Learn different chord shapes and you can sit in with anyone.
Pick up a guitar and strum it without any left-hand fretting. Sounds pretty terrible. Now, without putting any of your left-hand fingers on the fretboard, strum a banjo. Sounds pretty good. That's because a banjo has an open tuning. This means that if your banjo is tuned in G, as they typically are, you've already strummed your first chord -- a G. Now all you have to do is learn how make a C-chord and D-chord to play a 1-4-5 progression, a progression that will allow you to play along with an enormous catalog of music.
Instructions
Major Chords
1. Tune your banjo. Start with an open-G tuning. When you're holding the banjo in your lap, ready to play, the banjo is tuned GDGBD going from the string closest to your chest to the string closest to your lap. There are other tuning options for the banjo, but you should start with this open-G.
2. Place your index finger flat across all the strings at the fifth fret. Strum every string except the short string closest to your chest. That's a C-chord. Since the banjo is in an open tuning, you can bar your finger across every string at any fret and strum the banjo (minus the short string), and you've made a real chord.
3. Move your finger up to the 7th fret. Bar across it and strum. That's a D-chord. Other common chords are the A-chord barred at the 2nd fret, the B-chord barred at the 4th fret, the E-chord barred at the 9th fret, the F-chord barred at the 10th fret and a G-chord barred at the 12th fret.
4. Place your index finger on the G-string (the one in the middle of the banjo) at the second fret. On the B-string just below it, closer to your lap, place your middle finger on the third fret. On the string below that, the D-string closest to your lap, put your pinky on the fourth fret. Finally, on the D-string nearer your chest, the one just below the short string, put your ring finger on the fourth fret too. When you strum the banjo, minus the short string, you've played a D-chord. Without lifting your fingers or changing their shape, you can slide this same finger shape up the banjo to make different chords -- slide the shape up one fret for D-sharp, two frets up for an E, three frets up for an F, four frets up for an F-sharp, five frets up for G.
5. Place your pinky finger on the fifth fret of the D-string, the one closest to your lap; place your index finger on the third fret of the B-string; place your middle finger on the fourth fret of the next string up towards your chest, the G-string; and finally, place your ring finger on the fifth fret on the next string up, the D-string. This is a G-major chord. Move that entire shape up two frets to play an A-major chord; two more frets up from there is a B-major chord and one more fret up is a C-major.
Seventh Chord Shapes
6. Bar your index finger across the fifth fret. This is, as you now know, a C-major chord. To turn this shape into a seventh, merely place your pinky on the eighth fret of the string nearest your lap, the D-string, while maintaining the bar across the fifth fret. Slide the entire chord shape one fret higher up the neck; that's a C-sharp 7, one fret higher is a D7, and so on.
7. Bar your index finger across the two strings closest to your lap, the B- and D-strings, at the third fret. Place your middle finger on the next string nearer to your chest, the G-string, at the fourth fret. Place your ring finger on the next string nearer your chest, the D-string, at the fifth fret. This is a G7 chord. Move the entire shape two frets down the neck for the F7. From the F7, move your chord shape up four frets for an A7, and move three frets up from there for C7.
8. Place your pinky finger on the fourth fret of the string nearest your lap, the D-string. On the next string near your chest, put your index finger on the first fret. On the next string nearer your chest from that, put your middle finger on the second fret. And on the next string nearer your chest, put your ring finger on the fourth fret. This is a D7. Slide all your fingers up two frets for an E7, one more fret for an F7, and so on.
9. Put your pinky on the second fret of the string nearest your lap. On the next string nearer your chest, place your index finger on the first fret. On the next string nearer your chest, put your ring finger on the third fret. And on the next string up, place your middle finger on the second fret. This chord is a C7. Slide this chord shape up two frets and play a D7, two more for E7 and one more for F7.
10. Bar your index finger across the second fret. Then, on the string second-nearest your lap, the B-string, place your ring finger on the third fret. On the next string nearer to your chest, place your pinky finger on the fourth fret. This chord is an E7. Move the shape one fret up the neck for an F7, two more frets up from there for a G7.
Minor Chords
11. Place your pinky finger on the eighth fret of the string nearest your lap. For the next string up, place your index finger on the seventh fret. Your middle finger should be placed on the eighth fret of the next string up, and on the next string up from that, place your ring finger also on the eighth fret. This is an E-minor. Slide this shape down the neck two frets to make a D-minor.
12. Bar your index finger across all the strings at the first fret. Put your pinky finger on the third fret of the string nearest your lap and your ring finger on the third fret of the string just below the short string. This is an F-minor. Slide the shape two frets up the neck for a G-minor and two more frets up for an A-minor.
13. Stick your pinky on the fifth fret of the string nearest your lap. On the next string nearer your chest, put your ring finger also on the fifth fret. One string nearer your chest, put your index finger on the fourth fret. And on the D-string below the short string, put your middle finger on the fourth fret. This is an E-minor chord. Slide the shape up one for an F-minor, up two from there for G-minor.
14. Set your index finger on the second fret of the D-string just below the short string. On the next string nearer to your lap, place your ring finger on the fourth fret. Then bar the bottom two strings nearest your lap with your pinky finger. This is an E-minor. Move up one for an F-minor, two up from there for G-minor.
15. Learn this really easy E-minor chord. Place your middle finger on the second fret of the string nearest your lap. Place your middle finger on the second fret of the string just below the short string. Leave the two strings between your fingers, the B- and G-strings, open.
