New Gold Tone Banjo
 

Hi guys...I've notice lots of banjo threads in here but never paid attention to them...until now. Over the weekend my LGS (Harry's in Raleigh NC) had an open house to celebrate new ownership. Harry retired and sold the shop to Mike & Scott, longtime employees.

Anyway, they had a raffle with lots of nice prizes...and I walked away with a new banjo. Its a the Gold Tone CC-BG package...I guess its a CC-50 banjo with some accessories.

I've never touched a banjo before so I'll probably be around for advise. I'm going to get some lessons from a friend when he gets home from touring until then I'll look for some beginner lessons on line. This should be fun.

Cool! I’m with you—actually getting a banjo today—first one after many years of playing guitar. I purchased this course and previewed it—even tuned my guitar like a banjo to practice some of the chords. It looks to be a good starting place for me—looking forward to digging into it when I get my banjo!
https://truefire.com/banjo-lessons/b...r-players/c770

There are a bunch of very dedicated banjo players who do free lessons on Youtube if you do a search.

There's also a dedicated banjo forum. The mods have requested we do not link to other forums, but it's easy to find.

Dotneck, That's a nice prize! Let me say that learning the 5-string banjo will give you a new outlook on playing and also fire up your enthusiasm for guitar. I'll also advocate for TrueFire banjo courses and also recommend Kathy Fink's course. Another good course is Brad Kolodner's excellent Next Gen Clawhammer that'll take you from the basics to more advanced techniques. Often, TrueFire offers their courses with discounts up to 1/2 Off their regular prices. Enjoy Your New GoldTone!

I have a fairly high regard for Goldtone. While not a banjo, I bought a used Goldtone Paul Beard squareneck reso that is a sweet ax. Top o the line for an import. Very well made and I'm happy to have it. Enjoy your new adventure.

You’ll want to register over at the BanjoHangout. Lots of info and very helpful people, in all styles - bluegrass, old-time, jazz, classical.

Yes it was a great prize. More of a door prize. When you came in you got a ticket. There were about ten or twelve prizes you could pick from and add your ticket to the box for that prize. There was the banjo, a Tele clone, a uke starter pack, and various pedals (like a Dr Z attenuator pedal). I picked the banjo box.

They also offered restringing if you bought a set of strings so I bought a set of Monels for my Collings. I figured I’d let their tech restring my slot head 0002h. I was leaving about 1:30 (after my Collings was done) and I told Mike, the shop owner, to call me if I won. He said the winner must be present and the drawings were at 3:30.

I got home and had some lunch then told my wife I was going back for the drawing. I just had a feeling I’d win. Also with abou 100 people there and ten different prizes I thought my chances for the banjo were pretty good…

I also have a friend who is a pretty accomplished singer songwriter. She’s said that picking up a banjo has helped our move past a writers block. So I’m hoping I will make some progress on this new endeavor.

Yes, sometimes playing guitar can become uninspiring and that's when playing a banjo can rekindle playing enthusiasm that can carry back to guitar playing. A banjo just seems to sound Happy & Energetic!