This answer to this question depends on a few factors. The questions you want to ask yourself are:
- What type of music do you (or the person you are buying this for) want play?
- Do you play guitar?
- Do you play ukulele?
- Is this for a small child? (under 10 years old)
We go into depth on answer to this question here:
https://info.deeringbanjos.com/how-to-get-started-playing-banjo
Regardless to the answers to any of the questions above, our Goodtime Series banjos are definitely the way to go for a beginner banjo player. All of these banjos are made in the U.S.A. in the same factory as our upperline banjos so they play and sound great.
Goodtime banjos are the #1 recommended banjo by banjo teachers for beginning banjo players. Find out more about this here: https://www.deeringbanjos.com/collections/goodtime-series
If the answer to the first question above was something like “I don’t know. I just want to play the banjo” then the standard Goodtime 5 string would be your best best. If you said “Bluegrass”, then a standard Goodtime Two might be better. Learn more here: https://www.deeringbanjos.com/collections/goodtime-two-banjos
If you play the guitar already, then one option might be for you to play a 6 string banjo. This type of banjo is tuned and played just like a guitar. See our Goodtime 6 String banjos here: https://www.deeringbanjos.com/collections/goodtime-6-string-banjos
If you play the ukulele already, then one option might be for you to play a banjo ukulele. This type of banjo is tuned and played just like a ukulele. See our Goodtime banjo ukuleles here: https://www.deeringbanjos.com/collections/goodtime-banjo-ukuleles