This page was Last updated - January 11, 2006

Some info, advice, rantings, and banjoistics to share

First of all, I'm in no way qualified to teach so on this page there won't be anything too technical. However, I hope to be able to pass on some tips and info that may prove useful to both beginners who are familiar with the basic rudiments of the 5 string banjo and those progressing into the intermediate level. I will also be including a bit of stuff for downloading which might be more suited to intermediate pickers but may be of some use to those making the transition into the intermediate realm. Material for download will typically include such topics as scales, with tabs and accompanying MIDI files. A selection of intro and ending Licks. Useful left hand positions. A section on the topic of learning tunes from records, e.g. working out the rolls etc and a few techniques for doing that and various other information which would be of interest to the average banjo picker. Much of this work is still in progress and will be added as and when it is finished and as these pages are updated. If you just surfed on in here and have never played a note on a banjo then there are some really great sites you would like paying a visit to. Check out UNCLE BEN'S Website, and in particular, his section for beginners; then, come back here! If you're in the expert league, you probably won't find anything that you don't already know within these pages. What you DON'T KNOW, and WILL GET, is an insight into what makes Tony tick! Now, let's get down to business.....

Practice: Is an absolute necessity... Here are my views on the subject... You should do this on a regular basis. Try to set aside a minimum of a half hour every day where you will have no distractions. Make sure you are comfortable, in a good frame of mind and not suffering from fatigue. Make your practice regime productive by setting yourself realistic goals and by following good practice rules. Above all, don't try to run before you can walk and don't try to re-invent the wheel!
before you begin your practice sessions always check that your banjo is tuned correctly. There are several ways to tune the banjo and the most common ones are as follows By ear, which becomes second nature with experience, with an electronic tuner, pitch pipe, tuning fork and tuning the strings in relation to their neighboring strings which is a technique referred to by some as 'relative-tuning' This last example was probably the first method you encountered when you set out to learn how to play the banjo so I'll skip the explanation and assume that the method is common knowledge. However, if you need the method explained, you'll find that virtually every beginners tutor book will show this approach and it's usually the first thing you learn on the banjo. In the unlikely event that you need this method explained send me a begging e-mail and I'll help ;-)

Another major consideration is to make absolutely sure your banjo is set-up and adjusted for optimum performance by somebody who knows what they are doing as this is crucial! You can cause untold damage to your instrument and playing ability by not having your banjo rigged up properly. DO NOT mess with tension hooks & nuts, truss rods and neck coordinator rods if you don't know what you are doing, leave it to the expert! Every part on your banjo plays an important role (pun intended ;-)) and when set up correctly, governs the sound and playability of what is a delicately balanced instrument, everything must be fine tuned - head tension, bridge position, truss rods adjustment, neck coordination to eliminate back bow and for action adjustment (height of strings from the fretboard or neck) . When everything is set -up to perfection and you have the best strings you can afford installed you are ready to get down to the nitty gritty [the backbone of all music] - PRACTICE! -The single most important part of picking banjo is - TIMING - If you don't develop good timing you won't be able to play in a group situation or successfully jam along with people. Without exception, all the great banjoists always stress the Three 'T's.... In order of importance they are TIMING, TONE and TEMPO. That said, You may find some worth in the following suggestions:

When you practice, do so slowly and use a metronome or click track. Have both hands relaxed and make your practice time productive by spending it learning something of value, e.g. A new tune, a scale, some ending licks, a chord sequence, etc. Practice until you know the piece you are attempting to learn back to front and without making mistakes. If you keep on making the same mistakes and skip over them you'll just perfect those mistakes which is perhaps one of the worst things you could do. Isolate your mistakes and play the bit that's causing the problem slowly and evenly until you've eliminated the problem. Play the rest of the learning piece at the same tempo. You may be playing the tune at a slower than normal tempo but at least you are playing it - IN TIME AND WITHOUT ERRORS! Never sacrifice quality for speed. Speed will come in its own good time but it will also require a little help from you; (The topic of speed will form the basis for future considerations and rantings within these pages). Another practice issue is - Don't noodle aimlessly all over the neck - This is NOT practicing! When you have learnt a tune fully and can play it up to speed then by all means noodle about with that tune, you may come up with some interesting variations in your improvising; (the topic of improvising will also be covered at a later date).

With regard to the abovementioned. When you're learning a new tune, you should in fact forget all about playing it up to speed. Play each note cleanly and keeping good time, play the tune as slowly as you can over and over without making any mistakes; if you can't do that, you sure won't be able to play it at 90 miles an hour without making mistakes. When you can manage to play the tune slowly and without dropping ricks, increase the speed in increments...get out your metronome and crank it up a notch. Continue doing that, if you start to make mistakes stop at that level and practice until you don't. If necessary, back peddle and take it down a notch. What you should be aiming for here is clarity and fluency not speed. I was told that the logic behind playing a tune as slowly as possible is to develop 'muscle memory' in the fingers of both hands and to ingrain the sound and feel of the notes into the subconscious. I'm not sure 'muscle memory' exists but it could account for the fact that when your grabbing chords the fingers automatically assume the shape of the chord before they come into contact with the strings.

