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Old 10-20-2014, 11:21 AM
Pualee Pualee is offline
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Default Banjo Technique Tutorials

Hi,

2 years ago, my 6 year old wanted to learn guitar... so we learned together. We've been playing out together for about 18 months now (he is 8). It is a wild ride playing together... and having a venue that keeps asking us amateurs back!

This year, he wanted to learn piano too. I have taught him the very basics, and then I found him a superb teacher... who teaches him for free!!

Now this kid wants a banjo. I have no time or desire left to learn banjo, and I don't know anyone to teach it... so please recommend a book/dvd/etc to teach him (nothing online, we don't have the internet at home).

-----

He has a phenomenal ear and is great at improvising on both guitar and piano. So a DVD is probably best, as he can hear the parts he learns.

He likes playing from chord sheets and making up his parts (he doesn't like tab or reading music). We usually take a popular song, get the chords, and then invent the rest.

What I really need is something that teaches techniques that are normal on the banjo (how to use that 5th string, retuning, open tunings, finger rolls, etc) and how to approach the banjo in general (how is it different from a guitar). He needs to see how lead as well as rhythm parts fit. And... hopefully, something that goes from beginner to intermediate skill level. He goes beyond beginner pretty fast with other instruments, although, he hasn't shown the discipline to get beyond 'intermediate' yet. I think that is just a few years coming though. He is amazing to watch.


-----

Edit:

I've asked before, may as well ask again. I'm look for a banjo for x-mas. I can get fender, gretsch, washburn, and deering locally. The Deering GoodTime is always well recommended, but I'm trying to stay cheap ($200-300). I *think* open back will work better for a small kid than a full resonator, but I want something that can have a resonator added later. Is my price range reasonable? I don't see lower price banjos the way I see lower price guitars.

Last edited by Pualee; 10-20-2014 at 11:29 AM.
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  #2  
Old 10-20-2014, 12:23 PM
000JB 000JB is offline
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Check out truefire.com. They have an entry level banjo DVD course. I have it but have not spent much time with it, still focusing on guitar.
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Old 10-20-2014, 01:28 PM
posternutbag posternutbag is offline
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I tried to learn to play the banjo a couple of months ago. I play mandolin, guitar, bass and a little fiddle. I found the banjo to be the least intuitive instrument I have ever tried to learn. It is pretty easy to learn a couple of right-hand rolls and a couple of left-hand chords and make something that sounds like music.

But to really learn to play, to learn to play melodies (and not just what I call G-noise, that would be noodling about in G using G,C and D7) takes a lot of effort. I would highly recommend trying hard to find a teacher who can lay everything out in a sensible way. An inexpensive open back banjo should be fine. Deering Good Time banjos are well respected and should be fine to learn on.
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Old 10-20-2014, 07:35 PM
Dan Carey Dan Carey is offline
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You'll never go wrong with Deering Goodtime. It's an open back, lightweight (6 pounds) and can be upgraded with a resonator when ever you like. AND it's made in the USA, AND it comes with a 6 year warranty.

I just bought one two weeks ago from Amazon.
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A couple of guitars
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A Hammered Dulcimer that I'm currently building
And a fiddle that I built!

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
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  #5  
Old 10-20-2014, 09:15 PM
wcap wcap is offline
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For whatever it's worth, I started playing banjo when I was about 15 or so, and I used the Pete Seeger book and Earl Scruggs book, along with various records to listen to. I then got the wonderful Melodic Banjo book by Tony Trischka (which came with a little flexible record inside - I imagine if you buy it now you get a CD), and also learned some things from the Pete Wernick Bluegrass Banjo book (also came with a little record).

The Pete Seeger book introduced frailing as well as various strumming aproaches, along with Scruggs style three finger picking. The other books were all three finger picking (with picks) of various sorts.

With the pieces in the Scruggs book you can easily find recordings of Earl Scruggs playing most of the things in the book.

