g'day riperoo, i took up the banjo a while ago after "playing" guitar for a long time and i found it a different beast indeed, its easy enough too get used to the basic chord shapes and if you have fingerpicked a bit ,but if you want to play bluegrass scrugs style it takes a while to get your fingers going correctly and getting that bounce,im still not there ,but i havent been applying myself lately since i got my mandolin,which i have found much easier .
i love the sound of the banjo as well so i understand where you are coming from so if you havn't got your heart set on a banjo ,i would look at a mandolin,its, imo a much easier transition but having said that it cant hurt to have....both!
as far as the banjitar goes ive never played one, perhaps taylor swift could chime in
