Zither banjo: starter songs/tabs?

[Bethany Dillon]

Hello all! 

We recently found an old banjo in a family friend's attic and having been wanting to get into banjo for a little while I cleaned it up and restrung it. However, when I went online to find some nice beginners songs I was told these banjos sound awful and to just go out and buy a new one.

I'd rather not do that as I think this one is quite beautiful and I like the way it sounds. I understand (and have learned through a very frustrating couple days) it's not really built for modern music, and that's completely fine by me! I'm more than happy to learn old folk on it, issue being- I'm not sure where to start with that. 

If anyone has any recommendations or resources I would love to know! 

Thank you all!

[Joel Hooks]

The whole point of the Zither Banjo is the mixed strings and the different voices.  The wire strings provide the melody (more or less) and the third and 4th strings provides the harmony.  Much of Cammeyer's compositions (and other "zither banjo" solos) are composed and arranged to take advantage of these voice differences. 

[Jody Stecher]

And there are sometimes passages where the melody is on one or both of the lower strings and the higher metal strings play chords.  Yes, the chief musical characteristic of  zither-banjo is  having different voices in one instrument. 

Can someone string a zither-banjo with all steel or all nylon and play it that way? Of course. A pleasant sound may be achieved as well, with the right touch applied.  But by doing that one is limiting the instrument's potential and perhaps limiting the potential of the player as well.  One may also use a book as a doorstop, or a banjo as a boat anchor (as demonstrated in a photo essay in Gardyloo magazine in the 1960s), or the musical instrument called the "surchain" as a wash basin (as actually happened in Calcutta around the same time as the Gardyloo essay) but perhaps these items are not being put their best use or to their intended use.

Joel Hooks said:

The whole point of the Zither Banjo is the mixed strings and the different voices.  The wire strings provide the melody (more or less) and the third and 4th strings provides the harmony.  Much of Cammeyer's compositions (and other "zither banjo" solos) are composed and arranged to take advantage of these voice differences. 

[Marc Dickerson]

Hello Bethany,

  You can play rap, hip=hop, rock-n-roll, or anything else on your banjo.  The instrument is never the limiter.  Only the musicians imagination.  I'm a firm believer in learning music theory and classic music notation.  Other folks play solely by ear and/or tabs.  And many will tell you the zither is not a good beginners banjo.  I believe your zither will be fine to get you started.  Fingering exercises, chords, strums, music, etc... can all be learned on your zither.  It may not sound like you want it to sound.  But the knowledge can be learned on your banjo.  Go for it.  Have fun.  Welcome to the journey.