I played Cripple Creek (frailing) and Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Scruggs Style three finger picking with picks) over and over and over and over..... and over and over and over......and over and over and over again, badly, for about a year (enjoying every moment of it though!). Then I started adding new pieces. And I played everything badly for about another year. And then everything really started to click, and all these pieces that I'd been working on started to actually sound good. As with other things, it takes a LOT of time and practice to have this all start to come together really well, though I never viewed it as practice. I just called it playing banjo, and I never got enough of it.

Your son's experience with guitar will make this easier (particularly for the left hand aspects of things). With the right hand one just has to work at it, a LOT, to have the picking patterns all start to feel really natural. It will certainly take a lot more time than learning to strum chords on guitar, though it might be sort of comparable to getting really proficient at, say, Travis picking and various other intricate fingerstyle things on guitar. I used to play Foggy Mountain Breakdown on my knee when I was doing other things to work on the right hand picking patterns.

Personally, my approach, for better or worse, on both banjo and guitar has been to choose pieces that I REALLY want to learn to play and just forge onward and work on them stubbornly until I can play them. And then I add more pieces, and each piece I learn teaches me something new about technique, and about arranging.

Here are the books I used:


My copy is red though!





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Last edited by wcap; 10-20-2014 at 09:43 PM.
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Old 10-20-2014, 09:39 PM
wcap wcap is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pualee View Post

I've asked before, may as well ask again. I'm look for a banjo for x-mas. I can get fender, gretsch, washburn, and deering locally. The Deering GoodTime is always well recommended, but I'm trying to stay cheap ($200-300). I *think* open back will work better for a small kid than a full resonator, but I want something that can have a resonator added later. Is my price range reasonable?
I don't really know much about current banjo options. I started with super cheap Sears outlet store overstock or reconditioned banjos, and played those for at least 4 or 5 years or more before building a truly wonderful banjo from a Steward Macdonald kit.

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Originally Posted by Pualee View Post
I don't see lower price banjos the way I see lower price guitars.
Well, my good quality banjo that I built really is worlds apart from my cheap banjos. I sort of don't know how I tolerated them for so long. I guess I just didn't know any different.

However, these cheap Sears banjos were more playable than the comparably priced Sears GSO (guitar shaped object) that I got at about the same time.

It might well be that a really cheap banjo (if properly set up) will be a less awful instrument than many comparably priced really cheap guitars. But again, playing a good banjo is truly a whole different experience.

I'd be careful to not skimp too much, or you might end up hindering your son's chances of staying motivated and being successful.

I have never played a Deering banjo, but they look pretty decent from what I have seen, and the reviews seem to be good, and I see on the web you can get them for about $399 or so.
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Old 10-25-2014, 05:39 PM
wcap wcap is offline
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By the way, are you aware of the Banjo Hangout forum? It is sort of the banjo counterpart of AGF. I have not hung out there much (since I'm more focused on guitar now), but it seems like a good place. You'd likely get more responses to your question there.
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Old 11-06-2014, 01:10 AM
wcap wcap is offline
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I realize this is a guitar forum, but I'm surprised there are no other responses to the OP's questions!
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Old 11-06-2014, 03:04 AM
darylcrisp darylcrisp is offline
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as others mentioned, the Deering would be a great banjo-well made, good action and adjustable. they sound quite nice as well.

you might check zepps country music. Donald Zepp is a wellhouse of information and sells new/used banjos and gear. give him a call or email, tell him your story and I'm pretty sure he can help you in many ways. he has some very nice video on his website also.

good luck
d
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Old 11-20-2014, 10:59 AM
Lacks Focus Lacks Focus is offline
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As a banjo player, I feel I can say this without fear of reprisals: along with the banjo, get your kid a mute. I don't know what's out there these days, but when I was first learning almost 40 years ago, the only ones available were for violins. They work, though the mounting feet, which clamp onto the bridge, are spaced for 4-string instruments, which means either the 1st or 5th string won't get the full benefit. But it will still be worth it, for your own sanity.
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Old 11-20-2014, 12:28 PM
Pualee Pualee is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lacks Focus View Post
As a banjo player, I feel I can say this without fear of reprisals: along with the banjo, get your kid a mute. I don't know what's out there these days, but when I was first learning almost 40 years ago, the only ones available were for violins. They work, though the mounting feet, which clamp onto the bridge, are spaced for 4-string instruments, which means either the 1st or 5th string won't get the full benefit. But it will still be worth it, for your own sanity.
Would you recommend the mute even for an open back banjo? We tend to practice all the time at home, and get a bit loud anyway?

