I’ve decided I want to learn to play the banjo. I figure it will make me a big hit with Mrs. Rastahomie’s family back in Missouri (I swear to God, if any of you repeat this to her at the next Spiffled gathering, I’ll come back from the grave and haunt you ('cause Mrs. Rastahomie’s going to kill me))
Now, some questions:
Any dopers play?
How much would a good, middle-of-the-road quality banjo cost?
Is it particularly difficult to learn/play? Harder than, say, the piano? (As a side note, 16 months of piano lessons in high school have left me able to play a few bars of Für Elise and Come Sail Away twelve years later)
Always liked the banjo myself. Never learned to play, though.
From observation, the banjo appears to be a somewhat difficult instrument to play, in that all fingers of the “picking hand” get involved. I’m clueless about musical instruments, so take that for what it’s worth.
A well-played banjo sounds great to me. “Duelling Banjos” is a killer song.
This may sound strange, but let your fingers do the walking a call a few Pawn Shops to see if they have a banjo for sale. I wouldn’t spend a bunch of money until I decided this instrument was my calling.
The all fingers picking method of playing was made famous by Earl Scruggs. Before that most people “beat” the banjo (think of Grandpa Jones).
Your excellance on the banjo will be determined by your excellance on any instrument…how much time are you dedicated to practice?
I think you might compare playing a banjo kinda to playing a mandolin. There’s about an inch from the first string to the last…not a lot of room for picking if you’re heavy handed. Even tho the top string is the “drone” that’s picked with your thumb (I’m thinking 5-string, here).
What Sauron said. The banjo is like guitar^2. You’re going to have to bust your ass(fingers), but the reward is awesome. I have a friend who plays and I can say the “gold” in banjo playing is jamming. I’ve heard a lot of banjo songs played, but the “forum” for banjo is jamming. I could listen to it all night. Good luck, don’t give up.
The banjo is the folk instrument most closely associated with classical guitar. The picking techniques are very similar. You can buy a pretty good middle of the road banjo for about $300-500. My grandfather used to play the guitar and banjo in an old country band (they had a few #1 hits in the '50’s) and is pretty good.
As other posters have said, the instrument is only as good as the practice you are able to put into it. If you don’t practice you will always suck unless you are some type of wildly talented prodigy. Assuming that you aren’t since most of the population is not, you will have to work at it.
As for the difficulty of the instrument, I have played it before. I could sight read on it and it wasn’t too hard. The similarities between it and the classical guitar aid in this facility. Make sure you have good hand positions though or you will get tired real fast at best or carpal tunnel at worst.
I have been learning (on and off) and playing the banjo for about 2 years. Here are some answers and things to consider:
A banjo ain’t cheap. I got very lucky and found a decent, low-middle-of-the-road banjo for about $300 at a guitar show. A good middle ground banjo will run about $500-600. Prices upwards of $3000 are not uncommon. Check out these sites for prices on new and used banjos: http://idt.net/~zepp29/bnjolist.htm http://www.janetdavismusic.com/
Banjo is almost always played from tablature as opposed to regular sheet music. This makes the banjo easier to pick up for folks with little music theory background. Here’s a site that has lots of tablature and other banjo info: http://www.bluegrasssbanjo.org
There are two types of banjo: 4-string (AKA tenor) and 5-string (AKA bluegrass). The 4-string is less versatile and is used mainly in ragtime bands. If you want to play bluegrass, you gotta have a 5-string.
There are two main methods to play a banjo: Clawhammer (AKA old style) and 3-finger (AKA Scruggs style) picking. Clawhammer employs all five fingers. The thumb generally picks the top string while the fingers strum/pick the bottom 4. 3-finger was perfected by Earl Scruggs in the 1940’s and 50’s and remains the most popular style for bluegrass.
The banjo is not easy, especially in the beginning. Learning the correct right hand (picking) techniques is crucial. Generally, in threefinger picking, the thumb picks the top two strings, the middle finger picks the bottom two strings, and the index finger picks the middle string. You are not, however, supposed to use the same finger to pick consecutive notes, so the index finger has to be trained to find any of the three middle strings at any time.
Good luck finding a teacher. There just aren’t many banjo teachers around (imagine that!) and the good ones are usually booked. Most of mine has been self taught through books, videos and practice.
If you want to impress your in-laws in Mizzou you are going to have to practice. Alot. At least one hour a day, every day. Mrs. Rasta will get so tired of hearing you practice the same rolls, licks, and chords that she will probably require therapy. This is NOT included in the price of the banjo.
You must have fast fingers! Ever heard “The Ballad of Jed Clampett”? The first measure of this 4/4 tune has 16 notes for the banjo.
(I swear to God, if any of you repeat this to her at the next Spiffled gathering, I’ll come back from the grave and haunt you ('cause Mrs. Rastahomie’s going to kill me))