It's Easy To Make Music

How To Play Tenor Banjo - notes & strings

Share page

Visit Us On FB

the scale. The tips of the fingers are used and they should be
placed very close to the fret, but not directly on top of it.

Fig. 52 shows the range of natural notes (without sharps or
flats, which are most used on the Tenor Banjo, together with
the positions of the left-hand fingers as they make the notes.
The numbers above the notes show which left-hand finger to
place on the string. The numbers below the notes show which
fret to put the finger on. The sign O means an open string-
just pick the string without touching it with a finger.

With Fig. 52 in front of you, take your banjo and start to
figure out the notes and play the scale shown.

Playing sharps and flats will follow easily and naturally after
you have learned the natural notes. To sharp any note^ you
simply move your finger up to the next fret. To flat a note you
move your finger back to the fret below it or toward the head
of the banjo.

For ready reference, we are showing all the notes of the
banjo in Fig. 53. We are showing only sharps, but remember
that the sharp of one note may be the flat of the note next
above it. Thus, A# on the first string is also Bb.

71