Chords for Tony Trischka Five-String Banjo Basics
Tempo:
76.7 bpm
Chords used:
G
C
D
B
E
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[B] Hello folks, I'm Tony Trischkin.
I'm here with the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
It's great to be here.
I'd like to talk to you about just the very basic beginning of playing the banjo.
What I played there was Cripple Creek, kind of based on what Earl Scruggs, the father
of the bluegrass style of banjo, played and recorded back in the 50's.
That's something to shoot for if this is the style you want to get into.
There are many styles to play on a five string banjo, and that's just one, the bluegrass
style, the Scruggs style.
First of all, let's go back to the absolute beginning basics, how to hold the banjo.
Now there are a number of different ways.
I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.
Some people, they don't actually have it out here, but you could have it in around here.
But usually, if you're sitting anyway, you'll just kind of have it sitting comfortably in your lap.
For starters, we won't even talk about the picking, we'll just talk about the chords.
[G] Some people have the banjo up like this.
If you're going to hold the banjo like that, and if that's the most comfortable way to
do it for you, the idea is to have a flat wrist here.
So you don't want to have a lot of arch in your wrist, because it might, over time, affect
your tendons or your muscles.
If you hold it down like this, which most people do, most bluegrass players have it
more down like this, not quite parallel to the floor, but up just a little bit.
Then you'll probably grab the banjo like this, just kind of have it sitting between the thumb
and the index finger like that.
Because if you have the thumb behind the neck like this, then you're going to have this
pretty severe arch in your wrist like this.
So just kind of grab it like that.
And if you're in a G tuning, which I am right now, which is the standard bluegrass tuning,
and you'd have a G up for that short [D] string up here on the top, that's a G note, then
you have a D down [G] here on the fourth string, G on the third string, B on the second string,
and D on the first string.
Right off the bat, you're playing a chord.
You're already playing a chord.
And there are a number of songs you could actually sing.
You could just strum or just do that or just do a simple picking pattern, whatever you
can do to get the sound out.
And the main thing is just to enjoy the sound of the banjo.
There's G.
For a C chord, what you can do [E] is put your ring finger in your left hand on the second
fret of the first string.
The second [D] fret [G] is open.
That's an open first string.
There's the [E] first fret.
There's the second fret right there.
Second fret of the first string.
[B] And then the index on the [C] first fret of the second string.
So there's the open [C] second string.
There's the first fret of the second string.
Now if you just strum the first three strings, just come down with your thumb, that's a C chord.
If your fingers are working [G] well enough to do this, and if you played guitar before,
this shouldn't be a problem, but if this is the first time you've ever held a stringed
[C] instrument, you might just [G] want to do that.
There's G and there's C.
But [G] if you want to play the full C chord, then [E] take your middle finger and [G] plop that
down on the second fret of the fourth string.
Second fret of the fourth string.
[C] And there you can strum all five strings and you've got a C chord.
Now if you want to play a D7 chord, which is the other important chord of the three
chords you're learning here, then rather than letting go of everything right now, just lift
off the first string so that's [B] open, and the fourth string.
So those two strings are open.
[D] So the only string that's left is the second string and your index finger is still sitting
on that first fret of the second string.
[G] So right now, you're not totally open, you still have that index on the first fret of
the second string.
Then take your middle finger, the one right next to your index, and put it down on the
second fret of the third string.
So it's over one string at the same fret from the C chord, where it was on the [A] second fret
of the fourth string.
Now it's on the second fret of the third string.
That index is still there on the first fret of the second string.
And you strum that and there's a D7 chord.
[D] So those are [G] the three main chords.
You have the open G, and you can look at your watch while you're playing that or wipe the
sweat off your brow from doing this or wave to people, whatever you want to do.
Then you can play your C chord [C] and [A] then you can go straight to the D7 for now.
And when you get comfortable with that, then you can kind [G] of mix it up and go G, [C] C, G,
D7, G.
Now that you know a few chords, let's do something with those chords.
Again, you can just strum them, [C]
[D] anything [G] like that.
But if you want to get it to the next level, just play a little fancier, we can do what
are called finger rolls or just rolls, which are basically finger patterns.
And in bluegrass style, even though you can use it for any kind of style, folk or anything,
one of the most common rolls is the alternating thumb roll.
