My banjo doesn’t have one at the 10th fret as I never capo up to the key of C (I play out of open) Some people put one at the 8th fret as well (for Bb). You really only need them at the 7th, 9th, and 10th frets. Please understand, you DO NOT need fifth string spikes at every fret as shown in this picture. You can then slide the 5th string under the spike thereby, capoing the string. The only issue here is most banjos don’t come with these installed and you’ll need a luthier to do it for you.

It sure beats the ones on Amazon that are ALMOST the same things for FIFTY BUCKS!!!Ģ)The 2nd and most used solution by professionals is railroad spikes installed in the banjo fingerboard. How do you capo the 5th string on a banjo?ġ) Banjo Ben has this neat 5th string capo on his store for just under $15. In order to solve this problem so we can continue doing our normal rolls, one has to CAPO the fifth string. However, this is super limiting in many cases and there are better solutions. Yes, the easiest way of solving this is to not hit the fifth string while you play certain chords (E and B major are good examples). So if you want to play in the key of E, you probably don’t want to hit the drone string open (G). The open 5th string (G) collides with the G# in the E major chord if they are played close to one another. Often, this 5th string open doesn’t go with the chord you are playing.įor example, an E major chord contains the notes You must take into consideration whether or not the 5th string note is harmonious and goes with the other notes played. Special considerations about the 5th string: In addition, imagine someone playing piano with only one finger, only plucking out the single-note melody. This can be interesting but gets old after awhile. If you only have a melody (kind of like you would sing it by yourself), you have one LAYER. This drone string provides resonance and harmony to the other notes played. The 5th string on the banjo is referred to as a Drone. Four string banjos are primarily played with a flatpick or strummed.Ĭontents of Article (for easy navigation) Banjos played in the Bluegrass style ALL have this unique 5th string it’s partly what allows one to do the traditional banjo rolls you hear. Neither of those banjos have the short 5th string sticking out of the neck. There are also four and six string banjos. First and foremost, understand that not all banjos are five string banjos. Short bar plain brass.I get asked this question a lot on live streams, so I thought I’d cover it in today’s blog post. Besides taking up less space on the neck (for you fellow thumb-wrappers), it offers the additional advantage of using only TWO mounting screws instead of three. So for my own banjo, I made a custom bar which was much shorter (5.75').This shorter bar is now our standard size. I personally never capo the fifth string any higher than the tenth fret (this would go along with the regular capo being at the fifth fret). A few years ago we remodeled the bar, a change which I'd long considered. Originally, our fifth string capo bar was eight inches long, and attached to the banjo neck with three mounting screws. It slides on a slim, dovetailed bar which mounts flush to the neck, making it sturdy and unobtrusive. It operates on a lever principle, not a spring, so it provides sufficient pressure to fret the string without muting the tone. This was the product that got it all started for us back in 1974, and to this day it's STILL the only fifth string capo worth putting on a banjo.

Banjo 5th string capo