The banjo comes commonly in three basic flavors: 4-string, 5-string and 6-string, and is arguably one of the most difficult stringed instruments to learn. When paired with a fiddle, mandolin, acoustic ...

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission. There is no way to achieve that old-fashioned Appalachian ...

For some reason, the banjo is an instrument that lends itself to jokes. For example, one joke asks, “What’s worse than a banjo?” The answer, “Two banjos.” If that’s the case, the audience can ...

Inside his antiques-filled living room, Ed Taylor picks up a bluegrass-style five-string banjo and begins plucking away with the grace and elegance that only happens after decades of muscle memory.

Sometime last winter, Noam Pikelny grew restless. He’d recently wrapped up a tour with the Punch Brothers, plucking his banjo strings to songs from the group’s chart-topping album, The Phosphorescent ...