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Tuning the banjo can be deceptively tricky to say the least. If you are a beginner and you are still struggling with this seemingly simple aspect, don't fret! (Ha! Don't fret! Did you catch the double entendre there?)

The first really important thing to know is the name of the strings on the banjo. This is a must! We often refer to the banjo strings in their numerical position (1st string, 2nd string, etc.) but not when it comes time to tune. For tuning, you need to know the letter names. (Refer to the chart at the right for help with this.) Once you have the string names down, you can then use your electronic tuner to help you adjust each string to its correct letter name. By the way, in case you've never picked up on this little trivial fact, you'll want to know that the banjo is tuned to OPEN G. This means if we strum the tuned banjo, the resulting sound that is made equals a G chord. Most other instruments, not counting the resophonic guitar (most people refer to this as a "Dobro") can't say this. Almost all the other instruments have to have their left hand touching the strings to make a chord on their instrument. Not us! And PLEASE: if your guitar playing friends tell you that the best way to tune a banjo is with wire cutters, DO NOT TRY THEIR METHOD! This will produce some very ineffective results for you.

One thing I always tell beginners is this: when it comes to tuning a string, pick the string repeatedly, while turning the tuning peg very little. If you repeatedly strike the string while you are adjusting the tuning peg, you'll begin to train your ear to hear the pitch difference as you are tightening or loosening the string. This is the first step towards ear training. After a number of weeks and months doing this, you'll actually be able begin to tell how close you are to your desired note by how the string sounds. Every now and then you may have to stop and let the tuner "catch up" with you, meaning that you may want to stop plucking and turning, and just strike the string and let it ring, watching the tuner to see what note the string is at. Once you get a handle on whether you are above or below the note you are after, you can then resume picking a lot and turning a little.

I also highly recommend an electronic tuner. I don't know what we ever did in the days before electronic tuners became widely available, but they definitely make life so much easier! When you buy an electronic tuner, look for the kind that relies on picking up the instrument vibration, not the kind that uses a microphone to "hear" the banjo. With the vibration style, you can still tune in a noisy environment without having to ask everyone else to be quiet. This is really nice when you are on stage or in a jam session; you can tune your banjo quietly and no one else has to tone down what they are doing just so your tuner can hear your banjo.

Once you become proficient at tuning, and once your ear has developed a little more, it's interesting to note that you'll come to be able to tell if your string is out of tune by picking one of the other strings next to the target string! If the other strings are in tune, you'll be able to hear the "relationship" between the string you are tuning and the one you picked next to it. With enough man hours on your instrument, you'll know how string 4 and string 3 should sound when you pick each one back and forth and compare the two, just as an example. You'll be able to tell that the range of sound between the two is too great or too small just by listening to each one.

A very big source of confusion for raw beginners is the subject of finger picks. These simple little implements cause quite a bit of consternation for the uninitiated picker, and many beginners come to me more frustrated than a one legged cat trying to bury a turd on a frozen lake. A few simple points of knowledge can go a long way to helping the beginner out.

One thing that tends to confuse the average beginner is the sheer number of variations that are available in finger picks. There are both plastic and metal thumb picks, there are different brands of both metal finger picks and plastic thumb picks, there are metal picks made from different materials and varying thicknesses, and the list goes on. Let me attempt to boil the subject down to a few talking points that will get you by just fine. Keep in mind that much of what we talk about regarding finger picks is often subjective, meaning for every preference or piece of advice I can pass out, you'll find other pickers who like things yet a different way. You can rest assured that what I teach you about picks here is pretty good universal advice, which then can be further refined by you as you get experience and build your own tastes and preferences. In the future you'll choose picks based on the material they are made out of and the fit and the comfort level and other things besides these.

A quick rule of thumb: you'll want to use a plastic thumb pick and metal finger picks. This is a fairly widely accepted practice and this is what you'll see 99% of the pickers around you using. Rules are meant to be broken, and since I said above that for every rule I state you can find a lot of people who differ from what I teach, that means you can find plenty of people who will tell you they prefer a metal thumb pick. I have a banjo playing friend right here in my area, for instance, who I've noticed always uses a metal thumb pick. But until you figure out your own prerences, start out with a plastic thumb pick and metal finger picks.

In metal finger picks, you'll find that there are two predominant names: National and Dunlop. Either brand is fine. The metal picks are one-size-fits-all; you bend them to fit. My picks (pictured above) are Dunlop. You'll find that National picks look just the same. You can get picks in both brass (these will be copper color) and nickel (these will be silver color) and in different thicknesses. You are just going to need to develop a preference, so try different thicknesses and different materials. My personal picks are .025" thick. That's on the thicker side of things, but I like the heavy duty, stout attributes and behavior of the thick picks. Now before the experienced pickers write to scold me for not mentioning their favorite picks, I'll quickly add that you can find lots of other brands and lots of different configurations of the metal picks. Some claim to be more comfortable, some claim to sound better, etc. I can't lay out every option or you'll never finish reading this. Suffice it to say that you can start with my recommendations here, then begin experimenting once you have some experience, and see what you like.

