The banjo d chord is one of the easiest chords to play on an instrument; only needing your index finger and thumb for playing this type of chord referred to sometimes as a bar chord.
Utilizing just three major chord shapes (a barre and two movable forms), you can create nearly every chord found along the banjo neck – this can prove extremely useful when jamming or backing up with other musicians.
Fingering
The D chord is an essential chord used in numerous songs. For beginners, learning its fingering may take some time; to improve, practice regularly until each string produces a clear, ringing sound when fretting it.
This chord is a barre chord, meaning that to play it properly your left-hand index finger must be behind the first fret on your left hand. If you lack the strength to fret the first string with your index finger alone, an alternative strategy would be leaving it unfretted and using middle finger instead before fretting second string at third fret with ring finger for optimal sounding chord. While not the most attractive-sounding chord ever created this will provide the desired “d” sound needed in many songs.
An alternative method of playing D shapes on the banjo involves using your pinky finger instead of your index finger; some players find this approach more comfortable when playing in G key. But don’t overlook its potential; using it later in your career could prove essential!
One important consideration when playing banjo is its diminutive neck and close frets, which make mistakes easy when moving fingers up and down the neck to change chords. A good practice to develop is fretting every string with one full finger when switching chords.
Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals of G, C, and D chords, use smooth transitions between them to increase your backing up and jamming skills. Many songs contain more than three chords at any one time; therefore it is imperative that you can move accurately among them. If you encounter difficulty doing so, just practice more; eventually it will come! If necessary use a metronome timer when changing between chords.
Tuning
A banjo is usually tuned with standard G, A, D and G tuning – this is often considered the ideal tuning for most five string instruments, and most songs can be performed using only these chords. However, during jam sessions with experienced banjo players you may notice they often use alternative chords and tunings; this is often because most genres of music require frequent chord changes quickly and smoothly.
Step one of learning any chord is positioning your fingers correctly, starting with string 1 with either your ring or pinky finger on that string – I prefer my pinky for this purpose because it helps me be more precise when picking and trains me to use my whole hand, something which will serve me well later as I progress in my playing.
Beginners often struggle with this chord as it can be challenging to keep up with its changing strings, especially if using their ring finger. To overcome this difficulty, practice playing slowly and carefully until you can keep up with all the changing strings, then gradually increase speed until eventually you can keep pace with the rest of the band when playing this chord.
As another way of helping, using a tuner that can detect all notes simultaneously – known as a chromatic tuner – may also assist. You can find these at most music stores and can usually be found used for tuning guitars, basses and ukeleles but they can also be used on banjos if they exist. If you own one it would be wise to regularly test its accuracy to ensure proper tuning is maintained.
Common variations on this tuning include dropping the low D string a full step to C, known as Double C tuning. This was popular among older banjoists like Earl Scruggs who would often employ this variation when performing his banjo pieces.
Licks
Licks are short phrases used to enhance a chord or tune, often serving the purpose of setting rhythm for songs or switching between two chords. Licks provide an excellent way to learn the banjo while creating your own distinctive style.
There are various licks that work well with the D chord. One such is the D-shape lick, which uses a standard D-shape but includes an upward rolling of the picking hand for added punch. You may have come across this technique while listening to old time songs; it makes an excellent accompaniment accompaniment!
Minor pentatonic lick is another interesting lick, composed of five notes from the minor pentatonic scale and sounding very much like blues licks. It can be practiced and utilized in keys G through G, and Geoff Hohwald offers an instructional book dedicated to this lick.
One last kind of lick to add to your repertoire is the one-note D lick, consisting of only the D note itself. This type of lick can be used against any chord that contains D notes; therefore, making it a valuable addition. Jed Clampett and Earl Scruggs used it frequently when creating songs using this lick as well.
As you practice these licks, it is key that they become part of your playing without needing to think about them. This will allow your muscles to remember them and become part of your natural playing style. Furthermore, getting together with someone who plays guitar or piano and testing out these licks against some simple chord progressions may also prove beneficial.
Once you are comfortable with these licks, it is beneficial to experiment with variations. Write out each variation as you come up with it so that it will remain easily accessible for future reference.
Variations
Once you’ve mastered the basic open G, C and D chords on the banjo neck, and can quickly switch between them without making mistakes, it is time to explore some variations on these shapes. Doing so can provide more variety in sound as well as help develop backup licks – however before diving in further into sevenths or minors it would be prudent to have a solid understanding of major inversions first.
One easy variation to try is playing a 2-finger D with fingers 1 and 2, leaving out the string 4 note. This works particularly well in G, making an ideal alternative to an open D if you find its 4-finger version daunting; also makes for an effective replacement in Jed Clampett’s “Boil ‘Em Cabbage”.
Your left hand fingers can use this shape to form other basic triad chords with ease. Simply bar just strings 1 and 2, leaving finger 3 in place for an F chord; slide up two frets until reaching 5th position to form A; repeat these steps two more times to produce B; use this pattern as a starting point to learn how to craft chord progressions for songs of any genre! These triads are used frequently in bluegrass songs and provide a useful starting point when learning how to create new progressions from scratch.
Add an A7 variation for an exciting twist: add a flat 7 to the D shape by shifting your first finger up from string 3 to fret 4 from its position on string 3. It sounds fantastic and could serve as the basis of backing up singers performing verses of Dooley (the Dillards song).
To master switching between various shapes on the banjo neck, practice switching from G to C then D in two measures at a time over a slow rhythm. When this becomes easy for you, increase speed slightly and play this sequence using different chords each time.