Learn to play the banjo

It can be difficult to tune the banjo in the beginning, watch the video below to learn how to make sure you’re in tune.

Got questions about learning to play the banjo? I’ve tried to answer as many as possible below.

How do I get started learning the banjo?

The best way to start playing the banjo is by just picking a few different notes, so you get used to what your right and left hands are doing.

You can get help with that on the beginner’s page.

If you have no previous musical experience, there are listening skills you will need to develop as well as the practical skills involved in playing notes on all the different strings, frets and notes.

You can acquire the listening skills and understanding of musical scales just by playing songs.

We’ve given you 50 well-known banjo songs, completely free! So you can begin to understand the connection between what your fingers are doing and the sounds you hear from the banjo.

Some things are much easier to play than you might first think.  One of the most important issues for a beginner is called ‘Fingering’ which just means choosing the best finger to play with.

Playing a song with the correct fingering will make it much easier, for an experienced professional player as well as a beginner. Here at JoffLowson.com, we’ve done a tremendous amount of work to make the fingerings easy on all our songs.

Many of the songs in the banjo academy can be played with just one or two fingers on each hand!

It makes sense to use the strongest fingers, Index and Middle, and on the right (plucking) hand, you don’t need to use the other fingers at all.

With the left hand, you will learn to use all the fingers, including the pinky eventually, but this is not necessary to start with.

To start with, you need to keep an open mind and try a few things out until you find what feels most natural for you.

There are several different techniques that you might want to try, for example, the intricate fingerpicking style or the rhythmical clawhammer style, and you can see free videos to help you with those things.

We want you to find the style of playing that’s right for you, which is why we’ve given you all the basics of two different styles. Try both and see which one you prefer.

Is learning to play the banjo difficult?

The banjo is one of the easiest instruments to play for many reasons.  It’s very easy to make a sound, you just pluck or strum the strings and you have a sound straight away. This makes it much more encouraging for complete beginners compared to instruments like the violin, trumpet or saxophone which are difficult to get a nice sound without a lot of practice. The banjo sounds like a banjo right from day one!

One of the best things about the five-string banjo is the strings are tuned to an open G chord. On most other instruments including the guitar, you’re going to need to learn a lot of different fingering positions before you can play anything resembling a song.

On the five-string banjo, you don’t have to do anything with the left hand to start with, you can get a nice-sounding G chord immediately.  For many songs, you will only need to add a few simple fingerings with the left hand.

Many of the songs in the Banjo Academy can be played using only one or two fingers on the left hand. You can learn more about this elsewhere on the site.   

Once you have been playing for a while you can add as many different tricks and fingering positions as you like, but you can play a lot of great music with very simple techniques. One of the best things about the banjo is it comes with a whole tradition of folk songs to play, most of them quite simple. 

What’s the easiest song to learn on the banjo for an absolute beginner?

There are a lot of old folk songs that have really simple melodies and structures which are easy to play.  There are even songs like Old Plank Road you can play with only one finger!  

‘Easy’ can mean a lot of different things.  Is it easier to play a technically simple song you don’t like or a slightly harder song that you really love?

Motivation is really important and there’s nothing quite as exciting as playing a song that has a catchy melody. This is why I recommend beginners to start playing Duelling Banjos right from day one.

There are some really simple parts in it which you can learn to play in just a few days if you put enough time and focus on it, and all your friends will recognise it!  Naturally, it’s going to take a bit longer to learn all the parts of Duelling Banjos and then put them together to play the whole piece, but so what?  You will be playing exciting music right from day one!  

Cripple Creek is one of the most popular songs on the banjo and it’s also very easy to play. The chorus (low) part uses the most basic techniques and it’s all Thumb Lead so it’s easy to keep a steady rhythm. The High Part uses a tiny bit of Forward Roll so you will be getting a head start learning two different techniques in one song.  The best thing?

Cripple Creek has an absolutely fantastic melody, you will never get bored of playing it. Even the best professional banjo players like Earl Scruggs and Bela Fleck enjoy playing this song.

