Banjo

[JonWer]

I took up classical guitar 3 years ago, at age 60, take weekly lesson. It’s been enjoyable and challenging. Certainly no longer a beginner, but nowhere near where I want to be. Love finger style. My brain and fingers work slow to moderate BPM, anything fast is a disaster.

Is it nuts to consider learning the banjo? I love bluegrass music and the banjo is captivating to me.

I want to keep going with guitar, so working on both simultaneously.

Appreciate your advice

[rllink]

The country/bluegrass jam I go to on weekends, a lot of the people there are multi instrumentalists. I'm a guitar player and I just bought a banjo last week. I have no intention of abandoning the guitar.

[Dave Hicks]

Bluegrass banjo is mostly in open G tuning, so that helps a guitar player. "Slow" and "bluegrass" do overlap somewhat.

D.H.

[A Scot in Otley]

to answer your question ... yup, it's nuts. keep on with the geetar, maybe change the styles from classical if you want a change etc, but stay away from the banjo, it is the dark side of the Force. i speak as one who succumbed ... three times. What an eejit!

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by JonWer

...Is it nuts to consider learning the banjo? I love bluegrass music and the banjo is captivating to me...

Not at all - several of the basic right-hand patterns lend themselves well to cross-application, and the (acquired) ability to emphasize individual strings within a pattern is an asset; that said, you might find this thread informative:

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=681044

[rsmillbern]

Give it a try. I have only recently started playing banjo seriously (at 55) but really enjoy it. If you're coming from classical the 3 finger Scruggs style should not be too much a challenge with a little work.

Scott

[mtnmade]

You should do it, if nothing more than keeping up your musical interest. I suggest playing the guitar in open G, you'll pick up the rolls pretty easy, coming from fingerstyle background, adding the melody has been my hardest

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by JonWer

I took up classical guitar 3 years ago, at age 60, take weekly lesson. It’s been enjoyable and challenging. Certainly no longer a beginner, but nowhere near where I want to be. Love finger style. My brain and fingers work slow to moderate BPM, anything fast is a disaster.

Is it nuts to consider learning the banjo? I love bluegrass music and the banjo is captivating to me.

I want to keep going with guitar, so working on both simultaneously.

Appreciate your advice

Learning banjo will help cross-train your guitar-playing ability. It's a Win-Win pursuit!

[RomanS]

Go for it!

I started playing myself a couple of months ago, when I attended a bluegrass camp - the guitar teacher there wasn't very good (as a teacher - he was a great player), so I borrowed a banjo and switched "classes".
I love the sound of "old time" (pre Scruggs) banjo styles most, and 2 finger thumb lead style is really easy to pick up for a guitar player familiar with fingerpicking.
I also started learning to play clawhammer banjo, but the right hand technique for that is super difficult, took me a month before I could even think about doing something with the left hand, too...

[Mandobart]

Every instrument I've taken up has enhanced my playing and enjoyment on every other instrument. I started with violin at 10, added acoustic guitar and electric bass at 13, took up harmonica as well.

Then many years later in my 40's I got serious on mandolin and added viola. About a year ago I started double bass. Every new instrument adds more practice and playing time and new skills. I find I continue to improve across the board.

I would now feel very limited if I only played one instrument.

[Mds53]

I LOVE guitar playing. But when I go to a jam that doesnt have a banjo, I bring mine along. Mostly the attendees appreciate having the sound of a banjo in the mix. It adds another voice and since it is also a percussive instrument, it can help with tempo. (If I play it half decently).

Plus, the banjo is a happy tone and it makes me smile.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by Mds53

I LOVE guitar playing. But when I go to a jam that doesnt have a banjo, I bring mine along. Mostly the attendees appreciate having the sound of a banjo in the mix. It adds another voice and since it is also a percussive instrument, it can help with tempo. (If I play it half decently).

Plus, the banjo is a happy tone and it makes me smile.

Yep - you really don't have to do much on banjo to fill out the mix. I play clawhammer style (rather than bluegrass picking) - and I can get away with doing very little in a band situation to add "that" sound to a song.

[columbia]

"Mom, I have half a mind to play a banjo"

"Son, that's all it takes!"

[catt]

My early foundation in classical and flamenco guitar enabled me to pick up any kind of picking on any kind of instrument quickly throughout my life, because - the foundation of finger independence prepares one for any idiomatic fingering technique. This is essentially the David Lindley axiom of "All one big guitar"; once you've prepared with the "full range" of technique, you typically find that stylistic and idiomatic deployments are technical elements with which the hands have experience - merely arranged and syncopated differently.

After Physical Graffiti, I was searching for a new "hero" - I traded Page for Earl. I was attracted to the flash and speed; the technique came quickly.

Originally Posted by RomanS

...
I also started learning to play clawhammer banjo, but the right hand technique for that is super difficult, took me a month before I could even think about doing something with the left hand, too...

Again, I found the "bum ditty" easy to assimilate. It's a rhythmic device, so much depends on your rhythmic wherewithal/ability to deploy rhythmic devices. Albeit, I'm a drummer so all things rhythmic are natural for me (same principles of independence here).

John McLaughlin proclaimed flamenco as the preeminent guitar technique. Flamenco utilizes all five fingers of the "picking" hand in an array of technical devices to render sophisticated rhythms and syncopations - much like drumming.

[mauricemcm]

I received permission from Mr. Haze to never stop telling banjo jokes...

What do you call it when you throw a banjo into a dumpster and it lands on an accordion? ...

answer= Perfect Pitch

This is 100% a joke. I love Beau Jocque and Allison Brown. Both of their CDs are in my top 20

Keep on playing that old skin head and tell them all Mr. Scruggs sent you!

I have been enjoying Foggy Mountain Spaceship (a lot)

https://youtu.be/VwXCITr4RQA?si=eKpd4s5VIn1oO9dZ