Banjo

[guitar344]

Go for it. Banjo is a lively instrument. I like to learn someday. How hard is banjo compared to guitar?

[mauricemcm]

Originally Posted by guitar344

Go for it. Banjo is a lively instrument. I like to learn someday. How hard is banjo compared to guitar?

My experience has been that for beginners learning a few things on a banjo goes quicker than than on a Guitar. Becoming really good on either one takes an equal amount of learning and dedication. Sociologically it is easier to become an acceptable Guitar player that it is to become an acceptable Banjo player. This is very much my generalization. Occasionally you meet a person who is musical regardless of what they pick up and play.

This is reminding me of the time I played Jake Shimabukuro for someone who asked me if Ukulele was easier than Guitar. They listened to several songs then asked "When is he going to play Ukulele".

[Mds53]

Originally Posted by columbia

"Mom, I have half a mind to play a banjo"

"Son, that's all it takes!"

Oh yeah, I forgot, bringing a banjo to the jam also gets the "trash talk" going. Another reason the banjo makes me smile.

[rllink]

Originally Posted by columbia

"Mom, I have half a mind to play a banjo"

"Son, that's all it takes!"

Jealousy, pure and simple.

Originally Posted by Mds53

I LOVE guitar playing. But when I go to a jam that doesnt have a banjo, I bring mine along. Mostly the attendees appreciate having the sound of a banjo in the mix. It adds another voice and since it is also a percussive instrument, it can help with tempo. (If I play it half decently).

Plus, the banjo is a happy tone and it makes me smile.

This is why I just recently bought a banjo. There are a half dozen guitar players showing up every week and half the time no banjo players. I like playing guitar, but we really need a banjo player.

[wood&wire]

Originally Posted by mtnmade

You should do it, if nothing more than keeping up your musical interest. I suggest playing the guitar in open G, you'll pick up the rolls pretty easy, coming from fingerstyle background, adding the melody has been my hardest

You don't necessarily have to tune a guitar entirely into open G. Banjo in open G tuning is gDGBD. Guitar in standard tuning is EADGBE. So take the guitar, tune the high E down to D and you have banjo tuning on strings 1-4. Just skip over E and A and block the little banjo g out of your brain.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by mtnmade

You should do it, if nothing more than keeping up your musical interest. I suggest playing the guitar in open G, you'll pick up the rolls pretty easy, coming from fingerstyle background, adding the melody has been my hardest

Originally Posted by wood&wire

You don't necessarily have to tune a guitar entirely into open G. Banjo in open G tuning is gDGBD. Guitar in standard tuning is EADGBE. So take the guitar, tune the high E down to D and you have banjo tuning on strings 1-4. Just skip over E and A and block the little banjo g out of your brain.

Another (and IMO better) alternative I've used for years is "highgrass" gDGBE tuning (I've also heard it called "Chicago Five"), which allows you to use guitar chords/fingerings with "legit" banjo (and guitar) techniques - IME only one of the 5-string players I ever knew could hear the difference, so it's a good bet the audience can't either...

[wood&wire]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Another (and IMO better) alternative I've used for years is "highgrass" gDGBE tuning (I've also heard it called "Chicago Five"), which allows you to use guitar chords/fingerings with "legit" banjo (and guitar) techniques - IME only one of the 5-string players I ever knew could hear the difference, so it's a good bet the audience can't either...

You quoted me but the quote I was replying to was specifically talking about tuning a guitar to open G to practice sounding like a banjo. I said not to worry about tuning the E or A to fit guitar open G because you can skip over those strings and play the first 4 strings with banjo chords and fingerings.

You're talking about tuning a banjo like a guitar, which is completely off the topic I was talking about.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by wood&wire

...You're talking about tuning a banjo like a guitar, which is completely off the topic I was talking about.

Not at all, since we're both offering practical, viable alternatives that will, as per his request, allow the OP to transition from guitar to banjo while working on both simultaneously; BTW in case you're not familiar mine's an old studio players' hack (as I recall Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco used it extensively on record), that since the '70s has achieved underground popularity among multi-instrumentalists in general...

Peace out...

[mtnmade]

Steve and Wood-Wire are right, you can tune the D string to E, it will be like the first four strings on a guitar, called, Chicago Tuning. will be like playing a baritone ukelele

[columbia]

[QUOTE=rllink;7404644]Jealousy, pure and simple.

Not on my part. I've been playing bluegrass banjo for more than a decade. I just happen to like banjo jokes, like many banjo players!

Re: learning to play, I think that, unless you have a session booked this week, it's best to approach it on its own terms rather than trying to make a guitar out of it. The tuning is similar enough to strings 1-4 of a guitar anyway, and the hammer-on and drones available with the unison D note (third fret B string and open first string) is part of the language of bluegrass banjo.

Many of us know, or have been, someone who can play the G, C, and D chords on a mandolin by thinking about guitar chords reversed, but it's really hard to progress with that framework.