Five-string banjo players, check in!
45 years ago, I learned to play the 5-string banjo using Pete Seeger's book --
I learned the "basic strum," "hammering on," "pulling off," and 3-finger style but I could never get the hang of frailing or clawhammer styles!
I also picked up his collection of American folk classics --
I learned classics like "The Fox," "When I First Came to This Land," "Big Rock Candy Mountain,"Shenandoah," "Reuben James," and more...
I played it all through high school and college. I played at parties and for friends.
And family: I played for my parents and grandparents. The last time I got my banjo out was just a few weekends ago and played for my children and grandchild. Although the technique had eroded a bit, I had fun!
Thanks, Pete, for 45 years of memories! 
= new reply since forum marked as read
"This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender."
Long Beach, CA--
I was in my mid-teens. My stepfather played banjo and he'd get his out once or twice a year a play it. I liked the sound so I went to a music store and said I wanted to learn the banjo. The clerk said, "Do you want a tenor or a 5-string?" I answered that I wasn't sure, so he asked, "Do you want to strum or pick?" I figured I wanted to "pick" so he show me the store's selection of 5-strings.
I found a Kay for $65 and bought it. I took it home and showed my stepfather and he said that I had bought a 5-string. I said "What's the difference?" He explained that he played tenor banjo which was used more often in Dixieland and I had bought a 5-string which was used more often in folk. I was really confused: I really didn't know there was a difference!
Anyway, I went to another music store and told them I wanted to learn the 5-string banjo. The clerk there took me to the bin of beginning banjo books and showed me the 5-string collection. I perused them and decided on the Seeger book: it was very clear and easy to understand. There were also a lot of side stories that made it fun to read! (Did you know that a man named Joe Sweeney is credited with adding the fifth string to the banjo in 1827? I believe I read about it in Seeger's book. One of those "facts" you read once and it sticks in you brain forever).
With Seeger's book and a recording of Flatt and Scruggs*, I learned to play.
________
*I was also influenced by F&S's "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" from the 1967 movie, "Bonnie & Clyde."
Sigh.
I am both rhythm challenged and coordination challenged. Makes it tough to learn to strum or pick effectively.
I'm a fine one making suggestions : I've still got 80 or so banjos from my collection which was far larger than that and I can't play !
She's playing a repro Cole Eclipse. The body colour is wrong for an 1890's original which would be black - needless to say I've got one.
Pete's playing always remained pretty basic whereas his half brother Mike's was a whole different ball game.
I didn't find an exact photo of it on Google images, so I opted for the blue one. The cover is exactly the same except for the color.
My first banjo was a Kay, bought in 1968(?). I did pick up another one at a flea market in NE Missouri in the mid-1980s. It looks similar to this one --
Metal rim with wood interior. Great sound!
sold through Montgomery Wards catalog...I think I paid ~$50 for it.
One piece aluminum rim/tone ring, guitar type tuners, a painted plastic head and a neck with enough bow to shoot arrows...
As I remember it looked pretty much like this:
No really, I have always wanted to play the banjo ever since I saw Steve Martin playing around the time he had that song King Tut.
So I begged my mom and she got me a guitar. 
No lessons, (too poor no money) I taught myself. Then became obsessed with guitars currently I have 4 and two basses. The basses are 5 string cause I am short and G is now 8th fret instead of all the way down on the third. That and you get a low D.
This Christmas I asked for a ipad/tablet and banjo or a mandolin. What did I end up getting? A laptop and a ukulele.
When my tax refund comes I'm getting a banjo! Then I will finally be able to play the banjo when I listen to Seeger. Right now I play various versions on guitar but damn it I want a banjo!
