Banjo Ergonomics

The faster you want to play, the more relaxed and comfortable you must be.

The more hours you want to play, the more relaxed and comfortable you must be.
The more complicated the new technique or song you want to learn, the more relaxed and comfortable you must be.

The question today is how to achieve a relaxed approach and how to maximize your comfort when you are practicing your banjo. Musician’s who practice very slowly when learning the banjo commonly develop several important skills at the same time. One skill is a better awareness of how you are feeling with your instrument. When you work on your picking very slowly, you immediately are “aware” of how your body is feeling. When you push yourself to play faster than you are comfortable, you push aside your awareness to accomplish what you wish to happen…to play beautifully.

Another skill is your ability to “hear” more accurately. When your playing is fully under your control, you hear everything you are doing. When you push to play fast or play something that you really aren’t comfortable playing, you can’t “hear” what is happening because your pushing makes the sound and music indistinct. Better “listening skill” enhances your ability to listen to other pickers and know what they are doing and therefore learn licks and songs from other players more accurately and easily.

When both of these skills are in place, pickers tend to naturally find a physical posture for their hands, arms, elbows, shoulders, back etc that enhances their playing ability. But are there any “standards” of ergonomic posture that help banjo players play more relaxed? This is a tough question because everyone is built completely different and the differences have a huge impact on what is “right” for you as an individual. For many players, keeping your picking hand straight in line with your forearm helps keep circulation flowing and keeps your finger tendons in the best alignment for strength, dexterity and agility. Having said that, I’ve seen many pickers who bent their forearm over the armrest and made their wrist look like it was close to a 90 degree angle and have picked the banjo like that for years without complaint. I’ve also seen that approach injure other pickers. Keeping the banjo neck at about a 45 degree angle so the fretting hand is straight in line with the forearm is another highly recommended “ergonomic” approach for the optimum strength and agility for the fretting hand. But, I’ve seen many pickers whose banjo neck parallels the floor and they seem to get around the fingerboard pretty well and appear to be comfortable.

Some pickers adjust their banjo strap so the banjo is so high, it’s almost covering their chest. Other pickers hang it so low the upper edge of the resonator gets scratched by their belt buckle rather than the middle of the resonator.

While there are as many variables in how to approach the banjo as there are banjo players, probably the best overall approach for developing a solid ergonomically positive approach to your banjo playing will likely be found by incorporating some of the following techniques:

Keep both wrists straight in line with your forearm as much as possible.
Keep the banjo neck (within about 15 degrees, plus or minus) at a 45 degree angle.
Sit up straight without leaning on the back of a chair. Keep your sitting posture “centered” so you are sitting straight without leaning on the arms or the back of a chair.
When sitting, sit on a chair (or stool) that allows your feet to be flat on the floor without your legs feeling like they are almost dangling. If your legs are barely touching the floor, the back of your legs and buttocks will loose circulation quickly and get numb. A pad on the chair or a padded chair will help your circulation.
Adjust your banjo strap so it holds the banjo at the same height when you are sitting or standing. You may like it resting solidly on your lap or you might like it a little above, but in general, you will be more consistent in your performance if your sitting position for both hands is about the same as when you are standing.
Also, arrange your strap so that it helps “lift” the banjo’s neck so you can let go of holding your banjo with your hands and arms. This will allow maximum freedom of movement for both hands to play, not hold onto the banjo.
This is also why you should always use a strap with a banjo. It helps free your hands to focus on music, not supporting the instrument.
Some players, in order to keep their back sitting up straight, angle the face of the banjo a little bit up….facing the ceiling. This prevents bending the picking hand’s wrist and helps you sit up straighter for better breathing and circulation.
If you sing when you play the banjo, remember that you shouldn’t have it pushing on your diaphragm, just below the sternum. Unless you are playing a light weight banjo, a heavy banjo with a convex resonator will feel like someone pushing on your stomach when you are breathing to sing. Adjust your strap so your banjo doesn’t interfere with your breathing. Some players have a technique when they sing of tipping the banjo away from their stomach by pushing the fretting hand out a little further and this gives the stomach some room to move. Some players choose open back banjos to allow more body movement behind the banjo if they sing quite a bit while playing.
When sitting and practicing, try to stand up every so often so you not only get used to playing standing up but you also don’t have limbs “falling asleep” and thus, bogging down your circulatory system. Practice standing for a while and then sit back down. This alternation is healthy for your body. Pacing or gently swaying while you stand and practice is also good…you don’t have to stand perfectly still. A little body sway encourages good circulation. Good circulation improves hand function.
On a well made banjo, it takes an amazingly light pressure to hold the strings to the frets. If your fretting finger tips are always extremely sore, try not pressing the strings down quite so hard. True, you need to develop calluses on your finger tips, but the lighter your fretting pressure, the faster you can move your fretting fingers, and the more facile and accurate they will be. You can throw a baseball much faster than a bowling ball.
Don’t compare how you hold your banjo to how guitarists hold their guitars. The shape and weight of these two stringed instruments is so different that each has to be approached individually… like a violin and a cello…both are stringed instruments but different enough to need their own considerations.
Lastly, listen to your body. If your forearm on your picking hand feels bruised or tender from bearing down hard on the armrest, look over the list here and make an adjustment. If your left or right shoulder is burning, tight or sore, evaluate your posture…and don’t be-little the effect of your feet and legs. In more than a philosophical way, your entire body is playing the banjo…not just your fingers. Keep every part of you relaxed and comfortable and your skill will grow and develop faster.

Some of our greatest moments in life come from the beautiful experience we have with our banjos. Whether you are getting started or working to improve…remember to work toward relaxation and comfort.