There are two considerations in plastic thumb picks: they way they look, and what size they are. You'll find the plastic thumb picks available in the same two predominant brands as the metal finger picks (National and Dunlop) with lots of other brands thrown in depending on what music store you visit. You'll have a choice of small, medium, and large in thumb picks, so buy what's comfortable. Most people buy white thumb picks, but you can find a wide range of colors in these. Shop according to your taste and personality.

It's humorous talking to a beginner who has just tried out finger picks for the first time, because picks are very foreign and hard to get used to. To make matters worse, many beginners put their finger picks on backwards, then become really concerned because it's so hard to play this way! Take note of the picture at the right; this is the way you wear your metal finger picks.

I picked up a tip about wearing finger picks by watching Tony Trischka in an instructional DVD that he put out. That tip is to situate your picks so that the tang, or blade, wraps your finger tip and then expands beyond the back of your finger as far as possible. This greatly improves your accuracy, especially in some of the advanced rolls that you'll eventually be doing. I've noticed this really helps when trying to play string 4 with the pointer finger, or string 3 with the middle finger. The extra extension of the picks helps to get a good "bite" on these strings. Notice the way I have the pick situated on my finger at the right, and notice how far back the blade extends. You achieve this by not pushing the pick so far down on your finger. Wearing it pretty high allows you to bend the blade back farther.

Shaping and bending your picks is a little tougher if you buy the thick picks, but basically you can use tools like pliers, or just good old fashioned elbow grease, to bend your picks into shape. The "elbow grease" method involves placing the pick on your finger and rolling your finger tip on the table to roll the blade back (see the picture at the left.) It's better to have the rounded effect than to just bend the blade back at an angle, so do this with a little bit of care. If necessary, you can use some pliers to help shape things.

Finger picks are a necessary item for accomplishing the bluegrass banjo, so the sooner you begin working with them the sooner you'll get used to them. They will feel foreign and they will be hard to work with at first. You'll start out saying "I hate using the finger picks" but before long you won't be able to figure out what you ever did without them, and you'll hate picking the banjo without them on.

Crack open many of the commercially available books that purport to teach you how to play the banjo, and within the first few pages you'll likely be shown three chords: G, C and D. The G is pretty straightforward; usually it's the open G with no fingering on the neck. (Remember, banjos are tuned to open G.) You'll also find the 3-finger C chord based at the first and second fret. The next natural chord to be shown is the D chord. But you see Maynard, I disagree with what most books show you at this point.

Don't replace the D chord with a D7 chord

Take a look at the chord chart at the right. The chord that's shown is the D7 chord. I have noticed over the years that many banjo books show this as one of the first few chords to be learned in the key of G. They suggest that when it comes time to form a D chord, the D7 is an acceptable substitute. In fact, they don't even label it as a substitute for the D chord; they simply show this chord to a beginner and suggest that this chord is a regular chord in the key of G progression. This is incorrect! Some beginners may not even realize that they are not playing the correct chord or that D7 isn't the proper chord for the progression. The D7 chord is not the chord that you are fishing for. The correct chord is D. The two chords are similar...but yet very different.

I suspect the reason for showing the D7 chord and not the D chord is for simplicity; you can see the D chord diagram below, and as you'll see it's not an easy chord to make. Doesn't loook hard? Wait until you try it. D7 is much much easier, and it sounds "close enough".

The progression for the key of G is: G, C, and D.

Here's the D chord, at the left. Take a look at that puppy! If you've been picking awhile then you've played this many times. Perhaps you are like many beginners and you feel very frustrated by this chord? I've actually had many people quit taking banjo lessons because they could not play this chord. I'm not kidding! So, if this is a tough one for you, you aren't alone. No matter what, don't give up! You will eventually get it, and I've got some pointers to make this chord easier to deal with.

Yes Banjo Paul, but why not D7? It sounds pretty good!

The thing I shoot right back at you when you ask me that is: if the D7 is acceptable, then why not use C7 in place of C and G7 in place of G? The answer is that just because the chords have the same beginning letter, and just because they sound similar, does not mean they are replacements for each other. If you are up to the spot where a C is called for in the progression, C7 is not an acceptable substitute. It's not the same chord! Likewise with D7.

Due to a lack of classical music training, there are a few mysteries that I can't fully explain using music theory terms. So in very layman's terms, I like to say that the D7 is in the same family as D; they are kind of cousins. Just as cousins can look similar, so can the D's of the D family sound similar. Yet...D7 has a very specific purpose, as does D. NO SUBSTITUTING!

A couple of general chord fingering rules first

As we look at some pointers for dealing with the D chord specifically, let's go ahead and talk about a couple of fingering rules that will help when making any chord that you want to try. While general in nature, these tips are the bare minimum that you need to be able to tackle in order to work on the D chord specifically.