It seems a home-made mute should be easy, either a piece of fabric between the strings and banjo skin, or else a few rubber bands wrapped around the strings?
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Old 11-20-2014, 12:55 PM
wcap wcap is offline
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I used to use a mute sometimes (actually, I have two different kinds of mutes), but mostly for changing the sound of the instrument and the sustain, and not usually for the purpose of being quieter (though a mute does that too). Muted banjo can be kind of a cool sound, with lots of sustain.

If I wanted to play quietly I would stuff a t-shirt in the resonator, or I would sometimes play without picks (which, though it required a different right hand technique, really improved my right hand control).

Or I'd play with picks like normal (I mostly played Scruggs style and melodic style - obviously clawhammer/frailing players will play without picks all the time), but I'd just try to play really quietly - this REALLY improves your right hand control. (It takes a certain degree of proficiency with the instrument to be able to do this of course, and a beginner won't have this for a few years).

Unless you have neighbors, say in an apartment building, that you need to be careful not to bother, I'd say just practice without a mute or anything most of the time. Go in a different room with the door closed if necessary.
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Last edited by wcap; 11-20-2014 at 01:04 PM.
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Old 11-20-2014, 01:02 PM
wcap wcap is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pualee View Post

It seems a home-made mute should be easy, either a piece of fabric between the strings and banjo skin, or else a few rubber bands wrapped around the strings?
These sorts of things will quiet the sound (by fairly extreme dampening/muffling of the vibrations in the instrument), and can be really useful in allowing a banjo player to practice at times that would otherwise be impossible (e.g. when family members are sleeping), but it is no way to play the instrument routinely.

The violin mutes (and other mutes) mentioned by the previous poster are basically weights that are clamped or otherwise attached to the bridge. The extra mass on the bridge quiets the instrument, but also fundamentally changes the sound quality - almost like you are playing a whole different instrument. As I said above, the sound can be really cool for some pieces. A mute of this sort is well worth having for this purpose, even if you never used it for quieting the instrument. However, while a mute can allow you to play at times when you otherwise could not, I would not think that playing with a mute routinely would be the best thing in terms of developing banjo technique (unless of course the muted banjo sound is what you are after).
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Last edited by wcap; 11-20-2014 at 01:07 PM.
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Old 11-20-2014, 02:20 PM
Lacks Focus Lacks Focus is offline
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wcap is right. The tone of the instrument, as well as its sustain, are altered immensely, to the point that anyone not familiar with that sound would likely not be able to identify it as a banjo. And in that sense, it can make practice on right hand technique questionable - if you're working hard to produce a good, clean picking tone, you'll never know if you've succeeded with one of these clamp-on mutes.

But it does increase the Family Acceptance Factor of banjo practice, at least a bit.
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Old 11-21-2014, 12:57 AM
wcap wcap is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pualee View Post

It seems a home-made mute should be easy, either a piece of fabric between the strings and banjo skin, or else a few rubber bands wrapped around the strings?
One more thing I would say about this: If you want to quiet a banjo for the purpose of playing when you could not otherwise play, I would not do anything that actually interferes with the vibrations of the strings directly (so, nothing that would actually be in contact with the strings). Rather, I'd do something that muffled or otherwise altered the vibration of the bridge and head. So, a mute as discussed above would work, or something stuffed behind the head will work. These things will quiet the banjo by reducing vibration of the head, but will not directly inhibit string vibration.

Incidentally, if I recall correctly, the Earl Scruggs book I mentioned in my previous post in this thread discusses the use of mutes on banjos (I could be wrong - it might be the Seeger book, or possibly the book by Wernick, but I think it was the Scruggs book that discusses different approaches for muting a banjo). I always found that a violin mute worked best, except that it can't be centered on the bridge, which is awkward since either the first or 5th string ends up not getting muted as well as the others. I always meant to modify my violin mute so I could center it, but I never got around to doing that.
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