- Jim Bottorff's Banjo Page
- TIPS ON LEARNING
TO PLAY THE BANJO
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Items
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- For the purpose
of this Website there are three types of banjos:
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- 5-String Banjo
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- The 5-String banjo has five
strings and a neck with 22 frets. The 5th string is a short
string on the side of the neck.
- Lots of styles of playing
are used including finger picking and strumming both with and
without finger picks.
- Different tunings are used
on the 5-string. The two most common are "G" (gDGBD)
and "C" (gCGBD).
- The many tunings allow more
open string chords for easier finger picking. Capos are
often used to change keys.
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- 4-String Plectrum
Banjo
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- The 4-String Plectrum banjo
has four strings and a neck with 22 frets. Same as a 5-String
without the 5th string.
- Standard tuning is "C"
(CGBD). Other popular tunings include "G" (DGBD)
and "Guitar" (DGBE).
- The most common styles of
playing include using a flat guitar pick to play single strings
and chords.
- Playing in different keys
is accomplished by learning chords for that key. Capos
are seldom used.
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- 4-String Tenor
Banjo
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- The 4-String Tenor banjo
has four strings and a short neck with 19 or 17 frets.
- Standard tuning is "Tenor"
(CGDA). Alternate tunings include "Irish Tenor"
(GDAE), plus "Plectrum" and "Guitar".
- The most common styles of
playing use a flat guitar pick to play single strings and chords.
- Playing in different keys
is accomplished by learning chords for that key. Capos
are seldom used.
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- Click
here for additional information on banjos (Wikipedia)
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- Getting Started:
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- Go to a local music store
and browse through the books on banjo playing, 5-String, Plectrum,
and Tenor. Select
a book for your particular banjo interest that shows tuning methods,
basics of music, chord exercises, and a few songs. The
Mel-Bay company has a large number of beginning and advanced
publications. Harry Reser and Roy Smeck are names to look
for in the older books that can be found on Ebay and other Internet
sites. Although they were well known as tenor banjo players,
they wrote books for all types of banjos. Instruction books with
CD recordings are good but not necessary.
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- If you like folk and bluegrass
music, Pete Seeger's "How to play the 5-string Banjo"
book and recording have a lot of variety with examples of many
styles of strumming and finger-picking. Some banjo books
focus on only one style of playing, such as frailing, 3-finger
picking, single-string melody, or chord-melody. These are
good if you know what playing style you want to learn. If you
are not sure what style you are interested in, stay with the
books that show music basics and simple songs with chord diagrams.
Watch banjo instructors and performers on YouTube to get
some knowledge of the different styles. Pete Seeger recordings
and videos are available on YouTube. Click
here for a Pete Seeger video. Earl
Scruggs style of 3-finger picking is in abundance on YouTube.
Click here for some 3-finger
picking samples.
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- A few 4-string plectrum
and tenor lessons can be found on the Internet and YouTube. Click here for my Eddie Peabody Lessons
Webpage.
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- Local city and county libraries
sometimes have books and recordings that are no longer available
in the music stores or the Internet. You can also access
the Internet from most libraries for reviews of the books you
find. Used book stores may have some banjo instruction books
as well. Internet sources for books, records, videos, and CD's
are ebay.com and amazon.com.
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- Learn to tune the banjo
by various methods such as, electronic tuner, piano, pitch pipe,
tuning fork, other instruments, and relative-tuning. The
relative-tuning is explained in most beginning books and this
should be one of the first things you learn on the banjo. Always
check the tuning before playing or practicing. Being able
to stay in tune is very important.
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- Learn the left hand chord
positions for C, F, G7 and then G, C, D7, playing them in that
order. Use a flat guitar type pick, your fingers, or the
back of your finger nails, to strum/pick the strings. Don't
be concerned with rhythm or anything else until you can make
each chord sound clear and loud without buzzing or sounding muted.
Practice, practice, practice. As you hold the chord, strike
each string separately to make sure you are getting clean, clear
sounds. Getting a clear sound from each string is very
important. Press the strings down between the fret bars, not
on top of the fret.
Once you have learned to tune the banjo easily and make clear
sounding chords, then it's time to continue on with your
choice of right hand techniques, such as flat-picking, frailing,
finger-picking, etc. Rhythm, timing, and speed of changing
chords will come with practice. "Skip
To My Lou," "Down In The Valley,"
"Camptown Races,"
and "Buffalo Gals" are typical of the types of songs to
practice. Play chord accompaniment and then progress to melody
techniques.
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- Listen and watch as many
banjo players as possible. Choose a style(s) of playing
you like. Find a local banjo teacher that can teach you
music basics, rhythm, timing, and some songs.
Have your banjo checked-out and adjusted by someone with banjo
knowledge. Watch while they do it and have them explain
the function of the different parts. Learn about string
gauges and how to change strings. Learn how to properly
adjust the bridge and tighten the head of your banjo. Almost
every part on the banjo has a relationship to the way it sounds.
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- When you are ready
to start playing along with some easy songs click here.
Practice every day, very important.
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- Happy Picking and Strumming,
- Jim Bottorff
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