Six string Banjo

[MePeel]

Opinions, please. I'm gassing for a little twang, and tried out a Dean at GC last week. I've read some bad reviews, but a lot of the dings seem petty.

Mel

[Mikeo]

a 6 string banjo doesn't have the same vibe as the 5 string.

 

Find a 5 string banjo, and learn to pay it. There should be a million of em out there in the used market compared to not that many 6 stringers.

 

I don't know , but I'm gonna say bit the bullet and get a 5 stringer and learn it

[guitarist21]

 

Find a 5 string banjo, and learn to pay it. There should be a million of em out there in the used market compared to not that many 6 stringers.

 

 

+1 Absolutely 100% agree. It is way better, IMO, to learn to play a five string than to go out and get a six string. Six strings are generally more expensive, harder to find, and if you learn to play the five you'll be able to play any banjo you happen upon at a jam.

 

And for what its worth, I've never played a Dean banjo but I have little confidence in their acoustic guitars. If you do end up getting a six-string, check out the Deering Goodtime banjos.

 

Ellen

[totamus]

Yep +1000. I dont know a single person who bought one and was happy with it beyond that initial new purchase euphoria. Without the drone string, its just an obnoxious guitar. I would rather have a resonator with a round neck. About the same sound (similar anyway) AND you can plays blues slide stuff.

[daklander]

 

.... I don't know , but I'm gonna say bit the bullet and get a 5 stringer and learn it

 

 

 

I'll buy that for a dollar.

 

There was a thread on this just a short while ago. Run a search within the last month and it should pop up.

[Stackabones]

Without the drone string, its just an obnoxious guitar.

 

Hell to the yeah!

[Cozmo]

+1 Absolutely 100% agree. It is way better, IMO, to learn to play a five string than to go out and get a six string. Six strings are generally more expensive, harder to find, and if you learn to play the five you'll be able to play any banjo you happen upon at a jam. And for what its worth, I've never played a Dean banjo but I have little confidence in their acoustic guitars. If you do end up getting a six-string, check out the Deering Goodtime banjos. Ellen

 

I'll add my +1.

 

In my current band I play banjo (we sound like a mix between The Band and Neil Young). I bought our leader's 5-string Goodtime banjo, and he then bought a 6-string. He brought it to a gig once and wanted me to use it just to try it out, so I did.

 

I hated it.

 

It wouldn't stay in tune for anything. Plus they tried to keep the neck the same width (or only slightly wider) than a regular banjo, so the strings are really close together. One of our songs I use a flat pick and play it like a guitar, but the other songs I fingerpick, and the combination of now having 6 strings and their being really close together really messed with my playing. I don't remember what brand it was, but he sold it soon after that gig. It really isn't all it's cracked up to be.

 

If you want to play a 6-string, get a guitar, or a resonator if you want that tinny sound. If you want to play banjo, get a 5-string like everyone else and a get a DVD or watch the tutorials on YouTube.

 

I love my 5-string. Now I can play Sufjan Stevens with the best of 'em.

[brahmz118]

I like the 6-string banjos / banjitars / guitjos that I've heard on recordings, though I've never played or heard one in person. It sounds great for plunky ragtime -- no 5-string can replicate those low notes. Norman Blake comes to mind. Also, Django started on 6-string banjo. I've heard he's a pretty good musician.

 

It's a legitimate instrument in my opinion, though it's not meant to re-create 5-string music. It's easy to bash the hybrid instruments, but personally I think anything with strings has the potential to be cool.

 

 

Well, almost anything...

[daklander]

 

.... It's a legitimate instrument in my opinion, though it's not meant to re-create 5-string music. It's easy to bash the hybrid instruments, but personally I think anything with strings has the potential to be cool. Well, almost anything...

 

 

Keep in mind that a lot of people who are inquiring about a 6 string banjo are under the impression that they are going to get the 5 string banjo sound with 6 strings and no need to learn a new instrument.

So, while it is, indeed, a legitimate instrument it doesn't sound like a 5 string.

[daklander]

 

.....Plus they tried to keep the neck the same width (or only slightly wider) than a regular banjo, so the strings are really close together....

 

 

A good friend of mine, a 5 string banjo player, bought one several years ago and it turned out, seldom played it. The neck on it was very close to, if not the same, as an acoustic guitar. At least I really didn't feel any difference in the neck compared to the acoustics I play. I did not measure it however.

I think there can be a place for it, as there is for a 4 string and other banjos.

[Chicken Monkey]

I'd say go with the 4-string tenor banjo. You can transfer the chords to mandolin, and you've got two fewer strings to worry about compared to the 6-string.

