blackfbiv Posted July 21, 2009 Posted July 21, 2009 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 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...
JGale Posted July 21, 2009 Posted July 21, 2009 A man walks into a bar...Ouch! Wait. This is not the rag on bass players thread ?
hamerhead Posted July 21, 2009 Posted July 21, 2009 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'. 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!!
Steve Haynie Posted July 21, 2009 Posted July 21, 2009 All banjos are heavy, at least the good ones. The bronze tone ring underneath the head adds a lot of weight.
blackfbiv Posted July 21, 2009 Author Posted July 21, 2009 I was looking at the Scruggs link... I betcha a 'Dummies' book would be alright too... hmmm...
zorrow Posted July 21, 2009 Posted July 21, 2009 Several months ago my bandmate Yannick gave to my wife an old Ibanez banjo --I'm still wondering why he did so... My friend also gave her an instructional book and a CD --and I wonder again what's the reason behind all those presents... 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!
adgc Posted July 21, 2009 Posted July 21, 2009 And they're LOUD!My wife has had banjos since 1977... I recommend the following:Stewart-MacDonald Tone EnhancerClamps 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 banjoshttp://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailp...e_Enhancer.htmlTwo words: Bela Fleck UFO Tofu
hamerhead Posted July 21, 2009 Posted July 21, 2009 Two words: Bela FleckHELL NO!! Unless you wanna be scared off! He's like the Steve Vai of banjo. He's 'holy $hit' good.
JohnnyB Posted July 22, 2009 Posted July 22, 2009 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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