At this time I am working hard on the basic of banjo picking but want to learn as much on theory as I can. I do have one question as I dive more in to this will I be able to take a piece of music say written for guitar and change it to music for banjo to the point of writing it out.
Want to learn more
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Yes you will!
Surely you might have to adapt a few things here and there since each instrument has its own idioms but I can guarantee you can transpose anything to the banjo 
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Thanks Frank sorry I took so long to respond.
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Ben’s Build a Break lessons would be great for learning how to do that, especially the ones where the first run through is strictly the melody notes. That way, you learn how to document the melody, then learn how to build rolls and fills around it.
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Cool thanks
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Hey David,
With a fair amount of music theory knowledge, you can transcribe (note for note) any tune written for one instrument to another instrument (as long as their octave range/breadth is similar).
Keep in mind that the guitar and the banjo are not tuned the same nor do they cover the exact same range of notes. For this reason, you sometimes need to transcribe a tune that fits nicely for one instrument into another key for it to fit nicely for the new instrument.
Finally, I have found that there are many tunes written for the piano that I have transcribed to the guitar that require some notes to be removed/substituted for various reasons (there is no “sustain” pedal for the guitar, the note availability for the guitar is limited to 6 notes at a time, the range of the piano is much wider than the guitar…etc). In addition, keys that sound best on the piano might not work as well on the guitar. For these reasons and more, you may find transcribing from on instrument to another to be more complex than you might have initially considered.
Still, learning the basics of a tune (simple melody and chord progression) can be quite easy between chordal instruments like the banjo, guitar, mandolin and piano.
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thanks for your input I am looking forward to learning as much as I can God Bless and have a great day
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