[Samilyn]

 

+1 Absolutely 100% agree. It is way better, IMO, to learn to play a five string than to go out and get a six string. Six strings are generally more expensive, harder to find, and if you learn to play the five you'll be able to play any banjo you happen upon at a jam. And for what its worth, I've never played a Dean banjo but I have little confidence in their acoustic guitars. If you do end up getting a six-string, check out the Deering Goodtime banjos. Ellen

 

 

+1000

 

Once you get used to the skinny neck, a 5-string is not hard to play. If a dummy like me can catch on quickly, anyone can.

[Terry Allan Hall]

I have banjos with 4 (uke-banjo and tenor banjos), 5, (a borrowed) 6 (git-jo) and 8 (mando-banjo) strings and they're all equally legit...although the mando-banjo is best used in very small doses

 

Let's not have banjo snobbery, my fellow Forumites!

[totamus]

As a banjo player, I am pretty sure it is not snobbery - more along the lines of the forumites advising against Esteban and Zager. I have seen a whole lot of people buy these instruments because they want the banjo sound (Earl Scruggs 3 finger roll) and believe they can achieve that sound and not have to learn new chord positions.

 

It just doesn't work. That sound is dependant on the Drone string and isnt duplicated on a 6 string. I am sure there musicians somewhere who use them for their own unique sound (biting and annoying to me, but we all have different tastes).

 

So the advice is offered to the majority of people who want one for the Banjo sound. If what you want is a different sounding guitar, and you like the sound offered, then it could be a match.

 

But as said many time already, what I see repeated constantly is: purchase, play around, then permanently in the closet.

 

For the record, Banjo chords are extremely easy to learn - it is just like a guitar with the high E down tuned to D. Any guitar player picks up on the chords quickly. Its the roll that takes practice.

[totamus]

Actually, there is a hybrid guitar Banjo that I would like to have. I would like to have Guitar body with a 5 string banjo neck. I have never seen one, but surely someone has done this. A project for the very long list of things I would like to get around to

[Samilyn]

I have banjos with 4 (uke-banjo and tenor banjos), 5, (a borrowed) 6 (git-jo) and 8 (mando-banjo) strings and they're all equally legit...although the mando-banjo is best used in very small doses Let's not have banjo snobbery, my fellow Forumites!

 

No banjo snobbery from a gal who loves old-fashioned foot-stompin' bluegrass.

 

Next stringed baby for me is a ... yup, you guessed it.

[Bernie P.]

Six string banjo?

The lovely Stephania (Alex Meneses) said it best.

 

It is annoying!

[Stackabones]

Six string banjo? The lovely Stephania (Alex Meneses) said it best. It is annoying!

 

This is the best banjo thread evah!

[whit townsend]

>>>>>

 

+1 x 1000

Get a decent open back 5er, like a Goodtime, Gold Tone CC100, or Saga SS10. Not too expensive, you can learn all styles on it, not obnoxiosly loud for practice, and easy to put a pick up in.

[Chicken Monkey]

 

Actually, there is a hybrid guitar Banjo that I would like to have. I would like to have Guitar body with a 5 string banjo neck. I have never seen one, but surely someone has done this. A project for the very long list of things I would like to get around to

 

 

I've got an electric that I tune gGDGBD, like a banjo with a bass G string next to the drone string. It's kind of nice to have that there, as it greatly increases the lower range of the instrument. That could be a cool setup for an acoustic 6-sting banjo, too.

[MePeel]

Thanks for all the input. I'm not really looking for my inner Scruggs , and I'm not in the mood to learn the 5 string. The reso idea is worth some thought, though. I've heard the 6 string banjo on some songs by Don Edwards, and I also think it would sound good on some old folk style songs,(Coal Tattoo comes to mind for one.)

Mel

[guitarist21]

As long as you're buying it knowing it is an instrument of its own, and won't give you the sound of a five string, go for it.

 

Ellen

[Samilyn]

Get whatever you think you'll be happiest with and enjoy it. It's all about the music.

 

I enjoy a 5-string and the Scruggs rolls are easy to learn, but to each his/her own.

 

However, if you decide on a 5-string, here's a good site that offers some excellent values in banjos. They do a complete setup prior to shipping and have some nice package deals in the $200 - $300 range that are decent 24-bracket banjos, not total crap like some of what's offered on Ebay.

 

http://thebanjohut.com/index.html

[Terry Allan Hall]

Here ya go, MePeel...

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A45M1vY98SM&feature=related

 

 

 

 

[daklander]

 

Here ya go, MePeel... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlWbSNrDmTQ&feature=related

 

 

Cool Hand Luke does it with more feeling.....