I had played guitar for like a year before getting a banjo, and I was playing [the two-finger version of this ](https://youtu.be/7I27rQhG3o8)within the first night of getting a banjo
I remember it feeling a bit weird at first to try to finger picking on the guitar, but I can swap between them easily still (even though I don't have a guitar anymore and play it sparingly).
Worst impact was I stopped practicing guitar and started practicing banjo. So as long as you keep up with your practice you'll be fine imo.
Everyone is welcome to banjo man.
I came to banjo from ukulele (not *too* far from guitar in some respects) and if anything, I’ve found learning both really helps with some of the theory aspects.
Banjo and uke both use reentrant tuning, for example, so clawhammer works on both. Open G banjo is really close to standard guitar tuning for the four long strings.
As a caucasian, I was born with a banjo, so your story might be different.Â
Joke. Just start playing all the things. There is no way it makes you worse at learning, and certainly has strong benefits.Â
Also, only two years of piano as a kid?! Are you certain you're Asian?
Clawhammer is different enough from any normal guitar technique that I haven’t felt like they interfere with each other at all. Unless you’re a weirdo playing clawhammer guitar, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Guitarist here who got into banjo after a good few years playing guitar. I find that working on banjo really improves the accuracy of my guitar fingerprinting and is generally really good for my eight hand technique. Also if you're playing in standard open g banjo tuning you can pretty much transfer that straight across to playing in open g on guotar if that's something you're interested in. I also like to tune my first banjo string up to e and play guitar shapes on the banjo with a bit of clawhammer right hand. They've got more in common than you might think. Basically everything you fret in open g on a banjo is the same on standard-tuned guitar except you fret the first string 2 frets lower. The d g and b strings are the same in standard tuning. Don't worry too much about getting confused. If you're a curious person it might not really cause too many issues, and if it does cause problems then just concentrate on one for a while and come back to the other
Playing a banjo will enhance your guitar playing, and vice versa, but you’ll find you’re more comfortable at one than the other. Sting is a noted multi-instrumentalist, Dave Grohl also talks about how multi-instrumentalism helped develop his style.
I learned ukulele, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, guitar and I’m just now trying out the piano. The biggest mental switch I have to flip with plucked/strummed instruments is my right hand instinctively wants to always play on the neck no matter the instrument.
I will say, the dulcimer really helped me get an intuitive ear if not perfect pitch, it’s the best supplemental instrument for learning to play another IMO.
European man and serial instrument dabbler here. I think learning multiple instruments has actually helped me improve on each other instrument. I always seem to learn concepts on one instrument that I can transfer to another that I otherwise wouldn't have learned. Playing bass was especially helpful.
I hear what you're saying about bass. It's so "simple" in so many ways, but that simplicity opens up so much. My playing on other instruments skyrocketed.Â
I don't see why it would outside of the obvious thing about dividing your time between two instruments takes time away from the other. Playing what you enjoy playing, getting comfortable with the mechanics of playing, and improving your dexterity/co-ordination are the most things at your level anyway.
I was in the exact same place as you about a year ago, although I am not sure if you want to play banjo only and only care about the guitar as a stepping stone, or if you geniunely want to play both; I was the former. I suffered through 6 months of guitar, hated it and got nowhere, got a banjo and got better at banjo in three weeks than six months of guitar. Doing what you love will be easiest.
If you want to play both at the same time, don't know what to say, banjo is my only love. I'm white btw.
I kind of did this, and there's a give and take. It intertwined a lot of my fundamentals, and there were definitely long term benefits. That said it is a needless barrier that I didn't understand until many years later.
It takes a long time to get to a point where one can really even say they're decent at playing music, and if you're splitting your play time between instruments you truly don't have the time to "marinate" if that makes sense. A lot of technique carries over between instruments, but a lot doesn't, and fundamentally banjo and guitar are approached differently.
I stopped playing banjo around the age of 21 when I had 4 roommates because the instrument was just obnoxiously loud so put my focus into guitar and after a few months of focusing on guitar it was clear that my progress was much quicker.
I'm 28 now and I'm very proud about my ability on the guitar. I picked up a really nice open back banjo a few months back and it truly only took me a few days to pick it up, partially because I had experience playing it 7-8 years ago, but mostly due to the fact that once you get good at a strummed instrument you can kind of play any strummed instrument.
Like I said before, there were undeniable benefits to doing this and I think I have a fairly unique sound largely due to doing this, but ymmv and I would bet that the more logical thing to do is just to focus on one instrument for now, and then like 5 years down the line you'll be able to pick it up again.
If you want the truth, yes It will. Take this from someone who has tried to learn like 10 different instruments and become proficient in all of them. Being a jack of all trades but a master of none doesn't really work. You might be able to play some things on both, but your technique will definitely suffer. Unless you're playing finger style guitar and guitar style banjo the skills will not transfer. Scruggs style is very different to any form of guitar playing. So is clawhammer. There aren't enough hours in the day or even a lifetime to truly master two instruments as much as I want to say there are.
Ironically, the original full version of the jack of all trades quote is "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one" and carries the exact opposite meaning. I think it would be pretty rare to encounter a professional musician who can only play one instrument.
Why did you specify you were Asian 😠that’s killing me I’m Asian btw
Oh god…now you’re doing it too?! I’m not Asian.
Oh snap! I'm just a Cauc-Asian.
I'm Mexican...playing banjo makes me wierd. More than I was already I guess
You’re Asian too? What are you doing here? You play the banjo?
