Three Must Learn Kids’ Songs | The Friendly Banjo
One of the biggest barriers to a child learning an instrument is not feeling successful soon enough. The Friendly Banjo changes that—with your help! Designed to be truly player-friendly, it lets you, the parent, play real music on day one and show just how straightforward and fun making music can be. When a child sees Mom, Dad, or Grandma playing with ease, they think, “I can do that too!”
Here’s what sets the Friendly Banjo apart.
The Friendly Banjo uses a unique system of single-finger chord shapes and simple counting, guided by the same colors and shapes found on the neck and in all of our “Play-By-Color Tablatures”. No need for musical notation or even chord names—just strum, smile, repeat.
Three songs you can learn right away on The Friendly Banjo.
1. The Classic: "You Are My Sunshine"
This song is a perfect introduction to counting your strums, making it instantly accessible for the parent and simple to teach a child. Start with a song everyone knows, so you don’t have to rely on learning something new, and instead find your natural rhythm to play along with a song that’s essentially muscle memory. To help further, we’ve added graphics above key words in the song to help non-readers recognize where the beats and chord changes are in the song. The tablature uses numbers that tell you exactly how many times to strum, so you don't need to know complex musical time signatures—you just count to four.
2. The Affirmation Song: "I Love My Body"
Written by Mother Moon, this affirmation song is an amazing way to use your Friendly Banjo for building connection and confidence. Learning music with positive language is a gateway to creating kids with healthy self-esteem, and affirmation songs benefit everyone who sings and hears them—including you, the parent! This song is perfect for practicing simple, one-finger chords and basic 4-count strumming on the Friendly Banjo. The more you play and sing this song, the more these positive messages hold true.
3. The Fun One: "Baby Shark"
If you're looking for proof that the Friendly Banjo is just plain fun, there's no better test than "Baby Shark"! This song is a fantastic confidence builder because its chord pattern never changes, making it a great practice song as your skills advance. The entire song is played with a simple, repeating sequence of four-count strums: Start with four open chords (no fingers on the neck), follow that with four strums on the green square, then four strums on the yellow triangle, and finish the cycle with four strums on the blue circle, all only pressing on the middle string.
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