guitar is more versatile for any other types of music you may end up getting into playing. Banjo does have more volume which can be helpful I guess but I'd choose guitar
If playing in a session, choose the banjo for playing tunes. If preparing for a fight, swinging a banjo would be far more intimidating than swinging an accoustic guitar - so banjo again is the right call. If you wish to be the occasional butt of humorous jokes about your intelligence and musicality instead of the victim of outright disdain in a session - then once again, banjo is the way to go. If more than four strings causes you anxiety in any way - tenor banjo. If you need to paddle a canoe to your session, banjos move water more efficiently than guitars.
I am a intermediate acoustic guitar player accustomed to both fingerstyle and a pick, and am not concerned about the learning curve of a banjo. I only really have the time to play one, and can only afford either a decent guitar or a decent banjo though I hope to have both in the future. I agree that a banjo is more suited to sessions. What is the role of a guitar vs a banjo in a session? If I did choose a banjo would a 4 or 5 stringer be better for irish? Interestingly, Django Reinhardt started on a banjo before moving to guitar.
Some Bluegrass and Cash
Some Dixieland
Some Old Time
1960s and earlier songs. (Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Edith Piaf, Sinatra, and songs like Asleep in the Deep, The Man on the flying Trapeze, We'll meet again ect)
Clarification: Django actually started on a banjo guitar not a banjo. There is a photo of him on the web and also in Charles Delaunay's biography. This shows Django aged 13 or 14 using his 4 left hand fingers, about 4 years before the fire rendered his third and fourth fingers redundant. The photo is a bit hazy but it appears to be a 6 string banjo, and I'm guessing by the reference to it being a banjo guitar means it was tuned the same as a standard guitar.
It really does depend on what you want to do. If you want to play Irish tunes with other players at a session, get a banjo. The guitar is not going to cut it for that purpose, in most cases. If you're really driven to play the six string, you might consider a resonator guitar - I suspect that would come through nicely.
But of the ordinary steel-string and the banjo, the banjo is your only choice for playing tunes, and you'll want a four-string. Some people do play tunes on the five-string, but it's a rare thing.
If you want to play accompaniment at sessions, the guitar is your choice.
My real advice: obviously, you already play some guitar, so get a banjo. It's a new thing, and what you learn there will give you ideas on playing guitar.
I am a Banjo/Guitar player .You cant do everything at once .I learned the banjo first and then the guitar came very easily to me afterwards.I learned the banjo for 3 years before i even tried though.Its worth it though.By the way ,most sessions wouldnt welcome gypsy jazz and johnny cash songs
Looking at your choices there and your desire to use one instrument for multiple purposes, guitar is the best choice and use the full extent of its flexibility. I've been playing trad guitar 2 years. I learned a good method for backing tunes in almost any key in standard guitar tuning, often using 6 bar chords where the key the tune is in is the lowest (e.g. for A major an E major 5th fret bar chord followed by B minor on 7th fret, very rarely and occasionally C#minor on the 9th, D major as an A modal bar chord on the 5th, E major by sliding this to 7 and F# minor as an A minor bar chord on the 9th fret). That and a good sense of rythym and understanding the tune carries you through accompaniment pretty well, tunes then take a lot of work but if you can figure out how to play tunes on a guitar, you'll find a 4 string tenor banjo very easy to play in a year or 2 years time, same I'd even hazard for a mandolin or even fiddle, plus I never hear the end of this "keep playing them tunes on guitar, there aren't enough people doing it" - instant brownie points at a new session there so. If you watch someone like Tony Rice playing with the allstar band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVl1ibykWZU you'll see how wonderful guitar is for bluegrass flatpicking if you can put the work into your technique.
Having said all that, a guitar player is traditionally expected to sing, banjo players not quite so. If you want to avoid being asked to sing when you visit traditional Irish music sessions, don't bring a guitar! Especially in Dublin where a guitar player is automatically assumed to be a ballad singer and accompanist, nothing more!
Never saw an answer to the 5 vs 4 string banjo question posed above. The standard banjo for Irish session music is the four string tenor banjo. Five string banjos are rarely heard in sessions, and in my opinion, it is even more rare to hear them adding to the session in a positive manner.