What’s the easiest way for a beginner to learn to play the banjo?

Thumb Lead

How many different styles of banjo playing are there?

The different styles of Banjo are:

• Bluegrass
• Old-Time Fingerpicking
• Clawhammer

What’s the best way to learn to play the banjo?

Without a doubt, the best way to learn banjo is by playing songs. The good news is, a lot of great songs are easy to play and especially the Traditional songs commonly associated with the banjo.

Playing songs will help you build confidence rapidly, it’s a wonderful feeling, the first time you play something which sounds like music!

You can play a lot of songs using the same simple left-hand fingerings and right-hand techniques, and the great thing about this is you will learn all the musical comprehension skills without even thinking about it.

There are only seven notes in a scale, yet nearly every song ever written uses these simple notes! By learning different songs using the same basic fingerings you will start to appreciate how magical those simple scales can be.

When you are comfortable with the simple positions, you can add extra tricks into your playing and take it as far as you want.

However, there’s no need to do that if you don’t want to. A lot of the pleasure of music comes from the myriad ways those simple notes can be played to make different melodies.

You can enjoy participating in an Old-Time jam or acoustic folk session without ever moving away from the simple fingerings.

There are a few other important things to know when you are first starting, like how to hold the banjo comfortably; how to keep your wrists straight but relaxed; how to move your elbows around to get your fingers touching the strings at the optimum angle.

You can get help with all those things completely free here at JoffLowson.com

Do I need musical experience to learn to play the banjo?

If you have some musical experience, of course, that’s going to be an advantage for you learning to play the banjo, but you really don’t need any previous experience to be able to play.

All the teaching materials on this site are geared towards people with no previous knowledge.

You’ve probably heard about things like scales, chords, rhythms and so on and maybe find that a bit intimidating?

Well, don’t worry. You don’t need to understand any of those things to start with, you can learn by just playing some easy songs. For many people, it’s easier to learn to play if you already know the melody, so we’ve given you 50 completely free videos with the melodies of well-known songs.

A lot of work has been done behind the scenes here at JoffLowson.com to make your learning journey so much easier. One of the things we’ve done is give you many different songs using the same fingering patterns in the left hand, all in the key of G.

By the time you’ve played a few of these songs, you will understand instinctively what a G major scale is without ever having to think about it!

Is it better to learn the banjo online or with a teacher?

If you can find the right teacher for you, that’s always going to be a good way to go – providing you can afford it. Most teachers will charge at least $30 an hour, and you’re going to need a lot of hours tuition to get to a good standard on the banjo.

Plus it can be hard to find a good teacher, even if you live in a big city. Many of us have very busy lives these days, and finding a good teacher who can give lessons to fit in with your schedule is going to take a bit of luck.

If you can find a good teacher, it’s highly recommended to have some lessons in person.

With online learning, you have access to some of the best teaching materials no matter where you live, and you can access them any time you like. Fitting your banjo learning time into a busy schedule is going to be a lot easier with the online method.

A lot of people feel uncomfortable making mistakes in front of a live teacher, and it can be embarrassing asking a teacher to go over the same thing again and again if you are struggling to understand.

Learning online takes away all that pressure.

You can play a video as many times as you like, you’re never going to feel embarrassed in the comfort of your own home.

Is it easy to learn how to play the banjo online?

Many people have successfully learned to play the banjo from the online teaching materials here on this website. If you are struggling to play a particular song you can rewind and play the video over and over again as many times as you need to.

(All) our teaching videos now feature video bookmarking so you can play the exact part of a video you are interested in over and over very easily. With closeups of both hands and slow-motion replays, you will find it easy to learn.

What are the basic things I need to learn the banjo?

You’re going to need a banjo for sure!  Another thing that will be really useful is an electronic tuner.  Your banjo will sound so much nicer if it’s ‘In tune’ and, although you can do that by ear, it’s much easier with an electronic tuner.  You can get one for less than $20.  

If you want to play fingerpicking style you should get some fingerpicks, these will cost just a few bucks.

