Music & Artists: Béla Fleck

The world-renowned banjo master offers beginner tips as well as insight into his Gold Tone Mastertone “Bluegrass Heart” banjo.  

A towering figure in the history of the banjo, Béla Fleck is the sort of musician who has not only a signature sound but also a signature philosophy. As he’s demonstrated over the past half-century, his approach is to explore the world of music in its entirety; he’s not interested in drawing stylistic lines in the sand. 

Just listen to his grooving, genre-bending group the Flecktones; his duos with his spouse, the singer and banjoist Abigail Washburn, and jazz-piano legend Chick Corea; or his work with bassist Edgar Meyer and tabla master Zakir Hussain, the latter of whom died in December. “His mastery of rhythm, his unshakable dedication to his art, and his generosity as a collaborator have been a constant source of inspiration,” Fleck wrote in tribute on social media. 

For the 2008 documentary Throw Down Your Heart, Fleck traveled to Africa to celebrate the banjo’s unsung origins. Last year, he released a delightful arrangement of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. In the coming months, he’ll perform in a new band with an unlikely format: Fleck, on banjo, alongside harpist Edmar Castañeda and drummer Antonio Sánchez. At times, it’s hard to believe all of Fleck’s various projects belong to the same musician. Similarly, his backstory upends our expectations for a banjo player.   

He was born Béla Anton Leoš Fleck in New York City and raised in Manhattan; his name nods to three classical composers, Béla Bartók, Anton Webern and Leoš Janáček. He experienced his banjo revelation as a tyke, watching the sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies and hearing bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs play its theme music. His grandfather gave him a banjo just before he started high school, and he became immersed in the instrument. By the time he graduated he was a dazzling player. As one of his teachers, the great banjo player and educator Tony Trischka, has recalled, “He showed up and I knew, almost immediately, that this guy had it.” Early on, Fleck developed a kind of tuneful, swinging virtuosity that goes down easy no matter how breathtaking his technique gets. 

In the ensuing decades, as Fleck racked up a stunning 19 Grammy wins, he’s become a kind of global ambassador for the instrument — advocating for the banjo’s versatility and rich cultural legacy in his work, interviews and appearances, and even offering his own summer banjo camp. We recently traded emails with Fleck to get some prime tips for beginners, and to learn more about his signature instrument from Gold Tone.  

When banjo players are just starting out, what are the biggest hurdles in terms of technique? 

Folks tend to want to play fast rather than slow and even. Slow and even gets you there. Playing fast too early cements bad technique.

When guitarists want to pick up the banjo, what is the learning curve they face? In what ways do guitarists have an advantage? 

If they fingerpick the guitar it brings certain advantages; they are used to plucking with fingers. There are certain disadvantages — for instance, they expect the instrument to be linear like the guitar is. Banjo’s weirdest part is that the lowest string is right next to the highest. That’s very confusing.

In terms of the banjo’s cultural history, how has the instrument been misunderstood? 

It’s been restamped in our collective consciousness as simply a white Southern instrument. That’s actually a very small part of the huge story of the banjo. It’s a great part, but there’s so much more.

What is a characteristic that all your favorite banjo teachers had in common? 

Patience, and a lot of information I didn’t have.

Name a few of the essential recordings that every banjo player needs to absorb.

J.D. Crowe & the New South, Old Home Place. Flatt & Scruggs, At Carnegie Hall! Tony Trischka, Bluegrass Light. 

Name a great “first song” for a new player to learn.  

Can’t go wrong with “Cripple Creek”!

What is an essential tip for a banjoist who is just beginning to play with others in a band setting? 

The metronome is a key practice tool. It requires you to connect your mind with a pulse that you are not generating. You need to be good at listening and connecting to others to play music well. If you can play well with a metronome, it’s not about trying to be like a machine or playing perfectly — it’s about learning to listen with one part of yourself while contributing musically with another.

Give us a crucial pointer for mastering roll variations. 

Metronome, and slow. Try not to make huge finger motions. Economy of motion will help later on, when you get faster.

Tell us about your Gold Tone signature instrument, the Mastertone “Bluegrass Heart” Béla Fleck banjo. What was the plan there? What did you want to offer? 

I have a very particular setup, with an arched fingerboard, larger-than-typical neck and a taller, heavier bridge. I arrived at it over years of experimentation. Lots of folks have asked for my specs and wanted to [be able] to get a banjo with these incorporated.

Gold Tone gave me the opportunity to see how close we could get to my prewar flathead Gibson Mastertone and make something like that available.

How did your relationship with Gold Tone begin, and why do you play their instruments? 

[Gold Tone co-founder] Wayne Rogers would come to my sound checks to share the new instruments he was building, and I would always enjoy time with him. He’s a very warm and open person. I asked him to create a baritone banjo, and he did a wonderful job creating that, and I also love their cello banjo. They were willing to make things that no one else was interested in making.

What brand of strings do you play? What gauges? 

I like GHS still, since the ’80s when I started with them. 10, 11, 13, 22 and 10 are my gauges.

With all the other instruments that an aspiring musician can choose from, why should they pick banjo? 

It’s the only truly great instrument in the world. Sorry, Zakir!