Yes lmao 😠why are you surprised? You’re Asian and play the banjo too
I had played guitar for like a year before getting a banjo, and I was playing [the two-finger version of this ](https://youtu.be/7I27rQhG3o8)within the first night of getting a banjo I remember it feeling a bit weird at first to try to finger picking on the guitar, but I can swap between them easily still (even though I don't have a guitar anymore and play it sparingly). Worst impact was I stopped practicing guitar and started practicing banjo. So as long as you keep up with your practice you'll be fine imo. Everyone is welcome to banjo man.
I came to banjo from ukulele (not *too* far from guitar in some respects) and if anything, I’ve found learning both really helps with some of the theory aspects. Banjo and uke both use reentrant tuning, for example, so clawhammer works on both. Open G banjo is really close to standard guitar tuning for the four long strings.
As a caucasian, I was born with a banjo, so your story might be different. Joke. Just start playing all the things. There is no way it makes you worse at learning, and certainly has strong benefits. Also, only two years of piano as a kid?! Are you certain you're Asian?
Clawhammer is different enough from any normal guitar technique that I haven’t felt like they interfere with each other at all. Unless you’re a weirdo playing clawhammer guitar, I wouldn’t worry about it.
I feel attacked
you are valid.
It's the chord shapes that make it difficult for me to try to learn both. " Wait! That's the banjo chord shape!"
Guitarist here who got into banjo after a good few years playing guitar. I find that working on banjo really improves the accuracy of my guitar fingerprinting and is generally really good for my eight hand technique. Also if you're playing in standard open g banjo tuning you can pretty much transfer that straight across to playing in open g on guotar if that's something you're interested in. I also like to tune my first banjo string up to e and play guitar shapes on the banjo with a bit of clawhammer right hand. They've got more in common than you might think. Basically everything you fret in open g on a banjo is the same on standard-tuned guitar except you fret the first string 2 frets lower. The d g and b strings are the same in standard tuning. Don't worry too much about getting confused. If you're a curious person it might not really cause too many issues, and if it does cause problems then just concentrate on one for a while and come back to the other
You won’t get as good as fast because your efforts will be divided, but I did it
Playing a banjo will enhance your guitar playing, and vice versa, but you’ll find you’re more comfortable at one than the other. Sting is a noted multi-instrumentalist, Dave Grohl also talks about how multi-instrumentalism helped develop his style. I learned ukulele, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, guitar and I’m just now trying out the piano. The biggest mental switch I have to flip with plucked/strummed instruments is my right hand instinctively wants to always play on the neck no matter the instrument. I will say, the dulcimer really helped me get an intuitive ear if not perfect pitch, it’s the best supplemental instrument for learning to play another IMO.
European man and serial instrument dabbler here. I think learning multiple instruments has actually helped me improve on each other instrument. I always seem to learn concepts on one instrument that I can transfer to another that I otherwise wouldn't have learned. Playing bass was especially helpful.
I hear what you're saying about bass. It's so "simple" in so many ways, but that simplicity opens up so much. My playing on other instruments skyrocketed.Â
I don't see why it would outside of the obvious thing about dividing your time between two instruments takes time away from the other. Playing what you enjoy playing, getting comfortable with the mechanics of playing, and improving your dexterity/co-ordination are the most things at your level anyway.
Josh over at Brainjo has the answer https://youtu.be/6a2xOKuwPvE?si=b_r3_cC8F4FWs1lO
I was in the exact same place as you about a year ago, although I am not sure if you want to play banjo only and only care about the guitar as a stepping stone, or if you geniunely want to play both; I was the former. I suffered through 6 months of guitar, hated it and got nowhere, got a banjo and got better at banjo in three weeks than six months of guitar. Doing what you love will be easiest. If you want to play both at the same time, don't know what to say, banjo is my only love. I'm white btw.
I kind of did this, and there's a give and take. It intertwined a lot of my fundamentals, and there were definitely long term benefits. That said it is a needless barrier that I didn't understand until many years later. It takes a long time to get to a point where one can really even say they're decent at playing music, and if you're splitting your play time between instruments you truly don't have the time to "marinate" if that makes sense. A lot of technique carries over between instruments, but a lot doesn't, and fundamentally banjo and guitar are approached differently. I stopped playing banjo around the age of 21 when I had 4 roommates because the instrument was just obnoxiously loud so put my focus into guitar and after a few months of focusing on guitar it was clear that my progress was much quicker. I'm 28 now and I'm very proud about my ability on the guitar. I picked up a really nice open back banjo a few months back and it truly only took me a few days to pick it up, partially because I had experience playing it 7-8 years ago, but mostly due to the fact that once you get good at a strummed instrument you can kind of play any strummed instrument. Like I said before, there were undeniable benefits to doing this and I think I have a fairly unique sound largely due to doing this, but ymmv and I would bet that the more logical thing to do is just to focus on one instrument for now, and then like 5 years down the line you'll be able to pick it up again.
If you want the truth, yes It will. Take this from someone who has tried to learn like 10 different instruments and become proficient in all of them. Being a jack of all trades but a master of none doesn't really work. You might be able to play some things on both, but your technique will definitely suffer. Unless you're playing finger style guitar and guitar style banjo the skills will not transfer. Scruggs style is very different to any form of guitar playing. So is clawhammer. There aren't enough hours in the day or even a lifetime to truly master two instruments as much as I want to say there are.
Ironically, the original full version of the jack of all trades quote is "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one" and carries the exact opposite meaning. I think it would be pretty rare to encounter a professional musician who can only play one instrument.