How to Play Banjo Fast
Published: May 21, 2023 | Author: Jonathan Lowson
How to build speed playing the banjo.
Hearing a banjo played fast, Bluegrass style, is one of the most exciting sounds in all of music. There’s just so many notes pouring out of the instrument, it’s dazzling. Many people who start learning to play the banjo aspire to play like this. You might think it’s impossible, but deep down inside you know you’d love to be able to play like that!
In this article we’re going to talk about all the factors that go into making that fantastic fingerpicking Bluegrass banjo sound, and give you a few tips on how you can achieve it.
How can people play the banjo so fast?
The secret is to play rolls. A roll is a repeating pattern of notes played with the right hand, if you are a right-handed player, and with the left hand, if you are a left-handed player. There are thousands of possible rolls, and once you have plenty of experience playing the banjo, you will be able to switch between them easily to get different musical effects.
The most commonly played rolls are the Square Roll and the Forward Roll. You can get a really authentic sound with these. The Mixed Roll is also played by many of the most famous banjoists. When you play a roll, some of the notes you play will be the melody, and some will be extra notes added in automatically by the roll to give that exciting sound.
When we talk about a roll, we are only talking about which finger picks each note, and in what order. So for example the Square Roll is four pickstrokes repeated over and over, Thumb Index Thumb Middle, which we abbreviate to TITM. The Forward Roll is just three pickstrokes Thumb Index Middle, so if you play that several times it would be written like this – TIMTIMTIMTIM
This is the first big secret to playing the banjo fast. You are just playing a few simple rolls over and over again, and by changing which strings you play, you make it sound exciting; because unexpected notes come out at unexpected timings. Of course you want to play a melody as well, and you can achieve that by a combination of picking the correct strings and using the other hand to stop or fret the strings to get different notes.
If you are a beginner it’s very important to concentrate on executing every pickstroke and fingering you do with clarity and confidence. It’s great to play just one note at a time to start with, and get a good feeling and sound from every note. If you are a complete beginner, it’s best to play some simple melodies first, before adding any rolls. There are 50 melodies to play here (free videos).
As a beginner, or as an experienced musician wanting to play a banjo show piece fast, the very first step is to play it slowly and accurately.
Keep practicing a number of songs, so you get more and more fluid. You can learn Cripple Creek completely free here on this website, or buy a song tutorial from the store.
Once you’ve got a song you enjoy playing and feel confident you can play it all the way through without a mistake, that’s your opportunity to play a little faster. Play all of your repertoire several times, and especially play your favourite song a few times.
Come back to the banjo every day, and play all your favourite tunes through every day until there is at least one you can play all the way though several times with confidence of playing every note correctly. It’s great to play slowly to start with, every great musician learns tricky new songs by playing them slowly first.
Reminder to stay relaxed and comfortable. Breath comfortably while you are playing. Stay in a good, upright, balanced posture. Don’t allow any strain to come into your body. Get more help to hold the banjo here.
Don’t put any pressure on yourself to play fast, just keep playing perfectly well at your own speed. Gather confidence and experience of playing well with good breathing and feeling every note.
If you keep going every day, after a while, you will naturally feel a bit more energy and/or a bit more relaxed on a particular day, and when you start playing it will just naturally come out a bit faster.
That’s the magic breakthrough moment. Once you know you can play perfectly and speed it up a bit, the door is open for you to perfect other songs and play the songs you know a bit faster again.
Keep doing that and soon you’ve be playing at any speed you want.
What speed is necessary to play banjo with other people in a jam session?
I recommend 108bpm (beats per minute) as a great tempo (speed) for a beginner to aspire to. A lot of songs sound good at this speed. The play along backing track for Cripple Creek is at 72bpm, which is a speed most beginners are comfortable with. I’ve known many students who are able to play at 108bpm after just a few months, if they practice every day.
If you are lucky, you might find a slow jam session near to where you live, which will give you a lot of confidence playing with others. You could also go to a Bluegrass or Old-Time music festival, most of these have slow jams for beginners.
Banjo set up
Do you find it hard to press the strings against the frets and get a clean sound? Maybe your banjo needs a set-up to lower the action. I recommend taking it to a professional repairman.
Join the Banjo Academy
In the Banjo Academy all the songs have been arranged specially so you can play them with simple rolls and fingerings, making it much easier for a beginner to play.