If you're a beginner, you probably have lots of questions. You should subscribe to Banjo Newsletter, because for the past ten years Ian Perry's Beginner's Corner column has been a lifeline for beginners with his supportive advice on everything from learning rolls to practice strategies to taking care of your hands to you-name-it. Ian has also made MP3 sound files of many of his Beginner's Corner examples.

But the best online Banjo FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) page we've found is by Mickey Cochran, who owns and runs Folk of The Wood in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Mickey is a musician and teacher turned music store owner who has recorded two albums ("Pickin' the Cattleman's" and "Historic Songs of El Paso") and has written about a dozen instructional books and videos, including the latest video, "Intro to 5-String Banjo."

On Mickey's Banjo Questions and Answer page he offers up excerpts from customer queries that he has answered:

• Buying your first 5-string
• Finding a Teacher
• Set-up Questions
• Bridges
• Onsite Folk of the Wood Lessons section

and much more.

Also, Mickey has an excellent section about different popular banjos, including:

• Deering
• Stelling
• Morgan Monroe
• Gold Tone

and more.

Finally, Mickey compares and contrasts different makes of banjos:

• Stelling versus Gibson
• Goldtone versus Deering
• Goodtime versus Johnson

Here are some additional banjo FAQ sites (though not necessarily for beginners):

For definition of terms go to the Banjo Glossary.

Andy Perkins has a set-up, repair and restoration services page.

There is a FAQ tab-writing software page.

The Banjo Hangout has a forum for banjo players with topics that include
playing, set-up, tab requests, selling instruments, etc.

Bluegrass Rules has a forum that includes banjo topics. The Banjo-L site has a short page on various banjo subjects, along with their banjo player directory.

BNL columnist Scott Zimmerman answers banjo-related questions on Paul
Hawthorne's site. These FAQ's were mainly culled from Scott's responses to threads on the acutab-list banjo discussion listserver.

Deering Banjo has a FAQ page devoted to their Goodtime banjo.

You can find introductory pages on bluegrass and clawhammer playing at
ezFolk.com.

Finally, Steve Tussel has a basic list of banjo links, along with lists of
books, history, magazines, mailing list, and webrings, at his website.