And I use this in Cripple Creek, the way I started this little lesson here.
And let's do this.
Take your thumb in the right hand and hit the third string with it.
You'll only be hitting it once, but I'm just playing it a few times so you can find the note.
Then take the index [B] finger, pointer finger, and hit the second string.
[F#] So those two together would be the third string with the thumb and the index on the second
string like that.
And now let's take the thumb and go over to the top string here, the short [G] string, the
fifth string, and then hit the first string [D] with your middle finger.
So the strings are the [F#] third string, second, fifth, [G] and first.
Thumb, index, thumb, middle.
In fact, I'll count it in and you can play along with me.
One, two, three, four.
If you're having a little trouble, don't worry about it.
Just once it starts getting comfortable.
So what you can do now, we're just doing it on G right now, you can do it twice in G and
then play the C chord.
[C]
Back to G, just let go of [G] everything in the left hand.
And then play D7 chord.
Do two of these for the [D] seventh.
[G]
Maybe two more on G.
Anyway, that's just a good way to get started playing some chords.
So I hope you enjoy the banjo as much as I've
I'm here with the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
It's great to be here.
I'd like to talk to you about just the very basic beginning of playing the banjo.
What I played there was Cripple Creek, kind of based on what Earl Scruggs, the father
of the bluegrass style of banjo, played and recorded back in the 50's.
That's something to shoot for if this is the style you want to get into.
There are many styles to play on a five string banjo, and that's just one, the bluegrass
style, the Scruggs style.
First of all, let's go back to the absolute beginning basics, how to hold the banjo.
Now there are a number of different ways.
I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.
Some people, they don't actually have it out here, but you could have it in around here.
But usually, if you're sitting anyway, you'll just kind of have it sitting comfortably in your lap.
For starters, we won't even talk about the picking, we'll just talk about the chords.
[G] Some people have the banjo up like this.
If you're going to hold the banjo like that, and if that's the most comfortable way to
do it for you, the idea is to have a flat wrist here.
So you don't want to have a lot of arch in your wrist, because it might, over time, affect
your tendons or your muscles.
If you hold it down like this, which most people do, most bluegrass players have it
more down like this, not quite parallel to the floor, but up just a little bit.
Then you'll probably grab the banjo like this, just kind of have it sitting between the thumb
and the index finger like that.
Because if you have the thumb behind the neck like this, then you're going to have this
pretty severe arch in your wrist like this.
So just kind of grab it like that.
And if you're in a G tuning, which I am right now, which is the standard bluegrass tuning,
and you'd have a G up for that short [D] string up here on the top, that's a G note, then
you have a D down [G] here on the fourth string, G on the third string, B on the second string,
and D on the first string.
Right off the bat, you're playing a chord.
You're already playing a chord.
And there are a number of songs you could actually sing.
You could just strum or just do that or just do a simple picking pattern, whatever you
can do to get the sound out.
And the main thing is just to enjoy the sound of the banjo.
There's G.
For a C chord, what you can do [E] is put your ring finger in your left hand on the second
fret of the first string.
The second [D] fret [G] is open.
That's an open first string.
There's the [E] first fret.
There's the second fret right there.
Second fret of the first string.
[B] And then the index on the [C] first fret of the second string.
So there's the open [C] second string.
There's the first fret of the second string.
Now if you just strum the first three strings, just come down with your thumb, that's a C chord.
If your fingers are working [G] well enough to do this, and if you played guitar before,
this shouldn't be a problem, but if this is the first time you've ever held a stringed
[C] instrument, you might just [G] want to do that.
There's G and there's C.
But [G] if you want to play the full C chord, then [E] take your middle finger and [G] plop that
down on the second fret of the fourth string.
Second fret of the fourth string.
[C] And there you can strum all five strings and you've got a C chord.
Now if you want to play a D7 chord, which is the other important chord of the three
chords you're learning here, then rather than letting go of everything right now, just lift
off the first string so that's [B] open, and the fourth string.
So those two strings are open.
[D] So the only string that's left is the second string and your index finger is still sitting
on that first fret of the second string.
[G] So right now, you're not totally open, you still have that index on the first fret of
the second string.
Then take your middle finger, the one right next to your index, and put it down on the
second fret of the third string.
