Music Education

Learning Banjo - Easy Bluegrass Picking

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Let's draw up a really simple diagram and say that the first "|" represents where the pot meets the fretboard, the "----" represents the strings and the last "|" represents the bridge:

Got that?

Now position your hand so that your supporting finger/fingers are close to the bridge and play your roll.

You'll notice that the roll sounds kind of crisp.

Now position your hand closer to the neck and play the roll again.

All of a sudden the sound isn't quite so bright. It's still loud, but it's not as crisp as it is closer to the bridge.

As you play your roll over and over again (after all, repetition is part of practice) move your hand between the bridge and the neck until you find a spot that sounds good and feels good to you.

Play the roll for a while longer and then we'll start working on chords.

Don't panic. The chords we're going to use here are really easy.

Your first step to making a chord is to position your fretting hand so that the pad of your thumb is on the centerline of the back of your banjo neck. Your thumb should be running straight across the back of your banjo neck not running parallel with it. Keep your arm relaxed. If your elbow is sticking out at a funny angle or if your wrist feels uncomfortable adjust your position until things feel right.

Lay your index finger across the fifth fret so that you are hitting all four strings.

Strum across all four strings with your picking hand. You want teach string to ring clearly.

Have you got it?

Congratulations. You've just made a C chord!

Now I want you to spend a little bit of time playing your roll out of the open G chord and then playing the roll while holding the C chord at the fifth fret. Your goal here should be to switch back and forth between a measure open G and a measure of barre-C without breaking the rhythm. It'll feel awkward at first, but if you stick to it it'll smooth out.