Long youtube video about dissonance.
youtube.com/watch?v=tCsl6ZcY9ag&t=87s

I started a similar topic a while back---it flopped--The back ground sound on the majority of screen casts uses dissonance --when trying to evoke confusion or chaos--
dissonance is the opposite of harmony--harmony is used for happy scenes
songwriting does not stick to this so much but does sometimes
my opinion --But I ask no agreement

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Originally posted by rkdjones

... I now ask myself how much dissonance is the right touch and how much just sounds bad.

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I think this is just up to the listener. A lot of dissonance used to bother me (I didn't get modern jazz at all), but my appreciation of it has expanded over time. It adds excitement, motion, and surprise. Otherwise music would be quite boring. I also enjoy a straight melody played well, with good tone and timing. 

But not all dissonance is the same. It needs to occur in the right place, and is usually resolved at the end of a musical phrase. That is something you learn how to do over time, and is probably key to what you are talking about here.

Love this topic!

I come from a chorale background and have seen lots of ways to use dissonance. Some of my favorite pieces were nearly entirely ‘dissonant’ in the traditional sense. In that context, the dissonance adds color and isn’t as much about resolution.

For banjo, certain things like bending can verge on micro-tonal, not necessarily landing perfectly on any one note, which adds a lot of character to the music.

One thing that I always liked on banjo was what you described, the lovely dissonance between the fifth string and the first string when rolling over D or Bm. But, I think the more one uses dissonance, the more masterful their composition must be in order to stay musical and have a sense of direction.

Ultimately, I think the appropriate amount of dissonance is entirely dependent on context. A better musician than I could probably write a brilliant banjo piece that was almost entirely dissonant. And another could play a very consonant piece so brilliantly that I don’t really miss the dissonance.

Wes Corbett has a song from his Drift album called Shapeshifter. There is a part during the bridge where it almost feels like everything is falling apart, then it all comes back together in a really cool way. One of my favorites.

Correct me if I’m wrong and I am most likely. Perhaps trying to play everything out of G is expecting too much (?).
Being an oldtime player, I take the time to retune and avoid such (by design) pitfalls.
If I’m speaking out of turn and/or incorrect please ignore me as I’m too lazy to read the entire post or to educate myself.

Thelonious Monk used to say: ‘wrong is right’ I’m with him ;-)

The two most common 5-strings styles--Scruggs and and clawhammer--don't have a lot of playing dissonant notes at the same time. Generally you're not playing the 5th string G at the same time that you're playing D, F#, A. They're not strumming styles.

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Originally posted by earlstanleycrowe

The two most common 5-strings styles--Scruggs and and clawhammer--don't have a lot of playing dissonant notes at the same time. Generally you're not playing the 5th string G at the same time that you're playing D, F#, A. They're not strumming styles.

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I think the OP is referring to dissonance within the sound of the instrument. As in overtones not matching the fundamental note. 

Exactly on both counts.

Banjo gotta resonate.