For what you want to play it sounds like five-string banjo is your man. The list you gave of music you'd like to play is one in which 5 string is more suited to I think.
5 String is a kickass instrument that I love, but yeah, doesn't suit sessions even if you can play trad tunes on them, if you're interested in playing celtic/irish music as you say and are happy to play solo you can play variations of irish tunes such as the second tune this lady plays http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-HnoAwArxw
The most suitable single instrument to play all those types is a mandolin.
Since you're restricted, for whatever reason, to banjo or guitar, I'd stick to guitar.
It's certainly possible to play the melodies on a guitar, you just have trouble being heard in a session, although I know at least one very capable guitarist who is heard very well playing tunes on a Spanish guitar in sessions, even though "they say it can't be done".
Banjo or Guitar
Banjo or Guitar
I play Celtic/Irish and Gypsy Jazz, and must choose between playing guitar or the banjo. Which should I choose?
# Posted on August 5th 2011 by irish345
Re: Banjo or Guitar
guitar is more versatile for any other types of music you may end up getting into playing. Banjo does have more volume which can be helpful I guess but I'd choose guitar
# Posted on August 5th 2011 by Paudy
Re: Banjo or Guitar
That's not much context to go on. Why do you have to choose?
# Posted on August 5th 2011 by Bob himself
Re: Banjo or Guitar
If playing in a session, choose the banjo for playing tunes. If preparing for a fight, swinging a banjo would be far more intimidating than swinging an accoustic guitar - so banjo again is the right call. If you wish to be the occasional butt of humorous jokes about your intelligence and musicality instead of the victim of outright disdain in a session - then once again, banjo is the way to go. If more than four strings causes you anxiety in any way - tenor banjo. If you need to paddle a canoe to your session, banjos move water more efficiently than guitars.
If trying to meet girls, however - play guitar.
# Posted on August 5th 2011 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Banjo or Guitar
Since you seem to be lacking free will, the banjo is probably your best bet.
# Posted on August 5th 2011 by gam
Re: Banjo or Guitar
Thanks for the quick and humorous responses.
I am a intermediate acoustic guitar player accustomed to both fingerstyle and a pick, and am not concerned about the learning curve of a banjo. I only really have the time to play one, and can only afford either a decent guitar or a decent banjo though I hope to have both in the future. I agree that a banjo is more suited to sessions. What is the role of a guitar vs a banjo in a session? If I did choose a banjo would a 4 or 5 stringer be better for irish? Interestingly, Django Reinhardt started on a banjo before moving to guitar.
# Posted on August 6th 2011 by irish345
Re: Banjo or Guitar
I also play and hope to learn:
Some Bluegrass and Cash
Some Dixieland
Some Old Time
1960s and earlier songs. (Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Edith Piaf, Sinatra, and songs like Asleep in the Deep, The Man on the flying Trapeze, We'll meet again ect)
Sorry for the long post
# Posted on August 6th 2011 by irish345
Re: Banjo or Guitar
Clarification: Django actually started on a banjo guitar not a banjo. There is a photo of him on the web and also in Charles Delaunay's biography. This shows Django aged 13 or 14 using his 4 left hand fingers, about 4 years before the fire rendered his third and fourth fingers redundant. The photo is a bit hazy but it appears to be a 6 string banjo, and I'm guessing by the reference to it being a banjo guitar means it was tuned the same as a standard guitar.
# Posted on August 6th 2011 by Tony O'Rourke
Re: Banjo or Guitar
Forgot to mention that Doc Watson started on a 5 string banjo before moving to guitar.........maybe there's something in this banjo to guitar thing!
# Posted on August 6th 2011 by Tony O'Rourke
Re: Banjo or Guitar
Maybe there is something to good musicians learning to switch away from the banjo. ;)
# Posted on August 6th 2011 by banshee misfortune
Re: Banjo or Guitar
It really does depend on what you want to do. If you want to play Irish tunes with other players at a session, get a banjo. The guitar is not going to cut it for that purpose, in most cases. If you're really driven to play the six string, you might consider a resonator guitar - I suspect that would come through nicely.
