Playing 5-String Banjo How to Read Tabs for 5-String Banjo Playing the 5-string banjo is my profession and my hobby; playing the banjo has brought great joy into my life for nearly 35 years and my enthusiasm for playing the instrument has only increased over the years. Learning to play the banjo is both genuine fun and a rewarding experience. The immediate gratification of hearing notes, phrases and melodies as one learns to play is sure to bring a smile to the face of the player (and hopefully the faces of all within earshot). I always find it enjoyable to pick up the banjo, even if there are only a few spare moments to play, just holding the instrument makes me smile (most of the time). There are countless instructional books, videos and DVDs on the market today to help anyone learn to play the banjo and age is truly not a factor. The main issue is learning what and how to practice, the rest is up to the individual person. Web site addresses for two excellent sources for instructional materials are www.musicians-workshop.com and www.homespuntapes.com. I have four instructional banjo DVDs available on The Special Consensus web site at www.specialc.com. I firmly believe the first step in the learning process, once one has become familiar with the instrument itself, is learning to play some of the various roll patterns for the right hand and learning how to form and move comfortably between the basic left hand chord positions. Although it is difficult to be patient enough to practice the rolls until they can be played smoothly, it will make for better playing in the long run and will make playing songs and tunes up to speed much easier. Learning the basics well is imperative to playing cleanly and in time. Banjo tablature is an excellent learning aid and is easy to read, it is basically a music notation shorthand that enables a player to learn a tune from the paper. However, listening to the music is essential one cannot fully appreciate all the nuances and feel for the music without consistent listening to the music. It is important to get the music into one's ears in order to truly capture the essence of the music when playing an instrument and learning to play by ear (the aural tradition) is perhaps the most common way to learn to play a bluegrass instrument. I intensely studied the playing of J.D. Crowe and then Earl Scruggs when learning to play (and I continue to study their playing and to see them play whenever possible); my learning process began over 30 years ago by slowing recordings down from 33 1/3 to 16 speed and dropping the needle on the stereo player hundreds of times to get the exact lick being played into my ears and under my fingers. The only good instructional book at that time was the Earl Scruggs "How To Play the 5-String Banjo," and I used that as my study bible along with learning the tunes from the Flatt & Scruggs "Foggy Mountain Banjo" album by ear (by dropping the stereo needle, as described above). I also listen to Bela Fleck, Alan Munde, Pat Cloud and Bill Keith for a variety of styles and approaches to playing the in the bluegrass and jazz styles. We are very fortunate today to have so many great players to learn from and to see in live performances. For the more advanced beginner and intermediate players, next steps include practicing with a metronome and playing in different keys. A suggested way to count the four beats in a measure of a 2/4 time tune or song is one and two and. The "ones" and "twos" are the onbeats, played by the bass, and the "ands" are the offbeats, played by the mandolin chop in a bluegrass band. The metronome can be set at any speed while the player counts the measures in this manner. This means that eighth note roll patterns will have two of the eighth notes per beat, and I strongly recommend practicing playing very slowly at first with every note played cleanly and in time with the clicks of the metronome. More sophisticated metronomes and even drum machines can provide various sounds that simulate bass notes for onbeats and snare drums or cymbals for offbeats, which may help a player better hear the different beats. Using the capo at the second fret enables one to play in the key of A (F position = G licks), D (C position) or E (D position); capo at third fret enables playing in Bb (F position), Eb (C position) or F (D position); capo at fourth fret enables playing in B (F position), E (C position) or F# (D position). We rarely capo on the first fret which enables playing in G# or Ab (F position), C# or Db (C position) and D# or Eb (D position). I wish you all well with any musical endeavors you may pursue and hope to hear many of you playing the 5-string banjo somewhere down the bluegrass trail! Greg Cahill The Special Consensus (Leader/banjo player) & International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) President/Board Chair |