So it's over one string at the same fret from the C chord, where it was on the [A] second fret
of the fourth string.
Now it's on the second fret of the third string.
That index is still there on the first fret of the second string.
And you strum that and there's a D7 chord.
[D] So those are [G] the three main chords.
You have the open G, and you can look at your watch while you're playing that or wipe the
sweat off your brow from doing this or wave to people, whatever you want to do.
Then you can play your C chord [C] and [A] then you can go straight to the D7 for now.
And when you get comfortable with that, then you can kind [G] of mix it up and go G, [C] C, G,
D7, G.
Now that you know a few chords, let's do something with those chords.
Again, you can just strum them, [C]
[D] anything [G] like that.
But if you want to get it to the next level, just play a little fancier, we can do what
are called finger rolls or just rolls, which are basically finger patterns.
And in bluegrass style, even though you can use it for any kind of style, folk or anything,
one of the most common rolls is the alternating thumb roll.
And I use this in Cripple Creek, the way I started this little lesson here.
And let's do this.
Take your thumb in the right hand and hit the third string with it.
You'll only be hitting it once, but I'm just playing it a few times so you can find the note.
Then take the index [B] finger, pointer finger, and hit the second string.
[F#] So those two together would be the third string with the thumb and the index on the second
string like that.
And now let's take the thumb and go over to the top string here, the short [G] string, the
fifth string, and then hit the first string [D] with your middle finger.
So the strings are the [F#] third string, second, fifth, [G] and first.
Thumb, index, thumb, middle.
In fact, I'll count it in and you can play along with me.
One, two, three, four.
If you're having a little trouble, don't worry about it.
Just once it starts getting comfortable.
So what you can do now, we're just doing it on G right now, you can do it twice in G and
then play the C chord.
[C]
Back to G, just let go of [G] everything in the left hand.
And then play D7 chord.
Do two of these for the [D] seventh.
[G]
Maybe two more on G.
Anyway, that's just a good way to get started playing some chords.
So I hope you enjoy the banjo as much as I've
Key:
G
C
D
B
E
G
C
D
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
[B] Hello folks, I'm Tony Trischkin.
I'm here with the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
It's great to be here.
I'd like to talk to you about just the very basic beginning of playing the banjo.
What I played there was Cripple Creek, kind of based on what Earl Scruggs, the father
of the bluegrass style of banjo, played and recorded back in the 50's.
That's something to shoot for if this is the style you want to get into.
There are many styles to play on a five string banjo, and that's just one, the bluegrass
style, the Scruggs style.
First of all, let's go back to the absolute beginning basics, how to hold the banjo.
Now there are a number of different ways.
I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.
Some people, they don't actually have it out here, but you could have it in around here.
But usually, if you're sitting anyway, you'll just kind of have it sitting comfortably in your lap.
For starters, we won't even talk about the picking, we'll just talk about the chords.
[G] Some people have the banjo up like this.
If you're going to hold the banjo like that, and if that's the most comfortable way to
do it for you, the idea is to have a flat wrist here.
So you don't want to have a lot of arch in your wrist, because it might, over time, affect
your tendons or your muscles.
If you hold it down like this, which most people do, most bluegrass players have it
more down like this, not quite parallel to the floor, but up just a little bit.
Then you'll probably grab the banjo like this, just kind of have it sitting between the thumb
and the index finger like that.
Because if you have the thumb behind the neck like this, then you're going to have this
pretty severe arch in your wrist like this.
So just kind of grab it like that.
And if you're in a G tuning, which I am right now, which is the standard bluegrass tuning,
and you'd have a G up for that short [D] string up here on the top, that's a G note, then
you have a D down [G] here on the fourth string, G on the third string, B on the second string,
and D on the first string.
Right off the bat, you're playing a chord.
You're already playing a chord.
And there are a number of songs you could actually sing.
You could just strum or just do that or just do a simple picking pattern, whatever you
can do to get the sound out.
And the main thing is just to enjoy the sound of the banjo.
There's G.
For a C chord, what you can do [E] is put your ring finger in your left hand on the second
fret of the first string.
The second [D] fret [G] is open.
That's an open first string.
There's the [E] first fret.
There's the second fret right there.
Second fret of the first string.
[B] And then the index on the [C] first fret of the second string.
So there's the open [C] second string.
