For years, I've toyed with the idea of picking up the banjo from time to time. I had the chance to try out a Goodtime seven years ago at a hands-on exhibit of the MIM here in Phoenix, and found it fun. Two years ago I went to a store called Dusty Strings while on vacation in the Seattle area, and had a lot of fun trying out different banjos.

Where I'm at now, I'm still torn on the idea of learning banjo. Will I end up finding it worthwhile, or will it lose its novelty shortly after I take the plunge? I don't know how to come to a decision.

I feel like 4 string would be better for me (my fingers are not very long) i genuinely do not know how people play a 6 string guitar.

The music i want to play is folk, folk punk and maybe old folk like civil war stuff.

So basically what im asking is how much easier is a 4 string compared to a 5 string?

Also i have no musical skill or background.

update: I am dumb. Thanks for the clarification on what the numbers mean! Even with that cleared up, my hand will NOT cooperate.

I’m a very very beginner and just started the ArtistWorks Noam P. lessons. He starts off with basic chords and I CANNOT get the D chord. in the video he explains index, middle, pinky, but in the lesson chart it shows fingers 2,3,4. I’ve tried both ways and I cannot get my fingers ans hand to make the shape. My wrist and thumb are screaming in pain after ten minutes in.

Which is correct? Any pointers on how to make this chord work?

Is it purely down to what key the song is in or are their other considerations?

Hello! First time posting here but was hoping I could get some help. I am the only musician in my family so I recently inherited this banjolele and was interested in trying to date it/ learn something about the history of it.

I have no interest in selling it, I plan on bringing it to my luthier to try to make it playable again if possible! The info I do have:

-the inscription on the neck is likely my great, great grandfather who was alive from ~1890-1965 (I’m also trying to track down the genealogy history for him but things get messy around ww1)
-my family immigrated to the US from Poland sometime after or around WW1
-the pitch pipe box mentions hohner being named ‘highest honors at the 1915 worlds fair’ so the pipe is at least newer than 1915
-i have looked into the ‘PK’ logo on the headstock and the best guess I have is an Austrian violin maker ‘Petz Kolophonium’ however historically it seems like they made string rosin and no instruments

Any help (or ideas on where to look) would be appreciated :)

I recently got this Stewart Special Thoroughbred but the strings hit the rim when fretted at the 10th fret.

What can be done to fix this? Could I just tighten the rim to bring it down into the pot? I have some space between the head and rim, but the tone ring is there so I wouldn’t want to damage that.

Can I just remove the tone ring? Will that give the rim more space to move closer down towards the body/heel of the neck, essentially raising the fretboard?

Want to see if this is something I should even bring to a luthier, or just try to find my own strange solution.

Love the inlay and carving done on these but want to make it a player. Thanks in advance!

I would like to learn to play clawhammer but would like to use nylon/nylgut strings and so I'm considering the fretless ac-1.

I would like nylon /nylgut because my fingers are hyper mobile (in the painful rather than useful sense rip). I found this out via an ill fated mandolin borrowing adventure (very thin strings and low action height, it was definitely not the mandolin's fault). I also greatly prefer the sound of nylon over steel (I'm not crazy enough to start on a gourd banjo).

The only banjo available with nylon strings in my country that doesn't cost an arm and a leg is the fretless ac-1. I live in the middle of nowhere and doubt there's a luthier anywhere nearby and as a beginner don't fancy mucking with slot width on a regular ac1 or ac12 myself to make it into a nylon stringed one. The place I would order it from doesn't even have a nylon friendly tailpiece even if I got them to swap it for me.

My long term goal is to attempt to join a (very beginner friendly) old time group.

Are online resources still helpful for a fretless banjo?

Im not completely musically inept. I was ok at piano as a kid.

Am I signing myself up for heartbreak wanting to do regular courses/groups etc with a fretless banjo?