If you don't own a metronome, here is a FREEWARE metronome program for anyone who wishes to download it. The program is a self extracting zip file; just accept the default directory instructions. It weighs in at approx.129kb.Click below to download it and please read the accompanying ReadMe file.

Metronome [130kb]

LONESOME TUNES :-)

Here's an important piece of advice for any 'closet pickers' out there: Find somebody to accompany you when you're playing at all costs. Bluegrass banjo can sound a bit wild and scattered on its own and requires the backup of a guitar and/or bass for the syncopations and dynamics to be heard to greatest effect, these are the very qualities that give Bluegrass banjo its characteristic and unique sound. Go out there and find someone to jam along with. Join a club/s and try to get to the various festivals. Be as active as you can and listen to as many other pickers as you can; watch, listen and absorb all you can from video cassettes, records and whatever other media you may have at your disposal. If necessary purchase backing audio/video cassettes or even make your own. The importance of playing with other people is manyfold; It helps you gain confidence and aids your learning process. You will also derive much enjoyment and satisfaction from knowing that you've contributed something to a jam session. You can pick people's brains, exchange valuable information, add new friends to your Christmas card list and come by goodies you wouldn't ordinarily have a chance to obtain ( you may even come by your next Pre-war, vintage Gibson at such a gathering). Also, your timing, speed and drive can only benefit from a good well staged jam session and you'll learn about the importance of backup and jamming etiquette which in itself could be a long winded topic and one which will be broached at some point in these pages. Listen to as much recorded material as you can come by, immerse your brain in music performed by Earl Scruggs, and names like J.D.Crowe, Bill Keith, Tony Trischka, Bill Emerson, Eric Weisberg, Doug Dillard, Sonny Osborne. Ralph Stanley, Ron Block, Pete Wernick, Alison Brown, Bela Fleck...etc...etc...etc. I could go on forever! Pick up trademark licks from these people and try to play along to their records,,, saturate your soul with their music and you will thrive in your quest to become a budding Earl! Lastly, Subscribe to some of the various banjo and Bluegrass magazines available - there's lots of help offered in the magazine classifieds as well as in the other pages, check out every avenue to further your learning. Make it an enjoyable trip! :-)

Here's a link to an article about making the transition from practicing alone to joining in at a jam session. The article was written with blues guitar in mind... however, the principle also applies to banjo. Go here: From Woodshed To Jam Session

I've included some additional and interesting material in a Zip file (HTML doc - 11kb) for you to download. This material was not authored by me and I take no credit for the words of wisdom contained therein. If you wish to download it... be my guest... Click below.

Banjo advice 12kb

MORE WORDS OF WISDOM:

Almost everybody when learning to play banjo or any other musical instrument, goes through periods of self doubt and frustration. The usual cause of this is expecting too much too soon. Consider this: Above all, persevere - and remember, "Obstacles are only there when you take your eyes off the goal" SO FOCUS!

BACKUP:

Another very important subject and one that should be a major consideration. To join in any jam session you will have to familiarize yourself with some backup skills. The simple truth is this... In a group or band setting for the most part, your time will be taken up by backing up other instruments as each player performs his break. Assuming that you get to contribute a banjo break it's likely that it will last for less than 10% of any particular song and in a big jam session - far less! The rest of the time you'll be doing what most banjo pickers do for most of the time.... 90% (or more) backup. It will be obvious then that you will have to know all the chords involved in the songs and of course which key it's in. You will normally be required to play what are commonly referred to as 'chop' chords in your backup and other techniques such as adding tag licks, kick off licks, single string runs etc, all to augment and embellish the overall sound of the group effort. It's not my aim here to teach the various requirements and techniques of backup as the subject is far to involved to include in these scant pages. In deed, entire books have been written just on this area of banjo picking. Try to acquire at least one of these books. Janet Davies has produced one such work and I've heard it recommended. Another good idea is to train your ear by listening to as much recorded music as possible and play along with the records to gain a good grounding before you attempt to join in at a live session. You stand no risk of anybody wincing on a record if you fudge a chord, note, lick or break as you play along but you'll surely draw an adverse reaction at a jam session if you continually vamp out the wrong chords and licks or generally get in the way and flout rules governing 'Jam Etiquette'. A book could be written on that subject and would contain many chapters! For starters, you'll find a section on Jam Etiquette contained in the 'Banjo Advice' download link above

Merlin

Don't forget, if you want to end up as good as Merlin - put a 1000 hours practice in!

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Since July 18 2003