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All kidding aside...


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Looking for a good place to start... it's a 5-string Saga that's about 30 years old... freakin' thing weighs a ton!!! Price was right though: $0 :lol:

I found an on-line banjo tuner, there are clips on Youtube and such, but I'm just wondering if any of you have any suggestions for a beginner to get some solid grounding.

Style-wise, I guess your typical bluegrass stuff... I dunno... Alison Krauss' banjo player appeals to me...

I don't ever expect to tour with this thing professionally, but to be able to plunk along with others for fun might be cool...

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I suggest a teacher. My over-60 brother-in-law recently picked up the banjo (no previous musical ability) and can actually play some stuff (he has a very good teacher). Although I don't think he liked it when I picked it up and in about 2 minutes was playing 'Dueling Banjos'. :lol::D

I got my wife a garage-sale banjo once for our anniversary (actually - it was a joke, it just happened to be our anniversary the day I was garage-sale-ing). She's never let me forget it. No sense of humor!! :D

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Several months ago my bandmate Yannick gave to my wife an old Ibanez banjo --I'm still wondering why he did so... :lol: My friend also gave her an instructional book and a CD --and I wonder again what's the reason behind all those presents... :D

My wife says she will learn to play it eventually, that she would play the "Flying O" in contrast to my "Flying Vees", etc.; but she never finds the time to practice.

The thing is collecting dust in a corner of my basement, but it looks really beautiful. It is quite heavy, and it's full of decorations and all those fancy things.

I guess someday I'll have to learn to play it --I don't even know how a banjo is tuned!

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And they're LOUD!

My wife has had banjos since 1977... I recommend the following:

Stewart-MacDonald Tone Enhancer

Clamps onto the strings behind the bridge and regulates banjo overtones by position and thumbscrew-adjustable pressure, for a variety of special effects. It's a great practice mute, too. Machined nickel-plated brass; fits 4 or 5-string banjos

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailp...e_Enhancer.html

Two words: Bela Fleck
UFO Tofu
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Two words: Bela Fleck

HELL NO!! Unless you wanna be scared off! He's like the Steve Vai of banjo. He's 'holy $hit' good.

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I just got a free banjo a couple weeks ago too. My grand-nephew got married in my town, resulting in the convergence of many relatives, one of whom was my sister who had had a banjo largely unused for the past 28 years, so she gave it to me. So now I have elec. bass (need a doghouse), guitars, mandolin, and banjo. Yee-haw. It also came with the Scruggs book. Mine's a 1981 MIK Aida; her husband meant to get her an Aria for her birthday but got confused. Still, it seems decent, especially given that it was free and it's definitely tunable and playable.

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