Mandolin vs banjo for beginners

These two get compared because they arrive together. Somebody hears a bluegrass record, or an old-time band at a festival, and wants to play what they heard, and the two instruments doing the most distinctive work in that sound are the mandolin and the banjo.

They are both fretted, both small, both made of wood, and almost nothing else about learning them is the same.

Both picks state their Starter Path band, and we have not physically tested any of them — the method is on how we pick.

What each instrument physically is

A mandolin has eight strings arranged in four pairs, tuned in fifths, on a short scale under fairly high tension. Every note you fret is two strings at once. The Kentucky KM-150#ad is the standard first instrument: an A-style body with a hand-carved solid spruce top and solid maple back and sides, at a tier where laminate is still the norm.

A five-string banjo has four strings running the length of the neck and a fifth short drone string that starts at the fifth fret. The drone sounds the same note almost every time and it is central to how the instrument works. The Recording King RKOH-05 Dirty 30s#ad is an open-back with a multi-ply rim and a genuine Remo head, on a 26.25 inch scale.

The first month, honestly

Mandolin hurts more. Eight steel strings at high tension on a short scale means each fretted note asks a fingertip to press two strings down at once. Fingertips adapt in a few weeks, as they do on guitar, but the mandolin’s version of that adaptation is the least comfortable on this site.

Banjo asks less of the fretting hand and more of the right. Strings are under lower tension and there is more room at the nut on most instruments, so chords come faster. What takes time instead is the picking pattern — three-finger rolls or a clawhammer stroke are rhythmic patterns to internalize rather than shapes to learn.

For a player who wants to make a pleasant noise in week one, banjo wins. For a player who wants to play a tune, mandolin gets there sooner, because melody on a mandolin is single notes on a short scale.

Tuning and what transfers

A mandolin is tuned in fifths — the same intervals as a violin, which is why fiddle players pick mandolins up quickly and guitarists do not. No guitar chord shape transfers. If you already play violin, this is a substantial head start, and we cover that crossover in best bluegrass starter instruments.

Eight strings also means eight tuning pegs, and a mandolin drifts out of tune more visibly than a four-string instrument because the two strings of a pair beat against each other audibly when one slips. The routine is in how to tune a mandolin.

Banjo tuning is more forgiving to a guitarist’s instincts and the drone string stays where it is put. The trade-off is the head: a banjo’s drum head responds to humidity, and tension changes affect tone and pitch together.

Volume, and who else lives in your house

This decides more purchases than anybody admits.

A resonator banjo — the bluegrass configuration, with a wooden back that projects the sound forward — is one of the loudest acoustic instruments in common use. It is designed to cut through a band with no amplification, and it does that in a living room too.

An open-back banjo like the Recording King is considerably quieter and lighter, which is why it is the right first banjo for old-time and clawhammer playing and the wrong one for bluegrass. That is a genuine fork in the road and it is worth resolving before buying; the detail is in best beginner banjos.

A mandolin is quieter than either and is the easier instrument to live with.

What each one does in the music

The mandolin plays the chop — a short percussive chord on the offbeat — and takes melody breaks. It is the rhythmic snap and the tune.

The banjo drives, with a continuous rolling pattern that fills the space underneath everything else. It is closer to a rhythm engine than to a melody instrument, at least at first.

If you picture yourself playing the tune people recognize, that is the mandolin. If you picture yourself being the thing that makes the band sound like a band, that is the banjo.

What we would buy

Mandolin: the Kentucky KM-150#ad. All-solid construction at the entry tier is genuinely unusual, and solid wood is the specification that changes over years rather than staying fixed. Alternatives are in best beginner mandolins.

Banjo, old-time or clawhammer: the Recording King RKOH-05 Dirty 30s#ad, with one caution — published reviews consistently flag a narrow neck and tight string spacing at the nut, which is a real problem for large hands.

Banjo, if you intend to keep it: the Deering Goodtime Open Back#ad. Its three-ply rim is the specific reason experienced players prefer it, and it holds value in a way budget banjos do not. It is also a difference a first-year player may not hear, which is worth knowing before paying for it.

If neither is quite right

The mandolin-versus-ukulele comparison is a different and often better question for someone who mainly wants something small and cheerful, and it is in mandolin versus ukulele for beginners. If you already play guitar and are weighing a banjo against staying put, banjo versus guitar for beginners takes that head on.