OT: Banjos

Ive been working with the guitar for years but have decided that I should go and learn to play the banjo. So my question is should i by a used one or go for a new one? Also ive seen some build your own banjo kits with the materials you need that you assemble and stain and wonder if its worth the effort to build the kit?

My daughter is learning to play the banjo. I love the chords. If you can find a good quality used one, it would be better, as most of the new ones don't seem that well made. If you find a good finger chart, let me know, as hers doesn't make a great deal of sense. You know that a lot of banjo music is written in Tabulature?

I'd say it depends on how much money you have to spend and
how sure you are that you want to play the banjo. If you buy a
new one and then decide that you do not like it you will not be
able to sell it for as much as you paid for it, where if you buy a
used one you should be able to. I have built 5 banjos over the
past couple of years and repaired several before that, to me they
are easy and fun to work on because everything is bolted
together so it can be taken off again and redone if it is not quite
right. I would recommend waiting on a kit till you have played a
banjo a little and found out if you like it, a kit built banjo will
likely not have great resale value. Building from scratch is fun
because you can pick the wood, but only if you have a lathe and
bandsaw, minimally. Roger Siminoff has a good book on
building banjos, I can't think what the title is but it is widely
available.
Zach

You may find banjohangout.org helpful, they have lots of information there and good forums. The way I was told about the banjo is that there are three basic shapes for the major chords which cover all four strings and therefore any of them can be played anywhere on the neck, which means there is a nice range of pitches for whatever chord you might want.
Zach

You know the FoxFire Books have the plans for a Banjo? I built my dulcimer from the instructions in them with some minor alterations. If the banjo directions are as complete as the dulcimer's I would recommend simply using commercial hardware, and you have a better banjo than otherwise available. If you do make your banjo, make sure you are exact with your fret spacing. You can buy fret buy the roll, and use a slightly worn hacksaw blade to make the notch.

Depends on you age and dedication. I could never learn to get all the music thats left left in my old 6 string guitar. I know there are more combinations that I'll never master.so I'm left to make somewhat pleasant noise rather than play music.

I have been playing off and on since Hi School
And to get as good as Allan .. Well he'd have to break both writes and play with the casts on.

5 string banjo although I love to hear one. I believe is one of the most difficult instruments to master.( The most difficult to me would be the peddle steel)

Just ask Ol John T here he has been working with his and to learn the rolls needed when its time to do your turn really shine demands a lot of concentration and making it look easy is almost imposable .

John is a little humble calling himself a wannabe , but he is a musician dedicating his time, and talent into one instrument. I only wish I knew half of what he does.

But then again I don't consider myself to be a guitar player.

If I were to be thinking of something different I'd be checking local music stores for a repo or a trade in, and see if you could rent one for a couple months . or maybe a pawn shop.

I think it's FoxFire volume 3.

I bought a used 5 string Master Craft from Craigslist for $125. You can also check Fleabay. I just waited for the right deal. It is like new and has fine sound for me as a beginner.

My daughter's is a Fender. Her mother and I bought it at a pawn shop in Lake Charles, LA for $90. It came with a tuning box and a DVD on how to play with some lanky fellow(he really looks country).

I'd like to recommend the Deering Goodtime banjo as a fine introductory instrument. Deering is a respectable company. It's made in the USA! And it's a playable instrument. A lot of Chinese banjos leave much to be desired, and the new player will become discouraged and quit. If you can find a local player to give you some tips, it will help you get started on the right foot. I have played a guitar for 46 years, and my banjo mentor had to get "guitar" out of my brain. The syncopated banjo rhythm is somewhat foreign to a guitar. Also - I indicated to him that I was not interested in learning to read banjo tablature. His response? Take that banjo home and put a "for sale" ad in the paper. He was right - why re-invent the wheel? Tablature is an easy way to get fingering technique from experts like Earl Scruggs and J.D. Crowe and many more. If you have a good local music store, they will give your original purchase price on a Goodtime for trade-in on an upgrade Deering banjo as you progress musically.

Just so I don't mis-represent myself - I am NOT a banjo player, but it is the most fun instrument that I've ever fooled with, and I'm good enough to play a few hymns in church. Old men have slow fingers. . .

Paul
Untitled URL Link

Hey Bob - I think I remember that Foxfire article. Seems like the old guy said he had a valuable dog. He and that dog could walk past a neighbor's home, and that dog would catch and kill a cat and bring it to him without putting any teeth marks (holes) in the cat's hide. Hide was used for the banjo head, and the guts were used for the strings.

The Foxfire books are very good reading.

I dont see any reason to start with a NEW BANJO, it decreases in value substantially soon as you walk out the door when it becomes a USED BANJO. However a good used one should be worth near the same if you give up after a year and want to sell it.

As far as beginners, a Goldtone is a decent relatively inexpensive unit or a Fender perhaps but higher in quality would be a Deering. My first was a $30 5 string then after 6 months when I learned to play a few chords and wanted one that sounded better and was much easier to play, I bought an ODE (another good quality brand Id recommend) for $800. Im NOT gonna sink the thousands of bucks into a pre war Gibson, but the banjo Id loveeeeeeeeeee to own (plan to someday) is a Hatfield made in Kentucky.

