, similar to the drone pipes on a bagpipe or the drone strings on a sitar. Think of the sound of a banjo playing bluegrass, then think of the sound of bagpipes and you'll find a similarity.

If you're intersted in the banjo, I'd recommend listening to Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Keith, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (outrageous jazz), and, if you can find it, the album Evermore by Vince Farsetta.

For deadheads, Jerry Garcia was a fine banjo player, you can hear his banjo work on the album Old and In The Way.

All the Best,
Mike

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Mike Dunbar Music

As someone who cn't resist a freebie, I ws given a wreck of a five string banjo and rebuilt it.
Was going to tune it to the bottom strings of a guitar as I thought I would be confused with differant tuning.
never the less I decided to try it tuned to a G chord and ws surprised I had no trouble making the change.
As to sound. I m a rotten guitar player being real thrasher and the chinks i get playing with a standard pick are a pain even to me so the othre week I made a leather pick and that really made a differance to my guitar sound.
So much so tht there re several guitar players now using, or intending making angd using lether pick. The e-mails have been overwelming.
I gave the leather pick a whilr o banjo as well and it really did the trick for me.
Russian Balalik player use leathre picks when they don't finger it. I play balalaika a little too and they sound woe awful played with plastic pick.
So. I don't see ny hassle with swapping twix guitar and banjo.Nuth thing I do with banjo on occassions is play it with a slide.
Try it. hit an open G then slide up and shake on the first sting third fret then bak. side up and play the c chord on fifth fret. and so forth. seventh fret is D and s a variation try sliding from that to seventh and back to open G rather than doing the usual three chord wonder . Bit of tremalo o the left hand does wonders.
have fun. I do.
Oh by the way. Playing banjo helped me remember where i was on lap steel guitar too as the tuning is the same in G.
I don't play any of these good enough to go public other than among friends but I sure have fun. and you will too
Regards,
Graham


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http://www.songramp.com/homepage.ez?Who=grahamhenderson

thanks for the explanation mike. graham you are always rebuilding, eh? ciao, flo

by the way bela fleck played at wesleyan for spring fling my junior year. i was sooo excited but he was a bit mellow without his flecktone friends... ciao, flo

Yeah Graham, I'm dinking around with slide banjo too. It's the kicks.

I personally never found it too difficult to go between guitar, banjo & mandolin though I'm just a struggler on all of them.

Oh, I don't know Dak. I think you do pretty well on the guitar.

I spent all day today doing the backing to one I am working now called A Bit On The Slide.
It is pretty basic blues. Got the keyboard down pretty quick but I have never had a go at playing slide in an arragement before. Just fooled around with it and used it to find progressins. Should be up in a day or two.
Was supposed to be a harp start and go to slide the break but had too mych fun and don't think I left many holes to squeek a note in bar for some backing riffs.
messing about. Trying differant stuff. That's what it is all about for me.
I knew someone had to have found slide banjo to be a bit of fun before me.
Regards.
Graham

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http://www.songramp.com/homepage.ez?Who=grahamhenderson

Graham,

An old friend and ex-bandmate, Susie Monick, plays slide banjo. She also plays great blues banjo. You can hear her blues work on the song Blue Collar Blues on Richard Dobson's album by the same name released by Brambus Records.

Susie's played with Townes Van Zandt, Vassar Clements, and Jerry Garcia. She was a member of the Buffalo Gals, the first major all-woman bluegrass band.

By the way, I still can't get sound on the darn computer, but the tech folks say they'll be finished soon...then I can hear our song.

All the Best,
Mike

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Mike Dunbar Music

Thanks Mike. Was wondering what ws happening if anything on that.
Hope they checked to see if the mute wasn't on Mike.
Will check them out too Thanks Mike.
Being as we are talking differant struing stuff here I put a link of my first ever go at putting slide on a backing. Bit rough, and I only use it as a filler, having left room i the breaks for someome bettre than me to fill in but Bill Draper is fooling around with both the song and slide guitar and asked if i could put up the backing. You may find it interesting folks.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/2/grahamhendersonmusic.htm
Is in G for anybody want to play along.
Graham

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http://www.songramp.com/homepage.ez?Who=grahamhenderson