No A note in that formation. Sometimes it’s implied, or the other instruments cover it.

Tongue-in-cheek .... I can just imply the notes [i.e. instead of actually playin' 'em]?!?!?    How come I'm just finding this out 13 years in???  

Open G tuning on a 5 string banjo. (Four strings below the 5th string nut are D-G-B-D). 2-E, 2-A. 0-B, 2-E. Unless I am totally missing something. If so, I was wrong one time before.

Bobby

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Originally posted by BobbyE

Open G tuning on a 5 string banjo. (Four strings below the 5th string nut) is D-G-B-D. 2-E, 2-A. 0-B, 2-E. Unless I am totally missing something. If so, I was wrong one time before.

Bobby

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The OP is starting at the 1st string working down to the 4th,,opposite of what we normally do. 

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Originally posted by Owen

Tongue-in-cheek .... I can just imply the notes [i.e. instead of actually playin' 'em]?!?!?    How come I'm just finding this out 13 years in???  

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Must be cuz you didn't ask the right questions. ;-)If you are in a certain key and leave out one of the four notes of a 7th chord , or in this case the root note, one's ear will still hear the chord change. It's done all the time,, and like I said, the other band members will be chording along and sounding out that "missing" note.  Think of a lead blues guitarist playing a solo - he's not hitting all the notes of the underlying chord. (as per Tom E, I ask no one to agree)

>>The OP is starting at the 1st string working down to the 4th,,opposite of what we normally do<<

Well either it's no A7 or the player who said it was an A7 is reading it like I am. Where did the OP come up with this formation being an A7 from would be my next question? If he is getting this off of a video, maybe it got reversed or something but trying to figure it out is getting me confused. The normal way we think string formation there is an A note.

Bobby

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Originally posted by chuckv97

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Originally posted by BobbyE

Open G tuning on a 5 string banjo. (Four strings below the 5th string nut) is D-G-B-D. 2-E, 2-A. 0-B, 2-E. Unless I am totally missing something. If so, I was wrong one time before.

Bobby

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The OP is starting at the 1st string working down to the 4th,,opposite of what we normally do. 

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Yes, that is what I was doing.

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Originally posted by BG Banjo

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Originally posted by chuckv97

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Originally posted by BobbyE

Open G tuning on a 5 string banjo. (Four strings below the 5th string nut) is D-G-B-D. 2-E, 2-A. 0-B, 2-E. Unless I am totally missing something. If so, I was wrong one time before.

Bobby

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The OP is starting at the 1st string working down to the 4th,,opposite of what we normally do. 

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Yes, that is what I was doing.

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Is the 5th string spiked at the 7th fret, or not?  If at 7th, then that's your A note

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Originally posted by BobbyE

>>The OP is starting at the 1st string working down to the 4th,,opposite of what we normally do<<

Well either it's no A7 or the player who said it was an A7 is reading it like I am. Where did the OP come up with this formation being an A7 from would be my next question? If he is getting this off of a video, maybe it got reversed or something but trying to figure it out is getting me confused. The normal way we think string formation there is an A note.

Bobby

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I didn't get it off a video, I was watching a fellow across from me at a bluegrass jam. He showed it to me. I didn't really anlyze it on the spot and it didn't come to me that there was no A until later. That's why I asked here. I also found a chord chart online with the same fingering and I'm trying to post it with no success. I'll keep trying.

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Originally posted by chuckv97

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Originally posted by BG Banjo

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Originally posted by chuckv97

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Originally posted by BobbyE

Open G tuning on a 5 string banjo. (Four strings below the 5th string nut) is D-G-B-D. 2-E, 2-A. 0-B, 2-E. Unless I am totally missing something. If so, I was wrong one time before.

Bobby

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The OP is starting at the 1st string working down to the 4th,,opposite of what we normally do. 

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Yes, that is what I was doing.

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Is the 5th string spiked at the 7th fret, or not?  If at 7th, then that's your A note

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No, I don't think it was.

I found it in this chord chart.

banjochords.net/chords/easy/

>>I didn't get it off a video, I was watching a fellow across from me at a bluegrass jam. He showed it to me.<<

Unless he was playing left handed, or had the strings reversed, and IF he had the banjo in standard open G 5-string banjo tuning, the third string from the bottom is an open G note, and if fretted at the 2nd fret would be the A note.
Don't know enough about chord shapes, etc to know if the charts an A7th or not, but do know the third string G, fretted at the second fret is an A.

Not sure playing left-handed would make a difference as I get confused trying to visualize what that would look like and how it would transpose into what you saw.  But still the third string tuned to open G tuning is going to get an A note, when fretted at the second fret. 

Your representation of the 1st string being at the top in your diagram in your initial post is not was was actually going on.  When he was playing, the far left string in your diagram was actually the 4th string as he was playing and making the chord shape for the A7 chord.  Nothing else makes sense to me if not that.  

Bobby

>>The OP is starting at the 1st string working down to the 4th,,opposite of what we normally do.<<

Yes, that is what the poster was doing, but the one playing that he was watching was not. If playing right-handed, the fourth string would have been to the left looking at the banjo, not the right. His confusion, I believe, is the way he is mentally seeing the strings.

Bobby

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Originally posted by BobbyE

>>I didn't get it off a video, I was watching a fellow across from me at a bluegrass jam. He showed it to me.<<

Unless he was playing left handed, or had the strings reversed, and IF he had the banjo in standard open G 5-string banjo tuning, the third string from the bottom is an open G note, and if fretted at the 2nd fret would be the A note.
Don't know enough about chord shapes, etc to know if the charts an A7th or not, but do know the third string G, fretted at the second fret is an A.

