How To Play The Banjo QUIETLY

Problem: You are waking everyone up while playing the banjo.
Solution: Let's look at how to play the banjo without making any noise! ere's how to play the banjo quietly!

Time Stamps:
0:00 How the banjo should sound
0:13 How do you play the banjo without making noise?
0:24 Take your finger picks off
1:21 Mute it with a... mute
2:16 Put a sock in it!
3:47 Comparing each method

[Rainy]

Cant believe ive never thought of using a sock to mute it. Works amazing! Thanks 👍🏿

[audrybella]

After trying the self-teach method of learning to play the banjo I finally found an instructor in my neck of the woods. He just moved here from out-of-state. In our last lesson we talked extensively about practicing without picks. Glad to hear you approve of practicing with AND without picks since I have started doing that since I typically practice late at night after my spouse has gone to bed. Love your videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with the world. Much appreciated.

[jasonschlencker]

Great vid.
I like the way that the bridge mute doesn't just lower the volume, but also changes the tone from Blue Grass to a kinda Blues sound.
Does anybody else think that or is it just me?
Regards, Jas.
VK4FJGS
Rockhampton Queensland Australia

[HNXMedia]

My man saving marriages and other relationships all over the world.

[soap]

Mutes do quiet a banjo, but the sound tends to be about as satisfying as radishes in your corn flakes.

[MarvinBrown-jj]

Thank you So much!
As do my neighbors 😊

[michto]

Does the size the sock matter ? kidding. Thank you for lesson. I tried once with a piece of carboard folded under the strings next to the bridge.

[soap]

One can practice just technically hitting the notes with a mute on, but one of my objectives often is to practice musicality, and that's not really possible with muted bridge or strings. Somehow Scruggs use to be able to pick quietly for a segment of the song without even removing fingerpicks and without sacrificing much tone. I haven't been able to manage that yet.

[clawhammer]

That’s a clean Iida banjo. Those things will crack putting the head tension at 91, and put a presto tailpiece on them.

[mikefinley]

The mute is my choice or I go for a drive in the country and all the wildlife runs and the poachers are pissed off. The banjo is not a instrument for apartment dwellers. You will be evicted in most cases or the neighbors will have fantasies of peeling your skin from the bones in delight for annoying the hell out of them. Banjos are loud and unlike a electric guitar you can pretty much plug in and use headphones your out of luck.

[clawhammer]

I use a clothes pin clamped on the bridge. It cuts the volume down.

[MichaelEdwards]

I noticed that when you had the sock on there I could hear you tap the drum skin a few times. This is slowing me down learning the banjo as I am trying not to do it. But watching you has now made me think this is acceptable

[selfactualizer]

Combine all methods and write an album with it