I bought the one that is on amazon with the pretty wood. It sounds great. I learned 2 rolls and I can impress my friends. I have zero idea what I am doing but it is sure fun. I started with finger picks but now just use fingers. Buy one and have fun.

I would suggest you watch Deliverance before picking up the banjo.

Skin like a hog

Playing banjo is a blast, and doesn't have to be expensive. There are a TON of videos available on youtube with people teaching all kinds of banjo basics. Before you buy a banjo, you kind of need to decide whether you want to play bluegrass style (fast picking Earl Scruggs Foggy Mtn Breakdown style) or more of a folksy clawhammer-frailing style. I myself starting out thinking I wanted to be a bluegrass type and ended up getting seduced by the clawhammer technique. Google both of those styles and you'll get an idea of the difference. Usually a bluegrass banjo has a wooden resonator on the back and the tone is more bright and sustained, while a clawhammer style banjo has an open back and the tone tends to be more muted and sort of plunky. As far as getting started with an instrument, you can get a very serviceable open back for as little as a couple hundred dollars, while a bluegrass banjo that you'd want to keep for a while would be more like four to five hundred. I would go to musiciansfriend.com and take a look at the Gold Tone banjos to get an idea of cost. Gold Tone has done a good job of recreating some of the classic banjos of the past.

Great information. I'd like to learn banjo someday myself.


Have you just been waiting for something like this to pop up?

Thanks! Quite the appropriate name... I’ll likely be looking for a used one at first.

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If I don't, who will? -Me
It's like being bipolar in opinion is a requirement around here. -TripleThreat

Believe it or not, Guy is actually my first name. And I didn't want to be TriGuy or whatever since I'm an even worse triathlete than banjo player. I mostly play on sunday afternoons for the grandkids, but I've been a recording engineer/producer for the last forty years and so have been around a lot of good players in both styles. Now is a great time to learn, because there a so many free resources online.

I had a banjo once, then could not get rid of it. So I parked the convertible top down and banjo clearly on back seat - came back a few hours later and there was now 3 banjos on back seat.
There's a neat banjo museum in Oklahoma City - they check your bags for banjos on your way in.

Cant add a whole lot, but listen to the band Trampled by Turtles. They have an awesome banjo player.