Make your "table tops"

Look at my finger that I am fretting the string with in the picture at the right. Notice that I am pushing down on the string with the tip of my finger. Also notice how the section from my first knuckle to my second knuckle is flat, almost parallel to the banjo fretboard. I call that area my "table top", and your fingers should look like mine. No laying your finger down flat with only a bend at the large knuckle; when you fret properly, every one of your finger knuckles will be bent.

No cradling! Don't wrap your thumb around the neck!

Classical guitar players and classically trained violinists are the masters of adhering to this rule. We acoustic, roots-music pickers tend to get lazy sometimes. Well, alright, most times. I'm guilty of it. Having said that, you may as well try to learn good habits right off the bat. Don't cradle your neck in the crook of your thumb. (If you are not sure what I mean, look at the picture at the left. See my thumb wrapped around the banjo neck? Make sure your hand doesn't look like that.) If you can do it, prefer to do it, love to do it, refuse to stop, etc., then more power to you and continue on. However, if you are just learning your instrument, cradling the neck will hold you back when it comes to trying to make the D chord. Now, you'll notice that I am doing it in the picture. Why? Because I can. And...to show you how not to do it. THE D CHORD IS HARD. IT TAKES AWHILE TO GET USED TO IT. DON'T FIGHT YOURSELF BY TRYING TO CRADLE IT. PUT YOUR THUMB TIP UNDER THE NECK. Seem like a simple rule? Good. But...as with most techniques, putting your thumb under is not easy at first.

Attention class: put your thumb here!

The picture at the right shows where your thumb should go. I've got the banjo almost flipped upside down so that you can see the underside of the neck. Make your hand look like this.

Once you give this a try, don't come back and cuss me out. Be warned ahead of time: making the D chord is very unnatural for your arm, and it'll feel counter-intuitive to try and put your thumb under the neck. You'll notice that your elbow wants to shoot way out away from your side, and your forearm will ache. Don't despair! In time, you'll "stretch out" and limber up; your forearm pressure will decline, your arm will relax, and your elbow will drop. Or, that is, all of that will happen once you've made the D chord a couple hundred times! So...time to get busy!

Let's tackle that D chord!!

Alright, ready? I've got some great insight that I think can help you in trying to build up the muscle memory needed to get this chord tackled.

Over the years, I've developed a few thoughts on this tough chord. I've come to realize that there are really 3 stages to this chord. Here are the 3 stages:

1. Putting down one finger at a time
2. Being able to lay down index, middle and pinky all at once, then laying down ring
3. And finally, being able to put all 4 fingers down at once

Important stage 1 tip: I.M.P.R.

But Banjo Paul, what in the world is I.M.P.R.? Funny you should ask young Grasshopper! I.M.P.R. is simply the abbreviation for each finger tip that you use to make the D chord. I=index finger, M=middle finger, P=pinky, R=ring.

I've discovered that to reach stage 2, it's important to condition your fingers and arm, or in other words: develop the muscle memory needed. The best way I've found to do this is to avoid having a haphazard, lack of direction type of approach when it comes to assembling your fingers into this D chord shape. Condition your hands by laying your fingers down in this order: I.M.P.R..

Stage 2 goal: 3 fingers at once

As you practice this D chord, take my advice and spend countless minutes and hours just laying your fingers down in the order prescribed: I.M.P.R., I.M.P.R., I.M.P.R., I.M.P.R., I.M.P.R., I.M.P.R., and so on. Do this until you are sick of it! Then, once you've reached that point, do it a couple hundred more times! What you'll find after some time has gone by is that it slowly becomes a little easier and a little easier to force I.M.P. down at the same time...like a mini chord...and then laying down the ring finger shortly after. In other words you'll be doing stage 2: laying down 3 fingers at the same time, then dropping on the ring finger. 3 fingers at once then ring, 3 fingers at once then ring, 3 fingers at once then ring, etc. Now, notice my fingers in the pic at the left...I've got 3 fingers laid down, now all I have to do is drop the ring finger in place. Note: don't curl your ring finger under the neck as I've done; I am just trying to get it out of the way for the sake of the picture.

And finally...

Once you've accomplished stage 2 in learning the D chord, you'll be surprised how quickly stage 3 arrives, which is being able to lay down all 4 fingers at once. Check out my picture at the right and you can see the finished product. Notice my "table tops". Notice my thumb placed under the neck of the banjo. Notice my finger tips pushing straight down onto the strings. Notice how none of the fingers are laying down. Try to make your hand look like mine. Oh, take a look at my elbow in the background; you can't tell by the picture, but it is relaxed and hanging straight down at my side. If I was having the typical beginner's struggle with the D chord, you'd see my elbow jutting off at a right angle, almost parallel to the banjo neck in the pic. Work towards keeping your elbow down in time.

Good luck and contact me with questions

I'd love to answer any questions you may have about this or any other topic, so don't hesitate to get ahold of me by going to my contact page listed in the menu up at thet top of this page. Thanks and good luck, and as I always say: pick 'em if ya got 'em!!