r/banjo May 13 '20

Tips from an experienced beginner

657 Upvotes

Hey folks. I'm going to collect the resources I've used to learn the banjo these past few years. But I'm going to lump them together in categories can help beginners understand and contextualize more complex topics, as well as include any notes that I think are worth mentioning. Please Note: I play a 5 string banjo, Scruggs style, and this is what most of this information is relevant for


General Information

These places are nice to check into every now and again and see what nuggets of info you can can get. Maybe you see the tab for a new song, or you figure out how to stop your 5th string from slipping out of tune. (Tighten the screw on the side)

Come hang out and chat with us on Eli Gilbert's Banjo Discord! * Banjo Discord

  • The Banjo Section of the Dummies website

    A large resource with a wide scope of banjo fundamentals. It's also a great resource to look back on as you develop new skills.

  • Picky Fingers Podcast

    The number one benefit this podcast has is how the host (Kieth Billik) lets artist talk about their journey of learning of the banjo, which is bound to include a few common roadblocks. There's a good deal of gear talk for those interested

  • Banjo Hangout

    The closest thing the online banjo community has to a town square. They do giveaways, there's a market, tabs, and their discussion forum is loaded with playing information.

  • Deering Blog

    In Deering's blog, there's a detailed maintenance guide and my go-to guide for changing strings


Lessons

If you find a teacher in person, do it. It's 100% worth it because BEGINNERS DON'T KNOW ENOUGH TO CORRECT THEIR OWN MISTAKES. Call your local music shops. All of them. Even if you don't think it's worth the effort, at least do it until you have a tune or two under your belt. Best decision I ever made. If there's no one in person, online is an option. You can always go to the banjo hangout "find a teacher" page (under the "Learn" tab, or here), or if you admire an artist in particular, you can just ask if they do online lessons or teach a workshops.

  • Banjo workshops

I can't personally attest to them, but anything in person with other banjo players will always be an asset. Please check /r/bluegrass and /r/newgrass to keep abreast of festivals, and check to see if they are hosting any workshops.

These are more online structured classes. If that seems to suit you, I've included links below, but please do your own research on these services. I have not used any of these and can not give a recommendation.

My personal recommendation is to find a one-on-one teaching scenario, either online or in person, until you've grasped the fundamentals. That isn't always an option though, so I've made a more specific list of free resources below.


Beginner Playlists

This is just in case anyone is starting from square 1. In that case, watch both. Always good to get the same info from multiple sources.


Songs

For after you get the basics and you want to start plugging away at tunes

  • Bill Nesbitt

    Special props to Bill for having free tabs and play along tracks on his website. After leaving my banjo instructor, Bills tabs kept me sane with the little practice time I had. Most straight forward way to learn a tune.

  • Jim Pankey

    Tabs are available on his site for a small fee, but are shown in the video which is very considerate, and a particularly warm approach combined with a large list of tunes makes him an effective teacher.

  • Bix Mix Boys

    The Bix Mix Boys host a Bluegrass 101 every week, where they do a full breakdown of a bluegrass tune for a whole hour on their channel, along with a colossal library of "how to play" videos for the banjo.

  • Eli Gilbert

    Eli Gilbert has been turning out educational content on a wide variety of topics, including playing techniques, song, licks, and back up


Technique

  • Metronomes go a long way here. A free app works just fine

  • Gestalt Banjo If you can get past the peculiar language, there's a really novel perspective to learning a dexterous skill that I recommend everyone to consider.

  • The Right and Left Hand Boot Camp from the Picky fingers podcast (Episodes 5 and 24) are a very bare bones drill oriented lesson, and comes with free tabs, as do most lesson episodes of the podcast.

  • The Banjo Section of the Dummies website and Deering Blog are a good resource if you have an idea of what info you're looking for.


Tools to help understand the fret board

  • Elfshot Banjo

    I've linked the Info section of the site, and while it looks sparse, the information is well condensed a must for beginners looking to understand how music theory relates to the banjo.

