"How long does it take to learn banjo?" is a question we get often. While there is some variation from person to person, our answer is that it takes less than 30 days with focused daily practice of 30 minutes and a clear course of lessons to follow.

Foundational Skills (3 - 4 Days)

At 30 minutes of practice a day, you should be able to learn your foundational skills with 3-4 days (How to Hold the Banjo, Learning Picking Hand Position, Understanding the Picking Basics, Learning Fretting Basics, and Right Hand Basics).

Rolls or Bum Ditty (7+ Days)

Continuing at 30 minutes of practice, and if you are learning bluegrass banjo, you should be able to learn several rolls within 7 days (Alternating Thumb Roll, Forward Roll, and Backward Roll). You will most likely be pretty slow playing those banjo rolls, but you'll be able to play them well enough to move towards playing your first song. If you're learning Clawhammer banjo, you'll be able to learn the Bum-Ditty (which is the foundation of clawhammer playing) within 7 days as well.

Tuning, Tablature, Chord Basics (7+ Days) 

 From there, you'll learn additional important skills leading towards your first song. You'll learn to Tune the Banjo, How to Read Tablature, and then Chord Basics within another 7 days. Your chord basics will include the open G Chord, the C chord, and the D chord. 

Learning Your First Banjo Song (7+ Days)

At this point in your banjo journey, you're somewhere close to three weeks of practice, and you'll start learning your first song. As a bluegrass player, you'll be using a combination of one roll, a pinch and two chords. That's it! As a clawhammer player, you'll be using the Bum-Ditty as well as two chords to play your first song.  Most students can learn the first song in 7 - 10 days! 

Conclusion

As you can see, the time it takes to learn to play banjo is easily accomplished within 30 days. Would you be an excellent banjo player in 30 days? Of course not. But you would be playing banjo and on your way to learning more and more songs.

If you want to learn banjo in under 30 days, you can START TODAY!