How guitar players cheat playing the banjo. (6-string banjo!)
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- This is a banjo-guitar, or a guitar-banjo. A guit-jo? Maybe banjitar? Whatever you wanna call it, it's kind of thought of as a novelty instrument, but it actually has some really interesting roots as an instrument that came out of necessity!
If you want to learn how to play a great piece written by a 6-string banjo player, full transcription for Johnny St. Cyr's Guitar Blues on the Patreon!!
If you’re interested in buying this banjo, contact Kyle on his website!
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If you take string 1, 5, and 6 down a whole step, you get D-G-D-G-B-D. This makes it perfectly in line with normal banjo, but with bass strings instead.
Dude that’s pretty cool!
Well before founding the Hot Club of France, Django Reinhardt made a living as accompanying violin and accordion players in a style called Musette with a six string banjo. Besides being one of the greatest lead guitarists ever, his rhythm work was unparalleled and a lot of it was honed in those days, he was sought after even in those days. There’s one photo of a very young Django looking very serious with a banjo in his hands.
Dude did not know that about Django. So cool, I’ll have to look that photo up. Makes sense!
@@kostringworks
He’s one of my guitar heroes, I have an old acoustic archtop from the mid ‘50s made in the style of the Selmer he played, it has a round sound hole which makes it less collectible but more affordable, it’s a treasure. The top is eight strips of spruce and according to the seller the neck is from pear wood. There was a large community of Sicilian luthiers building those guitars, Busato being the most desirable. This one was made for a retail store and isn’t identified but the luthier who rebuilt it thinks it’s a Buccolo. Too much information, sorry.
I just found your channel. I have an LG-2 from the mid 50’s too, needs a neck reset but is very cool. I also have a really old L&H Arion parlor guitar. It was gut stringed but someone in the 60s or 70s put steel strings on and bent the neck. A local luthier reset the neck and rebraced it for steel strings and it sounds great.
i bought a 6 atring banko by accident in a secondhand store for 50€ 😁👍 im a total beginner in every instrument i have at home, but its so fun to find out and leanr to know them.
Nice! Dude have fun with it!
Nashville tuning on these is awesome
I bet!
I've had a six string gold tone banjo for 12 years now. It was $650 brand new and worth every penny even though it's heavy AF! I put it away for about 5 years and stopped playing it because I was playing in a band where it didn't fit. These days it gets played everyday and I love it.
Heck yeah, Golds Tone makes great stuff for the money! Love to hear folks are ripping these 6-string banjos out in the world!
Earliest record I found if a Ganjo (as Aussies call it) was a for-sale add in a newspaper in London in 1849. The add also had 11, 7 and 3 string version. No production lines then!
Interesting!! Would be something to see that ad.
This is not cheating. If it sounds good, it is good.
Like so many others, Robert Johnson started on a cigar box guitar too. It's a precursor to the National steel, designed for more volumes.
Didn’t know that about RJ! Good mahogany in those cigar boxes.
@@kostringworks Up Jumped The Devil by Conforth and Wardlow.
Another great vid, Kyle. I didn't see it posted for sale on your webpage that sends you to Reverb; just thought id share in case something went wrong. Keep these great vids coming... 💙
Thanks! Gonna try to sell off reverb for now, but I could see how that be confusing!
@@kostringworks I get it, but I didn’t see it on Reverb
I've got a 4 string plectrum banjo tuned to Chicago tuning--DGBE. I play most a blues country bluegrassish type of music that has the rhythm and groove of slow minor blues without the string bending and a lot of slowed down bluegrass and country licks. What I like about is that it sounds like the blues, but not really because it sounds like a banjo but not really because it sounds country but not really because it sounds bluegrassish but not really. LOL! It works great with the 4 stringer, but I'd like to try it with a 6 stringer just because that's what we're supposed to do with music and instruments--try this, that, the other, and some other stuff to boot just to see how it sounds.
Your Guitar Blues sounds excellent. Also, Papa Charlie Jackson is highly, highly recommended!
Thanks dude! Yeah love me some pcj!!!
That Gretch looks really nice.
It's great! It's actually up for sale currently if you're looking!
I considered getting a six string banjo, but ultimately decided to go with the traditional 5 string. With the advent of electrical amplification there is no need to have louder mechanical amplification, except as he said in the video, to give a different color and texture to your sound. Besides, the high drone string is much of what gives a five string banjo its unique sound. I do appreciate, however, the history of the six stringed banjo he shared in this video.
Fair! One thing to consider is volume or not, nothing comes close to the tone of a 6-string banjo. So sometimes is comes down to that. Have fun with the 5!!
Here's a suggestion.
