An open back banjo’s soft sound, lighter weight and unique setup makes it ideal for claw-hammer style playing or singer/songwriters; they may also work well for old time frailing and three finger bluegrass.
Gold Tone has made waves this year by offering a model resembling a 19th-century banjo in their CC-100 model, blurring the lines between student and professional banjo players.
Lightweight
The open back banjo is a lightweight and portable instrument. Although not traditionally associated with bluegrass music, this model offers all of the essential professional features at a price anyone can afford. Perfect for beginner and intermediate players.
These banjos are made for old-time, clawhammer, and frailing styles of play, boasting a warm tone and being lighter than their resonator counterparts. Resonators add weight while making your banjo louder; but these models offer better value without these add-ons.
Local music stores carry open-back banjos from various vendors; however, most often these instruments come directly from China with no service or support for regular usage. Therefore, we advise purchasing your banjo from vendors who stand behind their products to ensure you receive a high-quality banjo that sounds fantastic while withstanding frequent usage, including an extended lifetime warranty – especially important if you plan to use it regularly.
Easy to transport
Open back banjos from our inventory are lightweight and easily portable, featuring cases that are cushioned to protect the instrument. When travelling by air with your banjo, for maximum protection use a certified flight case – though more expensive than regular cases they provide the best protection.
If you don’t own a banjo case yet, try asking at your local music store. They often receive them from people shipping instruments and may give one to you free.
Tuning an open back banjo is straightforward. Simply play each string while checking its pitch against its fretted note to gain experience in tuning without the aid of an electronic tuner, and refine your ear along the way. Doing this also trains your ears to hear pitch intervals more clearly for improved playing ability on banjo!
Easy to tune
Open back banjos have an advantage when it comes to tuning, as their sound doesn’t become trapped inside and making tuning easier – perfect for practicing without disturbing neighbors or roommates during practice sessions.
As with any instrument, learning to tune your banjo by ear is equally as essential. A chromatic tuner will come in handy here, but you should also be able to tell whether it is sharp or flat by listening closely when strumming.
As it can take multiple attempts to get your stringed instrument perfectly in tune, it’s often wise to save songs that may prove tricky for last in a set. That way, when applause ends for one song and applause starts for the next, you can start immediately playing upon its conclusion and reduce chances that your audience loses interest; especially useful when changing genres quickly like Hot Rize does!
Great for beginners
Beginner banjo players often opt for open back models due to their affordability and lightweight design, along with producing a much mellower tone than their resonator counterparts due to natural muting by body and clothing.
Clawhammer and frailing styles of playing are well suited to open back banjos, although more accomplished clawhammer players have also used resonator banjos. When shopping for an open back banjo with a geared fifth tuner it will make tuning much simpler and prevent peg slippage when it’s under strain.
Contrarily, open back banjos won’t produce as loud a sound than their resonator counterparts; therefore you may require restringing every few minutes of practice (ideally several minutes a day is advised). Furthermore, you should consider whether to keep or remove the resonator; this process can easily be accomplished with 3 or 4 screws (big enough that they can be easily placed and unplaced by hand), taking less than one minute per step.