The Steel Guitar Forum

I know a few of you steel pickers also play banjo.
I would love to be able to play just a couple tunes on banjo. Would it be hard for me to learn or fairly easy since I do play steel guitar and also six string guitar and fiddle. Always wanted to play one but never got around to it. Would it be worth my time??
Thanks y'all

Would it be hard for me to learn

That depends on your level of determination. Not knowing what sort of pics you use for steel, they may not be work for banjo, especially those small blue herco jobs.

I'm hoping someone with experience will chime in on this. I don't play banjo, but recently I've been struck by how much banjo is lurking in the mix of modern country songs. The banjo parts don't sound very complex, so they might be fairly easy for a utility player to handle. I suppose it's all a matter of how proficient you want/need to become on the instrument.

One option would be to go with a six string banjo. It's basically a six string guitar neck on a banjo body; sometimes called a banjitar. Lots of banjo companies make them. Gold Tone has them and has audio samples on their website. My impression is that the banjitar sounds pretty good, but if you want to play real 5 string banjo licks, you need a 5 string banjo.

I should add: if all you need is to add simple licks that sound like a banjo, you can do this with a Vicks Nasal Inhaler lid used as a tone bar, played on the PSG. I'm sure any banjo players would cringe if they heard me, but the drunk fools in the clubs say it sounds just like a banjo.

b0b Don't Allow No Banjos Around Here!!!! Ha! Ha! Ha!

That depends on your level of determination. Not knowing what sort of pics you use for steel, they may not be work for banjo, especially those small blue herco jobs.

I use Kyser finger picks and a Pro-pick thumb pick but I think Banjo picks may be bent a little different than the ones I use on steel. I'm pretty determined just to be able to do fills and play a couple tunes for our Country Music show. I think learning the rolls would probably be the hardest thing. Just a matter of muscle memory from repetition.

I have a Banjo and like to play along with my fave Bluegrass recordings. I use the same picks I use for Steel. My skill level on Banjo usually hovers around the "terminal advanced-beginner-'mediate" range.
Dean makes inexpensive 5 and 6 string banjos.
They make a Black one with a pickup and volume knob, and a White one that does not have the pickup (I have one of the white ones).
I think they are called the "Backwoods" model.
I wouldn't reccomend a six string version if you want to play bluegrass.
I do see alot of 6 string banjos in the new country acts, though... like Taylor Swift, etc...
They sell them at Guitar Center, so you get a 30 day return policy.
The GC near me has alot of inexpensive banjos.
Deering makes an entry level banjo called the "Goodtime".
Gretch and Ibanez also have brand new inexpensive banjos out.
3 of the 5 strings on a 5 string banjo are tuned the same a guitar, D,G,B.
I would say go grab a banjo with a 30 day return policy and give it a whirl (be careful not to scratch the head up if you plan to return, maybe they have a used one???).

If you're a fairly accomplished fingerpicker, 5-string will come quite easily to you.

Henry I pick and yes a few attributes of playing steel and the banjo are the same. PICKS AND PRACTICE....

I agree on the Deering Goodtime. They run between $450 and 500 used.

Twenty-five years as a "grasser" and drivin the five. Practice, practice, practice and learning the fundamentals. Learn your rolls and right hand chord formations. The net is full of free learning tools and tabs.

Go for it.

go for it but PLEASE try a five string first not one of those godawful 6 string things BTW same picks works for me Herco blue thumbpick too. Good luck!

Henry,
For banjo, I use heavier gauge finger pics and a Ernie Ball thumb pic that's large enough to cover more real estate than a blue herco. I also use my thumb to pick strings one and two when I feel its needed, and I also will pick hard, as needed. What is good for me may not be good for others.
For your viewing amusement:



For listening, kinda sloppy thou...oh well..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcFUQnfNy0M

They make a pick up for banjos its a F150 ford right on the back bridge

I bought one many years ago (an Alvarez Denver Belle from Cotten Music in Hillsboro Village) with the intention of getting a modicum of 5-string chops under my belt.

I never managed it - I simply couldn't stand being in the same room as me while I practiced.

However, I've lost count of the well-paid orchestra-pit work I've scored with it after I removed the 5th string and played it like a tenor banjo - Mame, Showboat, Chicago, the Boyfriend and many more. It's proven a good investment but I wish I had some Scruggs' licks down!

PSG playing banjo players -
Bill Keith
Gordon Stone
Someone want to add to this?

As stringed instruments go banjo and PSG are polar opposites. The steel has such long sustain and banjo is all attack. Look at the envelope on a pro tools recording. It's even visible.
You can do banjo rolls on the steel quite effectively BTW. If you are a pick blocker at all it kinda comes natural and can clean up the cacophony.

