Banjo · Chapter 1 of 23
Meet the 5-String Banjo
A banjo is a small drum with a neck. Five strings, one of them short, and a bright, ringing voice that carries across a room.
This course is about the 5-string banjo, the banjo of old-time and bluegrass music. (Four-string banjos, the tenor and plectrum, are played with a pick in jazz and Irish music; they are a different story.) Before you play a note, get to know the instrument in your lap.
A drum with a neck
The body of a banjo is a round wooden rim with a thin head stretched over it, like a drumhead. Today the head is usually plastic; old banjos had calfskin. The strings cross a small wooden bridge that stands on the head, held in place only by the pressure of the strings. When you pick a string, the bridge shakes the head, and the head makes the sound. That’s why a banjo is so loud and bright, and why its notes fade quickly.
The body (the “pot”)
Head: the drumhead you play over.
Bridge: the loose wooden bridge on the head. If it moves, the banjo goes out of tune.
Tailpiece: holds the string ends.
Armrest: a metal rail where your picking arm rests.
The neck
Fingerboard with metal frets.
Nut: the slotted strip at the top of the fingerboard.
Peghead with four tuners.
Fifth-string peg: a tuner on the side of the neck, at the 5th fret.
Two kinds of banjo
A resonator banjo has a wooden back that throws the sound forward. It is loud, the usual choice for bluegrass. An open-back banjo has no back: mellower and lighter, the usual choice for old-time music. Either one will do for this whole course.
Five strings, one of them short
Players number the strings from the one nearest the floor (when you hold the banjo) to the one nearest your face. The 1st string is the thin one nearest the floor; the 4th string is the thickest. The 5th string is the odd one: it runs only part of the way up the neck, from its own peg at the 5th fret. It is thin, and it is tuned to the highest open note, even though it lies next to the lowest string.
That short, high string is the banjo’s signature. Your thumb plays it again and again, in both styles in this course, as a ringing drone between the notes of the tune.
The neck, drawn the same way as tab: the 1st string on top, the short 5th string at the bottom, starting at its peg by the 5th fret. Press any string or fret to hear it. Turn on the left-handed view above if you play the other way around.
Hear the open strings
These are the five strings in open G tuning, the tuning used for most of this course. Press one to hear a long, steady note; press it again to stop it.
Which banjo should I learn on? Any 5-string banjo that stays in tune and has strings low enough to press without strain. If the strings are high above the frets, a music shop can adjust the bridge and neck. Ask for light-gauge strings to begin with.
Remember
- A banjo is a drum with a neck: head, rim, a floating bridge, tailpiece; neck, frets, nut, peghead.
- Strings are numbered 1 (thin, nearest the floor) to 4 (thickest), plus the short 5th string.
- The 5th string starts at the 5th fret and plays the highest open note: the thumb’s drone.