They come in all different types.  Some are made of metal, others from plastic and there are different sizes. Most players wear metal picks on the fingers of the right hand and use a plastic thumb pick.

You can also get metal thumb picks and these give a different sound.  If you live in a small town and only have access to a small music shop you will probably not be able to try out a wide range of picks.

Once you have got a few months experience playing the banjo it might be worthwhile to visit the nearest large music shop you can find and see if they have some different types of picks you can try.

Picks come with wide blades and narrow blades and these give a different sound.  It’s completely up to you which type you prefer.     

For playing along with records or jamming with other people you’re going to need something called a ‘Capo.’  This is a little clamp which attaches to the neck and allows you to play in different keys. 

There are many different types of capo on the market and it will take some time to find one that works well for you.  Don’t worry though, you don’t need a capo to get started playing.

What kind of banjo should an absolute beginner buy?

It’s important to get the right number of strings on your banjo.  Four-string banjos are used mostly for Irish music.  Six-string banjos are set up exactly the same way as a guitar, so if you already play the guitar and don’t want to learn anything new, that would be a good choice.

The most popular type of banjo is the five-string, this is the only type of banjo we teach on this site. So if you want to learn from us here at JoffLowson.com, make sure to buy a five-string!

One of the most important things to consider is how comfortable it feels when you hold it in your lap, so always try it out before buying.  A lot of other teachers will tell you to buy a ‘Closed-back’ banjo if you want to play bluegrass, but these types of banjos are usually a lot heavier and uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time.  

Open back banjos are usually cheaper and lighter than other types and it’s well worthwhile taking a look at these.  Many people will tell you they are only good for Old-Time music, but that’s not true – you can play any type of music you like on any type of banjo.  It’s really up to you to decide if you like the sound and feel of a particular banjo or not.  

One of the most important things is to make sure the banjo you buy is properly set up.  Most music shops will do this for you.

A Banjo Roll is a sequence of short finger strokes repeated in loops. Rolls create that distinctive banjo sound.

There are several different types of Banjo Rolls. The essential Rolls for you to learn are ‘The Forward Roll’ and the ‘Square Roll’ – because once you’ve nailed those two rolls, everything else gets easier.

The Square Roll

The Square Roll is the most straightforward banjo roll. You play the square roll with just four notes and loop round over and over.

The Forward Rol

The Forward Roll is also very simple. You play the forward roll using three notes played over in a loop.

The forward roll is what makes bluegrass sound so different from other styles. Bluegrass players use the forward roll over and over as they play.

What skills do you need to learn the banjo?

Banjo Skills

There are a lot of different skills you can learn to help you play the banjo. There are technical skills like picking, strumming, frailing, fretting, hammering on, pulling off and slides.

There are also practical skills like fitting new strings onto the instrument, adjusting the head tension and so on.

Musical Skills

There are also musical skills to learn. These skills can be applied to any instrument, not just the banjo.

For example, playing in time with good rhythm is a great skill to learn, and also understanding about chord changes and knowing which notes are appropriate to play at any given time is an important skill set.

If you learn these skills on the banjo you will be able to apply them to any other instrument you choose to learn.

How much skill do I need?

It is not necessary to master all of these skills in order to play well. Every good banjo player knows how to tune their own banjo, but many top players are only good at some of the skills.

For example, many players including Earl Scruggs prefer to fingerpick the banjo and do not do any strumming or frailing. On the other hand, many great players such as Ken Perlman like to frail the banjo and do not do use the other techniques.

The most popular pieces of banjo music generally feature the fingerpicking or ‘Bluegrass’ style, and a lot of beginners want to learn to play this way.

However the claw hammer or frailing style is becoming much more popular these days since the Brother Where Art Thou film came out, and a lot of old Hollywood movies featured banjo that was played with a plectrum in a guitar style. So there are many ways to play the banjo!

The skills that are common to all styles of playing are – tuning – fretting – hammering on – pulling off – slides – rhythm + timing – chords – melody.

The various styles of banjo playing mainly differ in the way the strings are sounded by the right hand (or left hand if you are a left-handed player).