There's the first fret of the second string.
_ Now if you just strum the first three strings, just come down with your thumb, that's a C chord.
_ If your fingers are working [G] well enough to do this, and if you played guitar before,
this shouldn't be a problem, but if this is the first time you've ever held a stringed
[C] instrument, you might just [G] want to do that.
There's G and there's C.
But [G] if you want to play the full C chord, then [E] take your middle finger and [G] plop that
down on the second fret of the fourth string.
Second fret of the fourth string.
_ [C] And there you can strum all five strings and you've got a C chord. _
Now if you want to play a D7 chord, which is the other important chord of the three
chords you're learning here, then rather than letting go of everything right now, just lift
off the first string so that's [B] open, and the fourth string.
So those two strings are open.
[D] So the only string that's left is the second string and your index finger is still sitting
on that first fret of the second string.
[G] So right now, you're not totally open, you still have that index on the first fret of
the second string.
Then take your middle finger, the one right next to your index, and put it down on the
second fret of the third string.
So it's over one string at the same fret from the C chord, where it was on the [A] second fret
of the fourth string.
Now it's on the second fret of the third string.
That index is still there on the first fret of the second string.
And you strum that and there's a D7 chord.
_ [D] So those are [G] the three main chords.
You have the open G, and you can look at your watch while you're playing that or wipe the
sweat off your brow from doing this or wave to people, whatever you want to do.
Then you can play your C chord [C] and [A] then you can go straight to the D7 for now.
And when you get comfortable with that, then you can kind [G] of mix it up and go G, [C] C, G,
_ D7, G.
Now that you know a few chords, let's do something with those chords.
Again, you can just strum them, _ [C] _
_ _ [D] anything [G] like that.
But if you want to get it to the next level, just play a little fancier, we can do what
are called finger rolls or just rolls, which are basically finger patterns.
_ And in bluegrass style, even though you can use it for any kind of style, folk or anything,
one of the most common rolls is the alternating thumb roll.
_ And I use this in Cripple Creek, the way I started this little lesson here.
And let's do this.
Take your thumb in the right hand and hit the third string with it.
You'll only be hitting it once, but I'm just playing it a few times so you can find the note.
Then take the index [B] finger, pointer finger, and hit the second string.
_ [F#] So those two together would be the third string with the thumb and the index on the second
string like that. _ _
And now let's take the thumb and go over to the top string here, the short [G] string, the
fifth string, _ _ _ _ and then hit the first string [D] with your middle finger.
So the strings are the [F#] third string, second, fifth, [G] and first.
_ _ Thumb, index, thumb, middle.
_ _ _ In fact, I'll count it in and you can play along with me.
One, two, three, four. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ If you're having a little trouble, don't worry about it.
Just once it starts getting comfortable. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ So what you can do now, we're just doing it on G right now, you can do it twice in G and
then play the C chord.
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
Back to G, just let go of [G] everything in the left hand. _ _ _ _
And then play D7 chord.
Do two of these for the [D] seventh.
_ [G] _
Maybe two more on G. _ _ _ _
Anyway, that's just a good way to get started playing some chords.
So I hope you enjoy the banjo as much as I've
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
[B] Hello folks, I'm Tony Trischkin.
I'm here with the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
It's great to be here.
I'd like to talk to you about just the very basic beginning of playing the banjo.
What I played there was Cripple Creek, kind of based on what Earl Scruggs, the father
of the bluegrass style of banjo, played and recorded back in the 50's.
That's something to shoot for if this is the style you want to get into.
There are many styles to play on a five string banjo, and that's just one, the bluegrass
style, the Scruggs style.
First of all, let's go back to the absolute beginning basics, how to hold the banjo.
Now there are a number of different ways.
I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.
Some people, they don't actually have it out here, but you could have it in around here.
But usually, if you're sitting anyway, you'll just kind of have it sitting comfortably in your lap.
For starters, we won't even talk about the picking, we'll just talk about the chords.
[G] Some people have the banjo up like this.
If you're going to hold the banjo like that, and if that's the most comfortable way to
do it for you, the idea is to have a flat wrist here.
So you don't want to have a lot of arch in your wrist, because it might, over time, affect
your tendons or your muscles.
