"Is learning banjo hard?" is a question we get often. The short answer is no, but to believe that answer, you simply need to understand what fundamental skills are required to play banjo. 

Why People Think Learning the Banjo Is Hard

It's worth noting that the myth that learning the banjo is difficult probably comes from two places. 1) Guitarists (who make up the majority of stringed instrument musicians) can be baffled, at first pass, by the banjo. This is due to a completely different string up and tuning. 2) The banjo has that pesky 5th string that breaks the paradigm of most stringed instruments (having the highest tone string directly above the lowest tone string). 

Regardless of where the idea of the banjo being hard to learn comes from, let's dive into why the banjo is actually easy to learn. 

If you'll bear with one more digression, there are multiple styles of banjo, but the two most popular are bluegrass and clawhammer banjo. So we'll focus on those!

You Only Fret Four Strings On The Banjo

Bluegrass and clawhammer banjo use a 5-string banjo. But you ONLY FRET FOUR OF THE STRINGS.

Compare that to a guitar, which has six strings, all of which can be fretted. As a result, on the banjo, the chord shapes are much easier to learn, and the patterns in which those chords move up and down the neck are quite simple. 

So, you're only fretting four strings on the banjo. 

The Banjo Neck is Narrow (easy to fret)

The neck on the banjo is quite narrow, so your fingers don't have to do the same kind of acrobatics/stretching for chord shapes that you'll find on many stringed instruments. It's simply easier to fret chords on a banjo.

The Strings Are Lighter (easy to fret)

In addition, the strings on a banjo are much thinner and lighter than those of many instruments. This is nice for beginners for several reasons. 1) You don't have to build up calluses as quickly to practice for long periods of time. When I learned guitar, I wanted to practice much longer than I could because my fingertips hurt so badly. This transition is much easier on the banjo. 2) The "action" on the banjo tends to be much easier than on a guitar. The "action" of the strings/neck is how hard you have to press down to fret chords. While not all guitars have difficult action, acoustic guitars tend to require MUCH more strength than the banjo. The action of fretting on a banjo is extremely easy in comparison to most stringed instruments.

All of the above applies to both bluegrass and clawhammer banjo. As we dive into the skills required to play banjo, we'll see that bluegrass and clawhammer take very different paths when it comes to the right hand. 

What Skills Do You Need to Learn Banjo?

Rolls - Bluegrass Banjo

Let's start with rolls. Rolls are what the right hand (picking hand) plays in bluegrass banjo. This is a picking pattern that you can play over a chord or just over the open strings without fretting anything (the open strings make up the notes of a G chord, so you are actually playing a chord without fretting anything). A popular roll (picking pattern) for bluegrass banjo is the alternating thumb roll, which you can listen to below. 

The Bum Ditty - Clawhammer Banjo

The Bum Ditty is the main picking pattern that constitutes clawhammer banjo playing. The hand makes a kind of claw shape (as if you were holding a pencil with your pinky, ring, and middle fingers).

Here is the pattern of the Bum Ditty strum: The index finger strikes a single string on the first strike and, on the second strike, strums all four strings, but as the index finger completes that second strike (strum), the thumb catches the 5th string for a pluck. It's much easier to understand when you look at it in the video below.

The combination of striking a single string, strumming all four strings with the thumb, catching the fifth string for a pluck creates the sound "Bum-Ditty, Bum-Ditty" sound. Check it out below.

 As a sidenote: While both Rolls and the Bum Ditty may seem intimidating at first, our students learn them within a week and are playing their first song (often 3+ songs) within the first month as members at Banjo Mountain.

Chords

Chords are three notes (or more) fretted together. The banjo is tuned to "open G" which in this context means that if you strum it, you have a G chord.

A C chord can be fretted on the banjo in the first position by fretting the strings in the following way:

1st string: 2nd fret

2nd string: 1st fret

3rd string: Open

4th string: 2nd fret

Wow! You now know how to play two chords! And with those two chords, you can now play a song (Bile 'Em Cabbage Down as an example).

Once you know a single roll (or the Bum Ditty) and you know one fretted chord, you can play a song (remember the open strings unfretted make a G chord). To circle back to the question, "Is Learning Banjo Hard?" I think we can all agree it is not hard! Learning the banjo is quite easy!

Conclusion

We are just scratching the surface of what it means to be a great banjo player as opposed to learning just one song.

But the foundational skills that make up playing the banjo are not difficult to learn. The opposite is true.  Being both a banjo player and a guitar player myself, I can tell you that banjo is AT LEAST as easy as learning guitar and, in my opinion, significantly easier. 

 I hope that helps! 

If you want to learn banjo, we've helped hundreds of people, of all ages, learn banjo. You can get started for free or become a paid member to learn your first song in 30 days!