Getting started on playing a banjo, sounds great but you need to know a few mandatory things before you actually leap ahead and start to learn the banjo. Need a few basic tips to get your first banjo too, start off with an inexpensive high pitch sounding banjo, a deep tone banjo would be good but when you are learning it would be easier to pick up the tones with a banjo that has a high pitch tone. You could start off with learning the exact and most comfortable position of gripping the banjo to start off strumming the strings. It is important to get along an expert when you are buying up the banjo because it has to be set up and tuned properly before you hit the strings. Once you have procured a banjo, you are ready to ride the strings.
The sitting posture is very important, an ideal one would be with your back straight, the banjo neck pointing out at about 45 degrees, the plane of the banjo should be perpendicular to floor, and the banjo should rest between the thigh. This posture would help you get started. You should rest your little finger next to the head of the strings if you have to play the plucking style of bluegrass banjo. Hold the plectrum between your index and thumb that will give you the required grip that you need to pluck the strings. The bluegrass style demands a high twang on the strings when you are plucking the notes.
You could also get online or walk into the nearest music store and get yourself a banjo beginnerís video. They are widely available and can really help you get a hang of the instrument. A video tutorial can really help you learn the basics. Get yourself a beginners video and watch yourself improving with leaps and bounds. Most of these beginners video are played and demonstrated by famous banjo players and they also offer very vital tips for the beginners who have just learnt to hold the banjo and pluck the strings. Start on the tips and then get to learning lessons and keep practicing them till you are comfortable playing it blindfolded.
With the beginners lessons video and the new banjo of yours you are ready for the magic of bluegrass. Get going, practice more and slowly start to play along with your favorite bluegrass songs, not only will you improve but you will start stunning your peers by actually strumming popular bluegrass numbers for them. Practice more; there is no substitute for that. What you should also do is try to play any bluegrass song you like, it will not be very easy to start but slowly you will be able to tell yourself that it was not all that hard as you had thought. The magic of bluegrass has started to unfold in your life. You have just started to learn the melodious style of playing the bluegrass banjo. |