THE HERETIC BANJO PAGE
THE HERETIC BANJO PAGE
You are the
visitor since 3:00PM EST November 25, 1996
Aparently everthing on this page is heresy to Banjo purists so if
your one then this page is not for you. Please move on to one of
a higher nut.
If you have a five string and don't know what on earth to do with it
besides show-it off and pretend you can play it; then this is where you
wanna be.
I'll have you up and strummin' in minutes "It's just that simple"
As Dr. Nick Riviera would say.
This is the only page on the internet that I'm aware of where you can get Banjo tabs
for Banjo-Friendly Rock-n-Roll... Any Requests?
Best of all...
Playing the banjo is simple
You are visitor number
since September 2, 1996
DOWN AND DIRTY.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
TO PLAY YOUR BANJO TODAY!
Hello and welcome to the Aaron's no-nonsense guide for begining banjo
players.
After 15 years sitting in it's case
I just rebulit, restrung, and blew the dust off my old five string.
I looked all over the Web for banjo information but was unable to find
anything that was truly helpful.
Most of it was Bluegrass, Endless lessons on finger rolls that one can never
truly master in any small period of time, and the importance of
'planting' your picking hands pinkey finger on the drum head near the
bridge etc...
If you're anything like me you want to pick it up and play, so here is the
scoop;
First
Forget about learning finger rolls, pick the melody out of a song you
are familiar with and let instinct take over. The roll should sound like
the melody or be a harmonius varaiation of the melody, DO NOT
think about what your picking hand is doing.
Let it relax and start picking whatever comes naturally.
If it changes everytime, so what?
If the roll changes everytime you change chords
so what?
Does it sound like the song?
Alright then. If it doesn't sound like the song you're probably
thinking too much, and I can prove it.
Try closing your eyes for ten seconds WITHOUT
thinking of a white horse starting now...
Can't do it can you? Well Think about the lyrics, your voice, or your
chord forming hand. Close your eyes, do anything but concentrate on the picking hand.
Second
Get those stupid finger picks off your
hands and play with your bare-naked picking hand.
It is much
easier to 'feel' the melody out if you can feel the strings.
Third
Forget about planting your picking hand and
let it float over the drum head, if your not wearing the finger picks
you can easily do this beacuse your five fingers are floating directly
over the strings or they are planted on one or more of them.
Fourth
Forget about chord charts.
A banjo is
tuned to an open chord, Major, or Minor, or whathaveyou.
All you need to know is what
tuning
your banjo is in.
For instance if your banjo is tuned to "G" then all you have to do to
hit all the Major chords is slide a fully barred SINGLE index finger up the
fretboard.
Soooooo....
Remember that the progression goes: (In "G" Tuning)
Banjo tuned "G"
Open | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14|
G | G#| A | A# | B | C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# | A |
"D" 1|---|---|----|---|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"B" 2|---|---|----|---|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"G" 3|---|---|----|---|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"B" 4|---|---|----|---|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"D" 5 |----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
NOTA BENE, There is NO B# or E#... so when going from B to C you only
move up ONE fret, and when going form E to F, again only move up ONE fret.
That is all well and good but playing an F at the 10th fret and suddenly
moving down to the 2nd fret to play an A sounds ridiculous, there must me some other way
to play Major chord configurations that are not single finger bars.
There are and the good news is that there are only 2 possible ways to do it.
They are dubbed an "F" configuration and a "D" configuration.
This is because when your banjo is tuned to G and you play each
configuration closest to the nut of the banjo the first of
the 2 possible fingered chord configurations rings out an F chord.
The 2nd possible fingered chord configuration rings out a D
chord.
Banjo tuned "G"
Below is the F configuration.
Open | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
G | F | F# | G | G# | A | A# | B | C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# |
"D" 1|---|----|--P|----|---|----|---|---|----|----|----|----|----|----|
"B" 2|--I|----|---|----|---|----|---|---|----|----|----|----|----|----|
"G" 3|---|---M|---|----|---|----|---|---|----|----|----|----|----|----|
"B" 4|---|----|--R|----|---|----|---|---|----|----|----|----|----|----|
"D" 5 |----|---|---|----|----|----|----|----|----|
P=Pinky I=Index M=Middle R=Ring
Below is the D configuration.
Open | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14|
G | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | A# | B | C | C# | D |
"D" 1|----|---|----|--P|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"B" 2|----|---|---M|---|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"G" 3|----|--I|----|---|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"B" 4|----|---|----|--R|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"D" 5 |----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
P=Pinky I=Index M=Middle R=Ring
The same rules apply to the F and D fingerings as
the single Index fingerings.
As you climb the fret board you chime the twelve possible major Chords.
To play all the Minor chords in the G tuning, instead of a full bar across the
fret base of the chord, you use your index finger to play one fret lower on the second string, (The second string is the one second closest to the floor),
and with you Middle, Ring, and Pinkey fingers to play the remaining three
strings at the base fret for the minor chord.
Banjo tuned "G"
Open | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14|
G | Gm#| Am | Am#| Bm| Cm| Cm#| Dm| Dm#| Em| Fm | Fm#| Gm | Gm#| Am|
"D" 1|----|---P|----|---|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"B" 2|---I|----|----|---|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"G" 3|----|---R|----|---|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"B" 4|----|---M|----|---|---|----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
"D" 5 |----|---|----|---|----|----|----|----|---|
P=Pinky I=Index M=Middle R=Ring
When you get to the sixth fret bar the entire fret below the base cord fret
with your index finger.
Now you know all the Major and Minor chords! You can play 80% of all your
favorite songs. Goto the OLGA
(On-Line Guitar Archive)
and find a song that you know well and try playing it.
Or...... Look below.
Or at least some fun.... Check out the LINKS PAGE
If you are interested in getting your small business on the web or would like to suggest an
American Literary Classic for The Chapter A Day Page
You can reach me by e-mail at:
arezis@mindport.net
Or by telephone @ (860) 423-3595
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This page was created on
September 2, 1996
