Bill Evans - Banjo For Dummies

The 5th string is the short string on your banjo. If you're holding the instrument in a playing position (see the following section, “ Positioning Body and Banjo”), the 5th string is the string that is the closest as you look down at the strings. From the 5th string, the strings are then numbered 4, 3, 2, 1 across the banjo. The 1st string is the farthest away from you as you look down on the instrument.

Sharp and flat: You use these terms in reference to getting the banjo in tune. If a note you're playing on your banjo is sharp, its pitch is higher than the note you're trying to tune to; if its pitch is lower, your banjo note is flat.

It's time to take the banjo out of its case and get ready to play! Picking up a banjo and trying to play for the first time may seem a little awkward if you don't know how to hold or position the instrument. To get the most enjoyment out of your practice time and to be ready for anything when playing with others, you should be comfortable both sitting and standing while playing the banjo. In either case, being as relaxed as possible is a good idea.

So how are you supposed to play in these positions with ease? Take a deep breath and don't worry — this section gives you the foundation you need to comfortably strike a convincing banjo-player pose.

If you've never played banjo before, you may not be quite ready for all the advice in this section. You may need to first become comfortable with your left- and right-hand positions on the banjo, which I discuss later in this chapter and in Chapter 5. After you have a good grasp on your hand positions, feel free to come back to this section and devote a bit of time again to finding a comfortable posture sitting and standing with the banjo.

You've probably already discovered that banjos can be heavy. Even if you have a more lightweight, open-back banjo, the distribution of weight on your banjo may very well be uneven, with much of the mass at the peghead concentrated where the four tuning pegs are located. (Where's the peghead, you ask? Flip back to Chapter 1to check out banjo parts.)

Take a moment and sit in a chair with your banjo in a playing position, with the pot of the banjo resting on your legs and the neck extending to your left at about a 45-degree angle. Hold the pot of the banjo against your body, with just a slight angle so you can more easily see the banjo fingerboard and head. If you remove your left hand as a support, does the neck move downward? If so, start using a strap even when sitting. You need the left hand free to fret chords, not to support the weight of the banjo neck.

Find a real banjo strap — not a guitar strap — to use on your instrument. Both kinds of straps look pretty much the same except for what's at either end. Most banjo straps have hooks, ties, or screws at both ends that you use to attach the strap to the banjo pot. A guitar strap more often has just holes punched into the leather or plastic at either end and nothing else, providing no way to easily attach it to the banjo.

Getting used to holding the banjo and working with the strap is a bit like breaking in a brand new pair of shoes — it takes a bit of time, but soon enough everything fits like a glove. The following sections provide all you need to know to fit the strap on the banjo and the banjo on you.

Some inexpensive banjos have hooks on the banjo body that are designed to hold a strap. However, these hooks usually aren't located in a position that provides the most comfortable support. Many players attach the strap to brackets located underneath the neck and the tailpiece of the banjo, as shown in Figure 3-1. This position seems to provide a good deal of support and control, but you want to experiment by using different strap lengths and brackets to see what feels right to you.

Photograph by Anne Hamersky

FIGURE 3-1:For a comfortable fit, try attaching the strap below the neck and the tailpiece.

If you attach the strap to the banjo in this way, you shouldn't have to remove it when you need to put the banjo away in its case. Try wrapping the strap around the banjo pot, making sure that the top of your case still closes easily (see Figure 3-2).

Photograph by Anne Hamersky

FIGURE 3-2:Getting the strap out of the way when it's time to put the banjo in its case.

Although some players wear the strap across the right shoulder, most players adjust the length of the strap so that it wraps over the left shoulder, around the back, and underneath the right arm. You can see both options in Figure 3-3.

As you fit the strap to the banjo, you need to properly adjust its length. The length of your strap determines the vertical placement of the banjo in relation to your body. Although you won't find any hard-and-fast rules, I like to have just enough length to the strap so that when I sit down I can divide the weight of the banjo between my shoulder and my knees.

After you've found a strap position that seems to work when sitting, try standing up with the banjo to see how the banjo feels in relation to your hands. You need to use the same strap length for both sitting and standing, so experiment to find a strap fit that works well for both situations.

Making three or four adjustments as you try to find the right strap position for your banjo isn't unusual. You may have to take the strap off the banjo each time to adjust its length until you find what feels just right. This is a minor hassle, but after the strap is set, you won't have to worry about it anymore and you'll be better able to find comfortable hand positions for playing.

Photographs by Anne Hamersky

FIGURE 3-3:Two different ways to wear a strap.

How you hold your banjo while sitting down is determined by how much you need to see the banjo fingerboard while you're playing. Some players use the position dots on the top side of the banjo neck to keep track of where they are on the banjo neck and don't actually look at the fingerboard directly at all, but most players prefer to actually see what their flying fretting fingers are doing.

Another aspect of finding a comfortable playing posture is to experiment with different neck angles (the banjo neck that is, not your neck!). New players are often so concerned with seeing the fingerboard that they raise the neck to bring it closer to their eyes. Too much of this can lead to some technique problems in both the left and right hands. My advice is to angle the neck such that the peghead is no higher than eye level.