"
Dueling Banjos" is an
instrumental composition by
Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. The song was composed in 1955 by Smith as a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin' Banjos", which contained riffs from "
Yankee Doodle". Smith recorded it playing a four-string plectrum banjo and accompanied by five-string
bluegrass banjo player
Don Reno. The composition's first wide scale airing was on a 1963 television episode of "
The Andy Griffith Show" called "Briscoe Declares for Aunt Bee", in which it is played by visiting musical family the Darlings (played by
The Dillards, a bluegrass group).