Banjo
 

Where is teh banoj bolt???????//////

Just kiddin'. Anyone here play the banjo? I just bought a five string banjo, a starter one for $150 and was just curious if anyone here knew how to play or could give me advice. It seems to be of decent quality, although i am missing two out of four screws that keep the head attached. So that kinda annoys me.

It's my first musical instrument and i can tell it's gonna be a lifelong challenge... anyone with music experience feel free to chime in here too.

Learned on an old Weymann 5 string that I picked up at thrift shop for $10.00 when I was 18,still have it.

I use my fingers with what I found out is called "drop thumb" although I didn't know it at the time.

Skinhead hooks and bolts,in fact all banjo supplies can be obtained from
http://www.elderly.com/accessories/cats/BPT.html

looks like you and i are in the same boat, i just bought a 4 string from ebay, not knowing that the 5 is the way to go, so i went and bought a new 5 string yesterday, still trying to figure it all out, i have been looking here http://www.projectsandhobbies.com/wydvd1.htm

i ordered his dvd, will see how it is once it arrives, what type music are you trying to learn? look at the site, there are some samples of the dvd. do you know about the finger picks? i ended up getting three, one for the thumb and two for the next two fingers.

Yeah I bought some finger picks, i think you put them on your middle and ring finger? ANd i got a plastic thumb pick. Im tryin to do bluegrass *I think*. Im not sure what types of music you can play really, I know there's oldtime style, but if thats the same as bluegrass ive no idea.

this is how the picks are supposed to be, if you want i will be happy to share the dvd with you when i get it.

Oh, yeah tahts how I had them on. I'm gonna buy this book, its supposed prolly the most well known banjo book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0634060422/qid=1131873959/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-1490673-3180862?v=glance&s=books

i will get it also, is there more than one?

Yeah, theres more than one. THeres also a version without the CD thats cheaper, but I figure the CD will help some. WHat kinda banjo did you end up getting?

i ended up buying a gold tone
http://members.cox.net/mercedessd/banjo%20(Medium).JPG

here is a link to the one i bought on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7361268004

I play a chorded zither and use finger picks. Most of the time I use Dunlop finger picks. They come in different thickness' measured in thousanths of an inch. I use the .025 picks. When I'm not using those I use Ernie Ball picky picks. I buy both brands from the Homestead Picking Parlor in the Mpls.St.Paul area. I find that the Dunlops are more comfortable especially if you have dry and cracked cuticles. The Ernie Balls hurt like hell on dry fingers but I'm more accurate plucking strings with them.

I tried one for awhile. After hearing John Hartford for the first time, I just had to have one. However, it eventually became a frustration- I got to a certain point fairly easily, because I've been playing guitar since high school, and banjo chord shapes are not that different than guitar. It's the pickin' hand thing that I simply couldn't get on to. I adopted the "drop thumb" or as most people call it "claw hammer" technique, because it's fairly easy and sounds nice- great for folk music, but quite limiting. But to put the finger picks on and learn 3 finger, or even 2 finger bluegrass rolls- I just couldn't do it.

When you say two of the four screws that hold the "head"- in banjo terminology, the head is the skin- is that what you mean? The rest of the "body" assembly is normally called the "pot" if I remember right. Then there's the resonator, which is bolted to the back of the pot, normally with four screws. A banjo actually sounds very nice when you take the res off completely- gives it a sweeter, quieter tone.

Dave M