Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Back-up For Contemporary Christian Music

#1

Good Afternoon,
I am a beginner banjo player - banjo wannabe may be more accurate. I am also a pastor. My dream is to learn a song I can play banjo with my contemporary worship band. David Crowder uses banjo from time to time and I have heard a banjo in several songs I hear on Christian Contemporary Radio (usually heard while in my car) - but I am terrible about remembering the song later. I like bluegrass, yet I am looking for help to play my banjo with the contemporary Christian band.

I would appreciate any help I can get.

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#2

Is there a specific song you need help with, or are you looking to improve your ear?

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#3

Hello Bob,

If you are an absolute beginner, and want to get up and going fast, you might want to try open tuning. With open tuning you only need to fret all the strings on the same fret. You can then strum along, and can provide accompaniment, though it will not have a bluegrass sound.

If you did try this, you could play almost any hymn. It would just be a matter of asking the guys you’re playing with the chord progression, and what fret to shape the “barred” chord.

Hope that helps.

Jack

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#4

I would like to learn the roll that is played in the intro of Casting Crowns song, Start Right Here.

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#5

Thanks - I think of myself as a beginner, although I’ve been at it for 5 years. I think there is a banjo in Casting Crowns “Start Right Here” the intro sure sounds like - that may be too fast for me, but I am going to try.

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#6

@bjolly57 I think that’s definitely something you can learn. But instead of just telling you the roll pattern and fretting, I want to guide you through the process of picking out stuff by ear so you’ll improve your overall musicianship as well.

The first step to learning any song is to determine the key of the song and the position it is played out of. (For instance, some songs are played in the key of A, but are capoed and playing out of the position of G.) So, we need to determine what we’re playing in (key), but also what we’re playing out of (position). Sometimes these will be the same (which always means that the song is played without a capo), but if they are different, that always means the song is played with a capo.

So, “What key is ‘Start Right Here’ in, and what position is the banjo playing out of?” are our first questions.

Let us know if you need help determining these.

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