Beginner Banjo

[CameronWLucas]

I have dilemma. I have $200 to spend on a Banjo, but I know very little about them. Basically I have 2 questions:

1) When I play a banjo (either in a music store or at some craigslister's house), what am I looking/listening/feeling for to get a decent instrument?

2) Are there any specific brands/makes/models that I should try and search out to test?

Thanks in advance for any help

[pater familias]

I play banjo. You CANNOT buy a banjo worth having for $200. Honestly, whatever you buy for that will be firewood. If you like playing you'll probably want to upgrade in a year, and you cannot give away a $200 banjo.

Better up your budget to at least $400 and/or look for a used one. I recommend lots of reading on the Banjo Hangout - great forum, best banjo source on the planet. They have a great used selection in the classifieds, also. http://www.banjohangout.org/

My rec's based on playing style:

Bluegrass - http://www.banjo.com/Deering_Goodtim...Pack_p/798.htm

Old-time - http://www.banjo.com/Deering_Goodtim...r_Pk_p/590.htm

The banjo.com guys are great folks, and will set up your banjo so it plays easily. But you can find these banjos used pretty easily.

I'll help you however I can, but please don't buy a $200 banjo.

[_jt_]

Originally Posted by pater familias

I play banjo. You CANNOT buy a banjo worth having for $200. Honestly, whatever you buy for that will be firewood. If you like playing you'll probably want to upgrade in a year, and you cannot give away a $200 banjo.

I'll second that. Banjos are like everything else. You don't have to buy the best but buy something good to start. If you don't like it (playing and/or the banjo), you can sell it. If you do, you can grow with it. But if you buy junk, you won't be able to get rid of it whether you want to stop or upgrade.

Plus, it will play a lot better and you'll enjoy everything about it more. Everyone I know that quit playing guitar soon after they started said it hurt their fingers. If you dig a little, it wasn't REALLY about not developing callouses... you'll find out that they probably bought a cheap acoustic guitar with insanely high action, bad intonation, strings you could slice cheese into seven pieces, etc. That junk will sit around until they can pass it off to someone else who thinks they want to try but aren't willing to make an investment in his or herself.

Get something good.

[jbraun002]

Just to add - the Deerings (the open back Goodtime model) is probably the best beginner banjo out there, and it'll work fine for bluegrass or olde-time music. You really don't _need_ a resonator for your starter banjo. Additionally, you can find them used for good prices _and_ even when you move up to a "pro" banjo, you'll probably want to keep it around for camping or as a "beater" banjo.

[lamenlovinit]

Originally Posted by CameronWLucas

I have dilemma. I have $200 to spend on a Banjo, but I know very little about them. Basically I have 2 questions:

1) When I play a banjo (either in a music store or at some craigslister's house), what am I looking/listening/feeling for to get a decent instrument?

Thanks in advance for any help

If every guitar player in the room looks over with a disgusted look on their face, it's a keeper!

[bazooka47]

Originally Posted by jbraun002

Just to add - the Deerings (the open back Goodtime model) is probably the best beginner banjo out there, and it'll work fine for bluegrass or olde-time music. You really don't _need_ a resonator for your starter banjo. Additionally, you can find them used for good prices _and_ even when you move up to a "pro" banjo, you'll probably want to keep it around for camping or as a "beater" banjo.

This information may not help the OP, but I recently took up banjo, because the band I joined plays some tunes that have banjo on some tracks. I started out with a Deering 6-string Boston, which is really a guitar disguised as a banjo. Ended up returning it because, to me, the 6-string didn't really capture the essence of what a banjo should sound like, and, played in guitar tuning just didn't SOUND right. So, I decided just to go ahead and get a 5-string banjo and deal with the learning curve.

Anyway, I ended up with a Deering Eagle II 5-string, which is one of their newer models. The cost was way more than the OP's budget, but I sure am glad I spent the extra $$, because this thing is beautiful- superior quality, great volume and tone, and it stays in tune.

Deering has lower priced models which seem to retain the quality, and are just not as fancy.

One thing for sure- BANJO IS FUN!!

[pickaguitar]

question...do you guys strum, fingerpick or what on a banjo? Both?

I'm a complete novice on the banjo and am wondering how to get that full space filling type of banjo sound...

[Tomo]

Good thread! I have been looking for banjo myself.

Tomo

[pater familias]

Originally Posted by pickaguitar

question...do you guys strum, fingerpick or what on a banjo? Both?

I'm a complete novice on the banjo and am wondering how to get that full space filling type of banjo sound...

I play clawhammer. Once you get the right hand down banjo is the easiest instrument I've learned to sound good on in a short amount of time.

[bazooka47]

Originally Posted by pickaguitar

question...do you guys strum, fingerpick or what on a banjo? Both?

I'm a complete novice on the banjo and am wondering how to get that full space filling type of banjo sound...

I am starting out with learning the full fingerpicking technique, but I eventually want to learn clawhammer as well.