Just saw the question. I don't check in here much anymore.

Anyway, to answer your question honestly I wouldn't bother with sheet music for that Don McLean song.

The thing people don't seem to understand anymore is that the banjo is A folk instrument. You take a couple of basic concepts, dork around with them over a long period of time and with a mixture of hard work, persistence and dumb luck you start to make more music than noise.

Who cares if the song is usually fingerpicked?

Just find the structure of the song (the rhythm and chord progression) and sing it. Once you have that you can start to mess around with drawing out the melody, making it fancy and all that jazz. If the song won't fit into frailing then do something else. Fingerpick it. Strum it like a uke. Swing it over your head and chase your neighbors around the front yard.

If you do have to pick up a melody from sheet music (it does happen now and then) use the notation to get the structure and basic melody. If the song won't fit into frailing then do something else. Fingerpick it. Strum it like a uke. Swing it over your head and chase your neighbors around the front yard.

-Patrick