Not sure playing left-handed would make a difference as I get confused trying to visualize what that would look like and how it would transpose into what you saw.  But still the third string tuned to open G tuning is going to get an A note, when fretted at the second fret. 

Your representation of the 1st string being at the top in your diagram in your initial post is not was was actually going on.  When he was playing, the far left string in your diagram was actually the 4th string as he was playing and making the chord shape for the A7 chord.  Nothing else makes sense to me if not that.  

Bobby

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Okay Bobby, I thought that chuckV97 explained it earlier on. You and I are not at all communicating. I'm sorry that it does not make sense to you. Just know that the G string was open, all the rest were fretted on the second fret. I don't know how else to explain it.

2202 is A7....2022 is not. 12345 nomenclature.

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Originally posted by BG Banjo

I put this here because I saw it at a bluegrass jam, a fellow was playing an A7 using 2202. At lest that's what it looked like. E, C#, G, E. Where is the A? Or was I just seeing things?

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Since I didn't see a direct answer to your question in the several responses, I'll chime in with my two cents—as long as pennies are still legal tender.

There is this wonderful thing about music theory, and that is its flexibility.  What you have encountered is what is known as a chord without a root.  From low to high pitch, the chord you indicated could be spelled in a variety of ways.  For instance, it could be a G6-flat five, or an e-minor sharp 6, or it could be an A7 without a root. 

Context means everything, and just like Cotton-eyed Joe, the chord matters where it came from and where did it go?

Not every instrument has to play every note.

>>Okay Bobby, I thought that chuckV97 explained it earlier on. You and I are not at all communicating. I'm sorry that it does not make sense to you. Just know that the G string was open, all the rest were fretted on the second fret. I don't know how else to explain it.<<

No problem, and sorry for the confusion on my part.

Bobby

There are a couple of reasons why you might want to use that fingering.

If the melody goes to a G note, that fingering allows you to play that G melody note.

Next, the G-note is the note that is added to an A major chord to make the chord into an A 7th. If the next chord you're going play is a D chord, playing an A7th chord instead of an A major chord will add tension that will be resolved when you finally make the change to the D chord. However, that tension can often be created just by playing the G note.

Finally, it's important to understand, and accept that certain groups of notes that sound bad when played simultaneously, can sound just fine if they're played sequentially. The operative word in Music Theory is theory; the only thing that really matters is that you play the notes that sound good.

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Originally posted by BG Banjo
...I thought that chuckV97 explained it earlier on. ...  Just know that the G string was open, all the rest were fretted on the second fret.

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The most important thing Chuck said was that other instruments cover the missing note. The bass in particular. If the bass and a guitar are playing the low A -- an octave or two lower than the A on banjo  -- then the banjo can play only the other three notes in the A7 chord (C#, E, G) and everyone will hear a full A7.

In case no one made this point clearly enough: It is conventional parlance in fretted instruments to spell out chord shapes from low string to high. So the A-less A7 shape you saw is properly spelled out as 2-0-2-2 (EGC#E).  2-2-0-2 means EABE.

In the end it's all about how it sounds, and if that voicing works at that point in the song. The banjo has a limited number of strings, and the root note is often the first to go, to make room for some more interesting or functional choices.

It's an A7 because if it wasn't an A7 it'd have to be a C#dim and we're not playing jazz over here.

Speaking of jazz, though, it's my understanding that jazz rhythm musicians other than the bassist tend to avoid playing the root. The bassist already has it covered, and they like the airy-ness of not having the root played in every octave. Plus they need their fingers free for playing all those extensions. As others have said, the root is implied, especially when other instruments are also playing it. The bassist is holding down the root and fifth, so we could get away with just playing the third and 7th on a 7th chord and the whole chord would all be there, even before you add the notes of the guitar and mandolin. Not sure doing it that way would sound grassy, though.

Also, I'm just adding my voice to the chorus of "54321." It's what we see when we look down. It's how guitarists do it. "12345" makes me uncomfortable. So I think of that A7 as x2022.

When you're playing a 4 or 5 note chord on banjo, well, you can only grab 3 or 4 of those notes at a time. So it's all about voicing and implied sounds or notes. The ear is pretty forgiving and against the whole sound, you can drop notes and nothing is lost. Sometime you can gain more from less.

Here's an example using a D7 chord, grabbing every voicing low to high. At some as these move you'll be dropping one or more notes from the stack. But you can still hear an implied 7th chord throughout, whether it's fully there or not :)

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Originally posted by Laurence Diehl

In the end it's all about how it sounds, and if that voicing works at that point in the song. The banjo has a limited number of strings, and the root note is often the first to go, to make room for some more interesting or functional choices.

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First of all, sorry for all the confusion with the numbering. I do believe that eventually everyone figured out what I was asking, so in the future I will strive to do better. Live and learn. 

I think that I broke my own rule not to overthink things. Laurence is right. It sounds like an A7, whether I'm jamming with the group or playing in the basement entertaining the walls, it fills that place in the song. So an A7 it is. I play a lot of chords where I just do the root and the 5th, so I'm not a stranger to leaving out a note in the chord. This one just didn't have the root and that was a bit intriguing to me. But over the last couple days I've been convinced to just accept it and move on. So thanks so much. Everyone here is great. 

It can be surprising what fits in context (when and where).