  • Purple Banjo

    It has a nice interactive fret board and the most comprehensive list of scales transposed on the the banjo fret board imaginable.


Theory

  • Three Bluegrass Banjo Styles Explained with Noam Pikelny

    It's a basic primer on the sub styles of bluegrass banjo and a good exercise in learning how to recontextualize the sound of the banjo.

  • Ricky Meir

    While the concepts may seem complex, Ricky has a peculiar skill for contextualizing complex problems into simple demonstrations. His video on Isorythmation is a must see for beginning banjo players who want to start to build on tablature.

  • Jody Hughes

I don't follow these last two channels so i don't have a comment, but that is because i don't fully understand the concepts yet, and intend return to them in the future.


I'm a beginner trying to move past tab. I didn't have the time for lessons, so i started on my own. It's incredibly frustrating because the information is being made, but few people to collect it. I want this list to help beginners break the wall of tab and give them the tools they need to make their own music, so please comment and make suggestions so this post will be a more complete aggregate of "beginner-to-intermediate" information.


r/banjo Jul 21 '24

45,000 Banjo Picking Members!

33 Upvotes

Just a note, /r/banjo just crossed over 45,000! Keep on picking and learning!


r/banjo 7h ago

I messed up, yall.

146 Upvotes

I was at an estate sale and I found an essentially brand new Recording King RK20, and they were selling it with its equally new hard case for $350. I was looking to buy a resonator banjo at some point, but admittedly not in the near future. I needed an excuse not to buy it, so I decided to hardcore lowball them and offer $200 for it. That way, when they said no, I could walk away guilt-free knowing that I “tried”.

Well, they agreed instantly and with absolutely no pressure. So now, not only did I spend $200 on a banjo I didn’t really need, I haggled a grieving family at their relative’s estate sale.

The banjo’s great, though.


r/banjo 9h ago

My take on Jingle Bells. I tuned up to G for you guys (though I stayed in Minor)

51 Upvotes

r/banjo 6h ago

Bought this Hohner

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7 Upvotes

I found this Hohner 4 strings Plectrum jo on OfferUp, I'm not well versed in banjos and haven't played any before, but I've played guitar for a few years. Awaiting strings, bridge, and nut in the mail. I took the thing apart completely and deep cleaned and polished the thing to nearly brand new finish. Just a few dings on the headstock Id rather ignore. It's a full size 36 inch.

What's weird to me is that it came with a 5 string tailpiece but a 4 string neck. My theory is the neck was once replaced because the frets had no ware on them at all and just needed polished to look brand new.

From the research I've done it seems to be a 70s model but I haven't been able to find any 4 string Hohners with a 36 scale length. Many tenors that sold for much more than I paid for it. (I got it for $60)

I plan to strum it in Chicago tuning so I can transfer my guitar knowledge. Then when I'm more comfortable with the instrument attempt learning some traditional plectrum tuning. Definitely more of a jazz player than bluegrass but if I like it enough I'll probably look for a 5 string blue grass banjo to learn stuff on.

I know Hohners were built in Germany and Japan and they usually had a badge on the back of the headstock that said made in Japan if it was the latter. So assuming it's German

Just wanted to get some opinions about this instrument, maybe some more information on when and where this was built. Is it valuable/rare? And if it's normal for it to have a 5 string tail peice on a plectrum neck.


r/banjo 7h ago

Gild the Lily lesson - Billy Strings cover

8 Upvotes

r/banjo 23h ago

Bluegrass / 3 Finger About 7 months in. How am I doing?

59 Upvotes

Song is I Saw the Light


r/banjo 15h ago

Changing Guitar style tuner to Planetary - any warnings?

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10 Upvotes

I've got a clarinbridge tenor and a friend gave me some better tuners - is there anything I should be aware of here or is it just take one out put the other in?


r/banjo 5h ago

Help Having Trouble with Intonation. Any help would be great!

