A free online banjo lesson – learn the opening line from the most popular banjo tune of them all! Learn how to play dueling banjos with a series of video lessons.

Duelling Banjos is made up of a slow opening section and a fast section. In fact most of the fast section is made up of the same music as the slow section, just played faster, so if you learn the slow opening section you have already learnt most of the song. The slow section is made up of the Opening Lick; the G/C/G chord part; the Walk Up and Down in G, C and D; the Yankee Doodle lick. Learning these four pieces of music and being able to link them together easily is your first step to learning to play this popular banjo tune.

With these four Left Hand positions you can play a simplified version  of Duelling Banjos!

Start by learning the Walk Up & Down in G major to see how easy it can be to play this classic tune!  Click the button to watch a free nine minute video showing one of the well-known parts of the old favourite song, broken down in great detail for beginners.  Includes closeups of the right and left hands.

In fact most of the song can be played with just these simple Left Hand positions, including the fast bit.  Once you’ve learnt the basic song, you can add more variations and make it as interesting as you like:  but let’s start off simple.

Page updated 23rd December 2019