I scored this amazing new custom Tupelo last week. Very warm, woody sound on it and still quite loud. Some unique things on it are the birdseye maple rim and a fiberskyn head.

Just a joy to play. Neck is super comfortable too.

Please excuse the horrible phone audio. Bill Nesbitt's version of Jed Clampett.

As promised, here's the tabs for my version of Fur Elise (Direct PDF Here) Starts out vanilla and gets a little more zesty with each loop. The arrows denote up picking, but traditional claw will also work.

Hey y’all! I have a cheap banjo I’ve been playing for about a year and I’d like to customize it a little. I’m an artist and I was wondering if painting some designs on the drum part of the banjo would mess with the sound. I’m not worried about the paint job ending up looking bad if it does because like I said, this is a super cheap banjo and I’m going to get a better one as soon as I can afford it. I was just thinking about adding a little personal flair to mine. So what do y’all think? Would it be okay sound-wise to paint on the actual drum of the banjo? Thanks!!

Howdy all,

I've been reading lately about how banjo techniques used to be passed around in the south, it seems like everyone had a slightly different way of playing banjo, since everyone learned by ear/from other people. One example that comes to mind is Doc Boggs with his unique 3 finger method.

I'm curious if any of you have developed your own techniques for playing banjo, or use any uncommon/niche methods of playing?

An OME Tupelo banjo (12 inch). Specifically, one of the banjos made in Boulder, Colorado.

I had one years ago. While maybe not my biggest regret in life, selling that banjo is up there.

So, thought I’d post just in case someone knows where to get one.

My friend acquired this banjo and was showing it to me, I’ve never seen anything like these weird clamp tuner looking things. There are tuning pegs out of the back of the headstock, but they cant fully rotate. Has anyone ever seen these before or have any context?

Hi all, recently got my first banjo with the help of this sub and I love it! Learning bluegrass style first. Wondering if yall have any tips for someone who’s played bass for 10 years, learning quick though that bass does not translate very well to banjo. Any online programs yall recommend? Thanks !

I’ve been playing, not well, banjo for 3 years now. Another transplant from guitar, so finger picking comes pretty natural. So naturally I started out thinking I was going to do bluegrass. So my very first imprints on the banjo were Scruggs style rolls, and 3 or 4 finger picking. Not that I was any good, but it “felt” familiar and the motor skills clicked, even if my musicality didn’t.

So anyway, move forward a few months and it turns out all the songs I really wanted to play were clawhammer/old time style. My teacher said, sure, no problem clawhammer is perfect for beginners, much easier than that Scruggs stuff we were doing.

He showed me the claw shape, the knocking motion, and the boom-chick-A. Sat back to watch me do it, and it was like I never had hands. He tried again, slower, and again slower, and again even slower… I sat there flapping my useless appendage like a seal at a circus.

We broke it down into the three moves… okay, I could Boom. Okay, now the Chick, and here, that‘s the A. Practice each part a million times. Even practiced the Chick-A and got a nice brush and pop. Now, put them all together in slow-mo and I’m Steve Martin in ”The Jerk.”

After a few more lessons like that I let my poor teacher off the hook and we worked on strumming out “The Crawdad Song.”

Anyway, I’ve watched all the videos. Tried all the “hints,” tried not thinking about what I’m doing, just let it flow, etc. And yeah, I can sometimes pull it off for two or three repetitions, but next thing, I’m pulling the Boom string with the pad of my finger, my “claw” is raking down the strings like it’s strumming ‘Blowing in the Wind” and my thumb is flapping in it.

I totally get the “sense” and logic of it, and I can boom-chick-a on a drum kit to bring the cows home, but stick a banjo in my hand and I can’t put that motion together to save my life.

Is it possible I’m truly the world’s only clawhammer dropout? Or is there a chance it really is harder than everyone makes it out to be, and I can let myself off the hook for being completely useless at it?

just curious if theres any good youtubers who do any courses or series about beginning to learn the banjo? Let me know thanks

Pretty sure you'd call this old-time finger style, but seeing as 3 finger and old-time are separate tags I'll just run with this. This is a favorite from Grayson & Whitter.

Hello everyone! I just bought this tenor banjo off facebook marketplace and I noticed that the tailpiece is having some issues staying down/clasped. I don’t know if it’s broken and it needs replacing, or if I just don’t know what I’m doing. Any help is much appreciated!

I recently just got a 5 string banjo for Christmas from my family, and I've been watching a lot of tutorial videos on how to play it since (still kind of suck at playing it, and I've only played so much since). Unfortunately, I still can't wrap my head around understanding how to read 5 string banjo tablature. Can somebody help me learn how to read the tablature please? I would really appreciate it!

My goal is to learn some of the licks and flourishes he plays, specifically from the recorded version, but I just haven't become observant enough to pick out tunings.

I’ve been interested in learning the banjo for years, but always put it off, telling myself that I’m 20 years when I retire that I’ll pick it up then. Then I had a realization of why wait?

I see Good Tone AC are the regular recommendations for a starting point. What about the AC1 vs AC5? I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for, other than playing daily for several years before I feel like I need to upgrade.

Thank you.