Cape Ann, Massachusetts

Tom
Collins

I'm Tom Collins, a clawhammer banjo player, teacher, and the founder of Banjo Quest, an online teaching platform dedicated to helping banjo players understand the instrument at a deeper level.

I've spent more than twenty years teaching thousands of players, from complete beginners to seasoned musicians looking to hear the instrument differently. My roots are in the Round Peak tradition, but my teaching starts somewhere unexpected.

Most banjo instruction teaches you what to play.

I teach you how the banjo works.

The mechanics of the right hand. The logic of the fretboard. The grammar behind the language of clawhammer banjo.

My goal isn't simply to help you learn more tunes. It's to help you build a relationship with the instrument that makes every tune easier to learn and every note more intentional. Students often tell me the same thing:

"I finally understand why that works."

When I'm not teaching, I'm usually building tools. The Banjonomicon is an interactive map of the five-string banjo, designed to make the instrument easier to understand in any tuning. It grew out of the same question that drives everything I create: How can I make the banjo easier to understand?

I record in a converted loft inside a Cape Ann barn built in 1750, where I spend my days making videos, teaching students around the world, and occasionally convincing an electric banjo to do something unexpected.

I'm also a featured artist with Daddy Mojo Instruments and luthier Jim Hartel.

Banjo makes the world a better place.

Join Banjo Quest