If you hold it down like this, which most people do, most bluegrass players have it
more down like this, not quite parallel to the floor, but up just a little bit.
Then you'll probably grab the banjo like this, just kind of have it sitting between the thumb
and the index finger like that.
Because if you have the thumb behind the neck like this, then you're going to have this
pretty severe arch in your wrist like this.
So just kind of grab it like that.
And if you're in a G tuning, which I am right now, which is the standard bluegrass tuning,
and you'd have a G up for that short [D] string up here on the top, that's a G note, then
you have a D down [G] here on the fourth string, G on the third string, B on the second string,
and D on the first string.
Right off the bat, you're playing a chord.
You're already playing a chord.
And there are a number of songs you could actually sing.
You could just strum or just do that or just do a simple picking pattern, whatever you
can do to get the sound out.
And the main thing is just to enjoy the sound of the banjo.
There's G.
For a C chord, what you can do [E] is put your ring finger in your left hand on the second
fret of the first string.
The second [D] fret [G] is open.
That's an open first string.
There's the [E] first fret.
There's the second fret right there.
Second fret of the first string.
[B] And then the index on the [C] first fret of the second string.
So there's the open [C] second string.
There's the first fret of the second string.
_ Now if you just strum the first three strings, just come down with your thumb, that's a C chord.
_ If your fingers are working [G] well enough to do this, and if you played guitar before,
this shouldn't be a problem, but if this is the first time you've ever held a stringed
[C] instrument, you might just [G] want to do that.
There's G and there's C.
But [G] if you want to play the full C chord, then [E] take your middle finger and [G] plop that
down on the second fret of the fourth string.
Second fret of the fourth string.
_ [C] And there you can strum all five strings and you've got a C chord. _
Now if you want to play a D7 chord, which is the other important chord of the three
chords you're learning here, then rather than letting go of everything right now, just lift
off the first string so that's [B] open, and the fourth string.
So those two strings are open.
[D] So the only string that's left is the second string and your index finger is still sitting
on that first fret of the second string.
[G] So right now, you're not totally open, you still have that index on the first fret of
the second string.
Then take your middle finger, the one right next to your index, and put it down on the
second fret of the third string.
So it's over one string at the same fret from the C chord, where it was on the [A] second fret
of the fourth string.
Now it's on the second fret of the third string.
That index is still there on the first fret of the second string.
And you strum that and there's a D7 chord.
_ [D] So those are [G] the three main chords.
You have the open G, and you can look at your watch while you're playing that or wipe the
sweat off your brow from doing this or wave to people, whatever you want to do.
Then you can play your C chord [C] and [A] then you can go straight to the D7 for now.
And when you get comfortable with that, then you can kind [G] of mix it up and go G, [C] C, G,
_ D7, G.
Now that you know a few chords, let's do something with those chords.
Again, you can just strum them, _ [C] _
_ _ [D] anything [G] like that.
But if you want to get it to the next level, just play a little fancier, we can do what
are called finger rolls or just rolls, which are basically finger patterns.
_ And in bluegrass style, even though you can use it for any kind of style, folk or anything,
one of the most common rolls is the alternating thumb roll.
_ And I use this in Cripple Creek, the way I started this little lesson here.
And let's do this.
Take your thumb in the right hand and hit the third string with it.
You'll only be hitting it once, but I'm just playing it a few times so you can find the note.
Then take the index [B] finger, pointer finger, and hit the second string.
_ [F#] So those two together would be the third string with the thumb and the index on the second
string like that. _ _
And now let's take the thumb and go over to the top string here, the short [G] string, the
fifth string, _ _ _ _ and then hit the first string [D] with your middle finger.
So the strings are the [F#] third string, second, fifth, [G] and first.
_ _ Thumb, index, thumb, middle.
_ _ _ In fact, I'll count it in and you can play along with me.
One, two, three, four. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ If you're having a little trouble, don't worry about it.
Just once it starts getting comfortable. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ So what you can do now, we're just doing it on G right now, you can do it twice in G and
then play the C chord.
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
Back to G, just let go of [G] everything in the left hand. _ _ _ _
And then play D7 chord.
Do two of these for the [D] seventh.
_ [G] _
Maybe two more on G. _ _ _ _
Anyway, that's just a good way to get started playing some chords.
So I hope you enjoy the banjo as much as I've