First you have to decide if youre gonna play Claw Hammer style more for Olde Timey and Appalachian or Scruggs finger style more for Bluegrass. With claw hammer at least you dont have to master those complicated right hand finger roll patterns grrrrrrrrr

Hope you didnt wait till age 60 to start like me?? thats too dern old, check out the URL links below of an 8 year old whose only played 2 years, someone needs to explain to him how difficult that is and how it should take yearssssssssss grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

If youre gonna play Scruggs finger style you need to practice basic thumb in and out forward then backward rolls such as 3251 4251 3251 4251. Then you need to learn the basic chords first the Key of G, G C D7 sometimes A sometimes E Minor,,,,,,,,,then learn the Key of C Chords, C F G7 sometimes D sometimes A minor......That way if you use a Capo you can play the Keys of G A C and D which covers many songs called out in a jam. Im talkin the barefoot up top beginner chords here, once you master those then you have to learn them all up n down the neck but thats basically bringing down EITHER the F position or the D position, just moving down the neck which changes what they become i.e if youre in D as you move down fret by fret it becomes D sharp,,,,E,,,,F,,,, F sharp etc get the picture???

Id learn the roll or rolls first starting slowwwwwwwww but with good timing (use a metronome) then start changing chords WITHOUT EVER MISSING OR DROPPING A BEAT AND KEEPING THE TIME AND COUNT

Okay I DONT HAVE THE PATIENCE TO USE TABLATURE, its NEVER GONNA HAPPEN WITH ME. Great if you can and have the patience as you can duplicate note for note and finger by finger what the author put down. I play more by ear and feel and what I hear and if I had to use Tabs I would have tossed out my banjo 4 years ago HOWEVER IF IT WORKS FOR YOU FINE AND ITS BEST IF YOU CAN DO IT, Im ONLY saying Im too old and dont have the patience and will never be a real picker BUT IM HAVIN FUN AND I CAN KEEP IN TIME AT JAMS AND IF A BODY CAN DO THAT THEY PUT UP WITH YOU..

When you go to a jam the singer will often call out a song (and it may be in F or E or B flat so be ready) you may have never heard in your life and will sing the verse and chorus then make eye contact with you in effect asking if you wanna take the break SO YOU BEST PAY ATTENTION N REALLY GET THAT VERSE (of that song you never heard lol) STUCK IN YOUR HEAD cause youre expected to sort of play it (Im talkin most of the melody notes). HOWEVER (fake it till you make it) if you can at least remember the chord progression and count (how many beats in that chord) (and thats not as hard as it may sound) and you ROLL THROUGH THE CHORDS IN TIME WITH THE RIGHT COUNT you sound decent because most of the melody notes will come up somewhere within your roll BUT THE TIMING AND COUNTS STILL GOTTA BE RIGHT. Another way to fake it if you dont remember the chords or count is to watch the rythm guitar player and go where he goes lol. This relates to what my son told me when I started..."Dad, you dont have to hit all the RIGHT NOTES, but you cant hit any WRONG (i.e. sour out of the chord) NOTES" So if youre rolling the right chords, then there you wont hit any wrong notes and it sounds decent even if all the exact melody notes arent struck.

FINALLY once you can play the chords you need to learn where all 7 of the scale notes since some of them may NOT be within that chord. (they wouldnt come up as you roll) Thats merely lifting a finger (maybe your pinky) off one fret (once youre in the chord position) and placing it elsewhere. BUTTTTTTT you have to learn that for alllllll the chord positions grrrrrrrrrr.

NUFF SAID

Check out an 8 year old, makes me so mad I wanna burn my banjo (copy n paste to your browser)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=I3qbB4Kq3Y0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggG8fsuGnhY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKKDtG0JjZQ&feature=related

OKAY this is embarrassing (after an 8 yr old)but once a body gets older that dont bother him lol. This is me bout a year ago its pretty poor but Ive improved some since then

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJzc2_NwtRo

LAST ONE, heres my son who has played 20 years on Beale Street in Memphis where he makes his living (taught him everything he knows lol)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VpzJ2UM100&feature=related

John T Banjo Player wanna bee

I started on a Deering Goodtime and loved it. Still have it but
it now has a "parlor" neck on it now (shorter, 17 fret instead
of 19). Play it constantly when I have the down time to do
so. I think its a 2000 model has a brass hoop for a tone ring.
I ordered the neck through Deering, theyre excellent people
to deal with. My 2 cents get a goodtime and some planetary
friction tuners instead of the guitar tuners. Banjobuyer.com
is a good place to start for used banjos.

That's what I'm talkin about !!
I even forgot to mention that how important the pinky finger is.,, I never did get control of mine .. must now be hooked up right to the nerve endings.
It just gets in the way of the other three

I would almost say you are bi dextrous , Can you write with either hand?

Seems to me Banjo is not a second nature instrument. Kinda like rubbing your tummy, and patting your head.

I'm 66 and I know I don't have enough time to get as good as you are... Heck I may not even be able to tune one.

Boy those electronic tuners sure made life easier huh, Id hate to go back to the pitch pipe I used to have lol. Yep plenty of banjo chords use the other 3 fingers while the pinky is used to pick up 2 of the other scale notes that are NOT within any of the strings already due to the normal chord positioning. I learned that by knowing the melody note I needed wasnt on any of the strings and by observing some real banjo players reaching down n picking up that note so I tried it woooooooo hoooooooooo so thats where that note was lol

John T

I have a tuner app for my phone, also a level, flashlight, network mapper, ODBII reader, ...