What makes Banjo Warrior different from a general chord site?

Every page is written from the picking hand inward: chords are charted with the strings a roll can reach, scales flag where the drone falls, and the five roll patterns are recomputed note by note in CI rather than copied from a book.

Which banjos are covered?

All four family members — the 5-string in open G, the fifths-tuned tenor, the long-necked plectrum, and the Chicago-tuned four-string — each with its own chords, scales, progressions, and drills drawn for its own neck.

I play guitar. Where should I start?

The Chicago-tuned banjo: its D–G–B–E strings sound the same pitches as a guitar’s top four, so your grips carry over while your ears adjust to what actually differs — a drum’s attack and quick decay.

Do I need to read music to use this site?

No. Everything here is charts, tab, and playback — string numbers, fret numbers, and audio on every voicing, roll, and drill, so the ear can vet a shape before the fingers commit.

Does any of this cost money?

No — every chart, roll table, drill, and tool on Banjo Warrior is free, with no ads, no account, and no upsell waiting at the end.

The Banjo, Right Hand First

Every page here speaks banjo as a first language: what the picking hand does with a shape, which strings a roll drives through it, and the fifth string ringing over the whole thing.

5-String Chords The Five Rolls Scales Tuner

Free, playable references for the 5-string banjo and its three four-string cousins — every voicing charted for the neck it names, with the roll it wants and the drone’s honest state alongside.

Choose Your Banjo

Four necks, four right hands: the drone-carrying five-string and three flat-picked four-strings, each with its own full reference drawn from its own open strings.

5-String Banjo

Tuned g–D–G–B–D — open G
4 fretted strings + a short drone
The three-finger roll’s home

Tenor Banjo

Tuned C–G–D–A in pure fifths
4 strings under a flat pick
The voice of Irish trad and early jazz

Plectrum Banjo

Tuned C–G–B–D, long scale
Top three strings match the 5-string’s
The chord-melody specialist

Chicago Tuning

Tuned D–G–B–E
A guitar’s top four pitches on a drum
The guitarist’s front door

What Lives Here

Chords

Every key and quality charted string by string, frets and fingers named — so you can see what a roll can reach.

Scales

Note maps across the neck with every root marked and the drone flagged where it falls.

Fretboard Explorer

Light up any set of notes across the neck — the drone included, in its one honest place.

Progressions

Each key’s chord family, arranged for backup — see what a key costs before you commit to it.

Exercises

Daily picking and timing drills with tab and playback built in.

The Five Rolls

Forward, backward, alternating thumb, forward-reverse, Foggy Mountain — every pattern recomputed note by note in CI.

Tunings, Derived

Double C, sawmill, open D, double D — which strings move, and which of your shapes survive.

Capo Maths

Neck capo plus fifth-string spike: two operations, one table, every number derived.

Chord of the Day

The network’s shared daily pick — and the roll this shape actually wants.

Which Right Hand?

Clawhammer or bluegrass three-finger — the week-one fork, explained before you buy anything.

Gear, Explained

Head tension, bridge placement, strings and gauges — setup before shopping, always.

Free Tools

Roll trainer, tuner, metronome, theme builder — in the browser, no sign-up.

How It Works

Pick Your Banjo

5-string, tenor, plectrum, or Chicago tuning — every reference page is drawn for the neck it names, never a five-string chart with a string sawn off.

Read It String by String

Charts name the fret and the finger on every string, scales flag the drone, and the roll tables tell you what the picking hand does with all of it.

Play It In

Playback on every voicing, drills with tab and sound, and a roll trainer to bring it up to breakdown tempo — the ear vets a shape before the fingers learn it.

The Right-Hand Home

Banjo Warrior is the Warrior Network’s deep home for the banjo family. On a banjo the interesting question is rarely which note — it is which finger, on which string, at which moment. So this site is built from the picking hand outward: chords chosen for what a roll can reach, scales mapped with the drone in view, and every derived number recomputed in CI rather than copied from a book.

Go Deeper

Guides and references worth bookmarking: the five rolls · tunings · capo maths · clawhammer or bluegrass · your first banjo · head and bridge setup · the roll trainer · all tools. Want the same chord on guitar, ukulele, or any of 20+ string instruments? Our sister site String Warrior compares them all — this site goes deep where that one goes wide.