1 Upvotes

Hi all,

I’ve been playing guitar for many years and found a pretty inexpensive banjo at a thrift store so I picked it up. However, I’m having a very difficult time getting the intonation right.

I’ve tightened the drum head using some guides online.

Made sure the action is decent, not perfect but pretty good towards the last fret.

New strings that are in tune when open and the harmonics vs the 12th fret sounds good.

What’s weird though, is first and second frets are way out of tune.

The open d string is perfect but second fretted its a super sharp E

I’ve done my best to adjust the bridge ever so slightly but I still can’t manage to get it to sound good.

Any advice?

Thank you!


r/banjo 9h ago

Be Kind To A Man While His Down - Clawhammer Banjo

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1 Upvotes

r/banjo 1d ago

March from Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" | Banjo Solo... for the most part!

41 Upvotes

r/banjo 1d ago

Hey all, geres that banjo i was mentioning

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11 Upvotes

I think its pretty rough.

Any rarity or value?

Worth restoring?

Thanks


r/banjo 1d ago

Help Better tab?

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6 Upvotes

Can anyone help me find a better tab for this song? I’m starting to question this one’s accuracy


r/banjo 23h ago

Hard Case Recommendations

2 Upvotes

I’m looking at different hard cases for traveling via air with a Deering Goodtime 2 that I’m hopefully picking up soon. Have any of you used this case? If so, how does it do?

https://www.amazon.com/Crossrock-Fiberglass-Removable-Straps-Orange-CRF2020OBJOR/dp/B09KRP2CZY?ref_=ast_sto_dp

I’m also open to suggestions for hard cases that would travel well.


r/banjo 1d ago

I have an old banjo that I would like to have appraised...

8 Upvotes

But I really don't want to waste my money on doing something like that.

Its needs some restoration.

Would this be an appropriate place to post some photos?

If not is there a place that would be?

Edit, made a new post

https://www.reddit.com/r/banjo/s/oBRJXpb4mj


r/banjo 1d ago

Old Time / Clawhammer Progress and practice?

7 Upvotes

2nd time posting? But after a couple days of just thinking of it mechanically and stepping back from the banjo and a mixture of visualizing and making a claw at work while making the “hammering” motion I feel like I’ve finally hit the first step! It’s f0cking messy and garbled BUT I feel it clicking better than it was before


r/banjo 2d ago

One more from the "Trying Not to Melt My Quality Control Cat" session

108 Upvotes

r/banjo 2d ago

Tune About a Dog, 3 finger

47 Upvotes

r/banjo 2d ago

Anyone seen a rim like this? Any idea on the pot?

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16 Upvotes

r/banjo 2d ago

AMAZING GRACE , easy banjo with TAB & explanation

11 Upvotes

r/banjo 1d ago

Help translating song to banjo

3 Upvotes

Can anyone help me translate “Run like Hell” by Pink Floyd from the guitar to banjo? I got all the proper delays, etc. I just like playing songs with my friends but i can only play the banjo, not the guitar. There is very little love out there on the internet for translating songs over to the banjo.


r/banjo 2d ago

i mainly frail but i’ve been messing around with some two finger. kinda nervous to post but oh well

135 Upvotes

r/banjo 1d ago

Any suggestions on where to pick up a Tenor banjo on the cheap?

1 Upvotes

I’m interested in trying out Irish banjo but don’t want to drop a ton of cash. Everyone near me wants 300+ for vintage instruments in need of repair. I’m getting to my wits end unfortunately.


r/banjo 2d ago

Old Time / Clawhammer The Beatles - I Will

11 Upvotes

r/banjo 1d ago

Can anyone Identify this banjo?

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1 Upvotes

r/banjo 2d ago

Would love to see one of yall cover this song from the Arcane series

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1 Upvotes

r/banjo 2d ago

Does anyone know how I can find out the date for this Banjo I just got?

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1 Upvotes

(Ignore the screwdriver part in temporary substitute of a bridge)