A short-scale 6-string can be tuned like the standard G tuning on the 5-string. That means that there is a G thumb string that goes right down to the nut. That can be fretted at the low frets, making the instrument more versatile than the regular 5-string.
I sent that suggestion to Gold Tone, but don't think I ever got a reply.
In the Neil Young song Old Man, the banjo James Taylor played is a 6 string banjo!
Nice!
My New Year’s resolution is not to buy any more guitars until I can play the ones I have better. Then again…
Well you still have a couple weeks til new years 😂
Great video!!!
Thanks!! Glad ya dug it!
I have a deering I love it
Nice! What are those running these days? This used to be mumblin’ Drew’s but he just got a vintage Vega 6 string (which is absolutely amazing) so he’s moving some stuff. I was shocked to see how cheap these go for.
I think they’re around 800? I put a K&K banjo pickup in it but it rings out so bad on the treble side it hurts my ears. I like playing it with this jug band group I mess around with.
@@nathanfrazermusic haha dang. My favorite banjo “pickup” is a 57 strapped in the pot!
@@kostringworks Here in Seattle, a Deering Goodtime is about $500-600 pretty sure at Dusty Strings. Super cool they rent them for $1 day (well, $30 o month) and the rental money will go towards a purchase of a new one if you want. I love them, amazing "cheap(er)" banjos for sure.
I’ve never seen the Gretsch instrument you’re talking about here, but I have seen and heard similar instruments from other makers.
the only Gretsch I own is a wood bodied resonator ukulele. if I want a banjo sound I have an older no name banjo uke.
Love gretsch! Banjo ukes rule!
Put on the 6 octive strings for a 12 string guitar remove the back cover and stuff a piece cloth between the steel adjustable rod and the head to mute the sound a little and see it you don't like the results when you play. I did that to my Gretch and I do like how it sounds
Def the first time anyone has suggested that to me! I just might!
I crush the ends of ball end strings with vice grips. they fall to pieces and come right out, giving you a loop end string.
Ha nice 💪
I would get a new tailpiece that allows for both loop end & ball end strings.
That would def do the trick!
@@kostringworks A Terminator Tailpiece.
Johnny St Cyr played one of these
That's exactly what he talks about in the video 😂
@@redbeardshomestead Yep, takes us back to that Good Old Fashioned Dixieland Jazz Era
Good stuff. It's galling that people, usually in the USA, think the 5-string is the "real" banjo and the 6-string is some kind of cheat. It shows an ignorance of the instrument's history. There are several types and the 5-string with its thumb string is just one. The four-string has several variants. A friend of mine plays a seven-string fretless. The six-string has an honourable history, as mentioned in the video.
As it happens, my current six-string isn't very good and I gave up playing it until it crossed my mind that it might be good in Nashville tuning. For once, I was right! I warmly recommend it.
Dude nice! I’ve actually never tried that tuning on a guitar even. I’ll have to give it a go!
The drone string on a Banjo is what makes it real. The first banjos and banjo like instruments from Africa always had a drone string. It's internal to the sound. If if doesnt have that its just a guitar with a different body.
Gotta see Keith Urban rock out on a Ganjo. You won't be disappointed
Noted!
COOL I looked up higher end 6 string Banjoes Like Deering and Vegas gos over 2200 thats not cheap Best learn on a cheeper model first make sure its for you right? GREAT VIDEO THANX Kyle...MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!
Absolutely, I’ve always held the opinion that cheap banjos made the best banjos. Merry Xmas to you too bud! Appreciate ya!
Being a guitarist and too lazy to learn the banjo I bought a guitar banjo 2 years ago in eager anticipation. However, I just can't get it to sound like a genuine banjo at all and all I can think of is its because of the way a 5 string is tuned? Mine wasn't particularly cheap at £600 but it just sounds dull.
Yeah for sure, all the banjo families have a unique tuning so def hard to achieve what one does without having the actual instrument. That said, guitar-banjos can sound fantastic had their own thing!
can i just use my guitar tuning?
Yup!
@@kostringworks fab
went to your website,, has this been sold?
Hey Dave! Sorry these UA-cam comments get so easily lost in the fray. The banjo is still for sale. Someone almost bought so I took it down it but they've since lost touch. If you're still interested, head over to my website and fill out that inquiry form and we can chat from there!
It's a ganjo homie
😂 it is a ganjo isn’t it.
Use electric guitar strings.
Its a dud instrument that isn't as good as either the banjo or the guitar. They just don't sound all that good. Thats what I think anyway.
Bro go listen to some Keith urban
There's a bit of a learning curve to it. You can't pick it up and play it like a guitar or a banjo and expect it to shine. Strumming sounds horrible and claw hammer style is a little too bright and loud. I like to play it with a little bit of a palm mute alternating between strumming and picking styles.