But of the ordinary steel-string and the banjo, the banjo is your only choice for playing tunes, and you'll want a four-string. Some people do play tunes on the five-string, but it's a rare thing.
If you want to play accompaniment at sessions, the guitar is your choice.
My real advice: obviously, you already play some guitar, so get a banjo. It's a new thing, and what you learn there will give you ideas on playing guitar.
# Posted on August 6th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Banjo or Guitar
Both.
# Posted on August 6th 2011 by Solidmahog
Re: Banjo or Guitar
I am a Banjo/Guitar player .You cant do everything at once .I learned the banjo first and then the guitar came very easily to me afterwards.I learned the banjo for 3 years before i even tried though.Its worth it though.By the way ,most sessions wouldnt welcome gypsy jazz and johnny cash songs
# Posted on August 6th 2011 by banjitar
Re: Banjo or Guitar
Looking at your choices there and your desire to use one instrument for multiple purposes, guitar is the best choice and use the full extent of its flexibility. I've been playing trad guitar 2 years. I learned a good method for backing tunes in almost any key in standard guitar tuning, often using 6 bar chords where the key the tune is in is the lowest (e.g. for A major an E major 5th fret bar chord followed by B minor on 7th fret, very rarely and occasionally C#minor on the 9th, D major as an A modal bar chord on the 5th, E major by sliding this to 7 and F# minor as an A minor bar chord on the 9th fret). That and a good sense of rythym and understanding the tune carries you through accompaniment pretty well, tunes then take a lot of work but if you can figure out how to play tunes on a guitar, you'll find a 4 string tenor banjo very easy to play in a year or 2 years time, same I'd even hazard for a mandolin or even fiddle, plus I never hear the end of this "keep playing them tunes on guitar, there aren't enough people doing it" - instant brownie points at a new session there so. If you watch someone like Tony Rice playing with the allstar band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVl1ibykWZU you'll see how wonderful guitar is for bluegrass flatpicking if you can put the work into your technique.
Having said all that, a guitar player is traditionally expected to sing, banjo players not quite so. If you want to avoid being asked to sing when you visit traditional Irish music sessions, don't bring a guitar! Especially in Dublin where a guitar player is automatically assumed to be a ballad singer and accompanist, nothing more!
# Posted on August 6th 2011 by Paudy
Re: Banjo or Guitar
Never saw an answer to the 5 vs 4 string banjo question posed above. The standard banjo for Irish session music is the four string tenor banjo. Five string banjos are rarely heard in sessions, and in my opinion, it is even more rare to hear them adding to the session in a positive manner.
# Posted on August 7th 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Banjo or Guitar
AlBrown, yes 100% agree, the best contribution I ever saw from a 5 stringer was from his 3/4 bluegrassy songs and otherwise appreciated
# Posted on August 7th 2011 by Paudy
Re: Banjo or Guitar
You can play tunes on guitar but probably not the best in a session environment.
http://youtu.be/pfGEYwW-seA
# Posted on August 7th 2011 by banjitar
Re: Banjo or Guitar
For what you want to play it sounds like five-string banjo is your man. The list you gave of music you'd like to play is one in which 5 string is more suited to I think.
5 String is a kickass instrument that I love, but yeah, doesn't suit sessions even if you can play trad tunes on them, if you're interested in playing celtic/irish music as you say and are happy to play solo you can play variations of irish tunes such as the second tune this lady plays http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-HnoAwArxw
good luck!
Tim
# Posted on August 7th 2011 by Surly Boy
Re: Banjo or Guitar
The most suitable single instrument to play all those types is a mandolin.
Since you're restricted, for whatever reason, to banjo or guitar, I'd stick to guitar.
It's certainly possible to play the melodies on a guitar, you just have trouble being heard in a session, although I know at least one very capable guitarist who is heard very well playing tunes on a Spanish guitar in sessions, even though "they say it can't be done".
# Posted on August 7th 2011 by Bren
Re: Banjo or Guitar
What about a Tenor Guitar - or even better a Resonator Tenor Guitar - listen to Kevin MacLeod http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PoxVh4YtOM
# Posted on August 7th 2011 by cferrie