Once you’ve got a few easy banjo songs under your belt, these 24 are the natural next step. Most sit in G or are easy to capo there, and they show up at jams constantly. You’ll find plenty of Bill Monroe here — Uncle Pen, Toy Heart, Mighty Dark to Travel, Rocky Road Blues — alongside Flatt and Scruggs staples like Head Over Heels and Bringin’ in the Georgia Mail. There are old traditional numbers too: John Henry, John Hardy, Way Downtown, Hot Corn, Cold Corn. The tempos pick up a notch from the starter list, and the breaks ask a little more of your right hand.

Work through them in any order, but lean on the ones you already know from listening. Each song’s page on Picker’s Guide has chord charts, lyrics, recordings, and a bit of song history. Pull up the original cuts, learn the melody first, then build your roll patterns around it. Slow practice beats fast sloppy practice every time.