There are several useful videos available that will get you started.. Two excellent learning manuals are: 'Earl Scruggs and the Five String Banjo' by Earl Scruggs(limited to Earl's style and songs)..'Bluegrass Banjo' by Peter Wernick, touches on several players and styles.

FWIW: Some additions to Jim Pitman's list:
The late Winnie Winston (winner of numerous awards and banjo contests).
Fred Newell
Jack Hicks
And me.

Hi, I have played 5 string banjo since 1963. Played pedal steel since 1977. Please don't buy a 6 string banjo. They sound like tin. And I would not recommend a Deering good time. They sound clunky, with no tone ring in them, or a 1/2 azzed one. Look for a decent used one with a good tone ring. You can tell it will have a decent tone ring in it by lifting it up. Ten plus pounds. And by plucking a string. Good loud tone, and sustain. If you are thinking of a new one, please play one first. My suggestion is try out a Recording king, or a Morgan Monroe. You live in Arkansas, and would highly recommend you to take a ride to JANET DAVIS MUSIC, in Bentonville Arkansas. She did move her store, but not far. Find her store on the internet. You will not go wrong visiting her store, and you can try out many brands. Pick on a top shelf banjo, and you will know what a good sound you can get, and try to come close to that sound, in a modest price range. Good luck, and you can talk to me anytime. Ronnie

Thanks guys, going to get one this week. Already have it picked out. It's a Bean something or nother. I beat on it a little and had good tone. Better than the Fenders they had and not real pricy. Thanks again for the info. I'll never be good I know cause I'm too old, lol. But will be fun.

Definitely go for it, and get a decent 5-string with a heavy tone ring. Banjo is fun, ignore the naysayers.

Of course, if you can get a good used high-quality banjo, great. I sometimes see good deals on a high-quality 70s Japanese-made banjo or other solid used banjos at guitar shows. For example, a while back I picked up a Martin-made early 70s Vega that had a few non-serious, mainly cosmetic, repairs for stupid cheap. In a new medium-end banjo, for the price, I like the Gold Tone BG-250 or OB-250.

banjohangout.org
like this forum, but for banjo...

and realize that there are two major styles of banjo clawhammer, played mainly on open-back banjos, a little effort required to get the basic strum, and then pretty easy, or bluegrass, fingerpicked, usually on resonator banjos, easy to do simple stuff but a lot of work to really get speed on the bluegrass stuff.....and make sure you get the right hand position correct! Like holding a tennis ball in your hand....google "bluegrass banjo" or "claw hammer banjo", there are a lot of good intro lessons out there on the web.

I just started on banjo a couple of weeks ago - laid down an "atmospheric texture track" on a record we are doing the same day I got it (I play dobro, so the tuning was familiar). But it will be a long while before I play at bluegrass speed...the rolls are slowly getting faster...

I have a Fender FB-54 resonator banjo (bought for $200 used), added a humbucker pickup, stuffed it with foam, and will play it in the electric band....and a Wildwood open-back with incredible tone, bought for $1,200 used (has a tuba phone pot, look it up!) for acoustic stuff....

Learn how to take them apart and do a setup on them - they aren't anything like guitars, you really can adjust everything to get them playing better....again, there are some good web videos...

i play a lot of banjo onstage. it`s not all that hard to learn but you need a decent amount of knowledge of bluegrass music to get the soul into it.
it`s not done with just goofin`round with it, you gotta be serious about it and love it, same as for steel.
i use the same picks, absolutely no problem for me.

Roger Shackelton wrote:b0b Don't Allow No Banjos Around Here!!!! Ha! Ha! Ha!

I think he said the best sound a Banjo ever made was when somebody threw one into a dumpster and it landed on an Accordian.

But seriously, I love pedal steel and I love Bluegrass. The Bluegrass steel is the Dobro, and I want one!

Update on the Banjo. I purchased a banjo and it is a Bean Blossum. Sorta middle road I guess. I checked out several YouTube lessons and in about a week I have gotten several roll exercises down pretty good but not real fast yet. Haven't even started on notes yet, just wanted to learn rolls.
Thanks everyone for their incite on banjo. Don't foresee me playing on stage for quite a while but going to work on it.

Forum member Clyde Mattocks from North Carolina is a very accomplished steeler and 5 string banjo player. Maybe he'll chime in on this as anything he'd say on this matter would be gospel......JH in Va.

Obi Barthmann is a really good banjo player:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFx5dYB3NoA

Well, just for you Jerry... Q. How can you tell which steel players also play banjo? A. We're the ones who are working! (Sorry to recycle that one, b0b, but he asked for it, he really did).