1. They Think Learning Banjo Is a Completable Game

It took me years to realise this myself.

When I first picked up the banjo, I treated learning music like a jigsaw puzzle — something with a final piece. A moment where I’d “finish” the banjo and move on feeling complete.

That moment never came.

There’s no end point with music. No finish line. No certificate that says Congratulations, you’re done now. And once I stopped waiting for that moment, learning became far more enjoyable.

How to avoid quitting:
Don’t aim to complete the banjo. Aim to keep a relationship with it.

2. They Expect Too Much Too Quickly

I’ll be honest — I thought I’d be playing Deliverance by the end of my first weekend.

That expectation didn’t last long.

The truth is, progress on the banjo is tiny and incremental. The real win isn’t sounding amazing overnight — it’s being just 0.5% better than you were yesterday.

Those small improvements compound quietly, and before you know it, you’re doing things that once felt impossible.

How to avoid quitting:
Lower the bar. Improvement beats perfection every time.

3. They Collect Resources Instead of Finding the Right Guide

At one point, I thought the more books and DVDs I owned, the better I’d get.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.

What I was actually doing was searching for a teacher who spoke my language — someone relatable, someone who didn’t take themselves too seriously, and someone willing to say, “This bit is fluff — don’t worry about it yet.”

Once I found that, everything clicked.

How to avoid quitting:
Don’t collect information. Find one voice you trust and stick with it.

4. They Underestimate the Time It Takes (and Overthink How to Spend It)

I learned banjo from a brilliant teacher named Patrick Costello. In his book The How and the Tao of Old Time Banjo, there reads a quote that has always stuck with me:

“It can take 500 to 1000 hours to become half-decent on the banjo”.

That might sound daunting — but here’s the important part:
how you spend those hours is entirely up to you.

Those hours can be joyful, relaxed, and musical… or stressful and frustrating. The choice matters.

How to avoid quitting:
Focus less on the total number and more on enjoying the hours you put in.

5. They Confuse “Unfamiliar” with “Difficult”

I learned early on that nothing on the banjo is truly difficult — it’s just unfamiliar.

My daughter once asked me, “Is it hard to drive?”
I said, “Nope, it’s easy.”

But think about it from a child’s point of view.

To drive, you have to:

physically grow for 16 years
learn a language
understand risk
develop coordination
pass a test
then drive every day for years

Only after all that do we say, “Yeah, driving’s easy.”

Banjo is exactly the same.

It’s only easy after you’ve invested the hours.

How to avoid quitting:
Decide whether those hours go into learning banjo… or watching telly instead.

6. They Forget to Rest

One of the most powerful learning loops I’ve found is simple:

Learn → Practice → Repeat → Rest

Just like the gym, muscles don’t grow during the workout — they grow during rest. Your brain works the same way.

If you hammer away endlessly without breaks, progress slows. Step away, come back later, and suddenly things work.

How to avoid quitting:
Trust the rest. It’s part of the practice.

7. They Try to Do It Alone

Learning banjo in isolation makes everything harder.

That’s why I built a community of beginner banjo players from all over the world — people learning together, sharing wins, asking questions, and realising they’re not the only ones struggling.

Having others on the same path changes everything.

How to avoid quitting:
Find your banjo people. Learning together is lighter, funnier, and far more motivating.

Final Thought

Most adults don’t quit the banjo because they can’t do it.

They quit because no one ever told them what the journey actually looks like.

Now you know.

And if you keep showing up — even a little — you’ll be amazed how far you go.

—
Ben Dorning

7 Reasons Why Most Adult Beginners Quit the Banjo (and How You Can Avoid Them)