banjo

 

stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers. Slaves brought it to America (by 1688) from W Africa, to which it may have come from Europe or Asia. It was played in minstrel shows in the 19th cent. It is used frequently in hillbilly and Southern folk music. Because of an incisive, percussive quality, it is often used as a rhythm or a solo instrument in Dixieland bands.

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For other uses, see Banjo (disambiguation)

The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments.^[1] The name banjo commonly is thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza. Some etymologists derive it from a dialectal pronunciation of "bandore", though recent research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for the bamboo stick used for the instrument's neck.

History

African Slaves in the American South and Appalachia fashioned the predecessor of the earliest banjos after instruments they had been familiar with in Africa, with some of the earliest instruments sometimes referred to now as "gourd banjos". One example would be an akonting. It is a spike folk lute played by the Jola tribe of Senegambia. Another similar instrument is the xalam of Senegal which dates back to ancient Egypt. The modern banjo is an invention by an American named Joel Sweeney.

Modern forms

The modern banjo comes in a variety of different forms, including four- (plectrum and tenor banjos) and five-string versions. A six-string version, tuned and played similar to a guitar, is gaining popularity. In almost all of its forms the banjo's playing is characterised by a fast strumming or arpeggiated right hand, although there are many different playing styles.

Usage

Today, the banjo commonly is associated with country and bluegrass music. Historically, however, the banjo occupied a central place in African American traditional music, as well as in the minstrel shows of the 19th century. In fact, African Americans exerted a strong, early influence on the development of both country and bluegrass through the introduction of banjo, and as well through the innovation of musical techniques in the playing of both the banjo and fiddle.^[2][3][4] Recently, the banjo has enjoyed inclusion in a wide variety of musical genres, including pop crossover music.

Five-string banjo

The origins of the five-string banjo is credited to Joel Walker Sweeney, an American minstrel performer from Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Sweeney wanted an instrument similar to the banjar played by African Americans in the American South, but at the same time, he wanted to implement some new ideas. He worked with a New York drum maker to replace the banjar's skin-covered gourd with the modern open-backed drum-like pot, and added another string to give the instrument more range or a drone. This new banjo came to be tuned gCGBD; somewhat higher than the eAEG#B tuning of the banjar.

The banjo can be played in several styles and is used in various forms of music. American old-time music typically uses the five-string open back banjo. It is played in a number of different styles, the most common of which are called clawhammer (or "claw-hammer") and frailing, characterised by the use of a downward rather than upward motion when striking the strings with the fingers. Frailing techniques use the thumb to catch the fifth string for a drone after each strum or twice in each action ("double thumbing"), or to pick out additional melody notes in what is known as "drop-thumb" Pete Seeger popularised a folk style by combining clawhammer with "up picking", usually without the use of fingerpicks.

Bluegrass music, which uses the five-string resonator banjo exclusively, is played in several common styles. These include Scruggs style, named after Earl Scruggs, melodic or Keith style, and three-finger style with single string work, also called Reno style after Don Reno, legendary father of Don Wayne Reno. In these styles the emphasis is on arpeggiated figures played in a continuous eighth-note rhythm. All of these styles are typically played with fingerpicks.

Many tunings are used for the five-string banjo. Probably the most common, particularly in bluegrass, is the open G tuning (gDGBd). In earlier times, the tuning gCGBd was commonly used instead. Other tunings common in old-time music include double C (gCGCd), sawmill or mountain minor (gDGCd) also called Modal or Mountain Modal, and open D (f#DF#Ad). These tunings are often taken up a tone, either by tuning up or using a capo.

The fifth (drone) string is the same gauge as the first, but it is generally five frets shorter, three quarters the length of the rest (one notable exception is Vega's long necked Pete Seeger model, where the fifth string is eight frets shorter). This presents special problems for using a capo to change the pitch of the instrument. For small changes (going up or down one or two semitones, for example) it is possible to simply retune the fifth string. Otherwise various devices are available to effectively shorten the string. Many banjo players favour the use of model railroad spikes or titanium spikes(usually installed at the seventh fret and sometimes at others), under which the string can be hooked to keep it pressed down on the fret.

While the five-string banjo has been used in classical music since the turn of the century, contemporary and modern works have been written for the instrument by Béla Fleck, Tim Lake, George Crumb, Jo Kondo, Paul Elwood, Beck, J.P. Pickens, Peggy Honeywell and Sufjan Stevens.

Four-string banjo

The plectrum banjo has four strings, lacking the shorter fifth drone string, and around 22 frets; it is usually tuned CGBD. As the name suggests, it is usually played with a guitar-style pick (that is, a single one held between thumb and forefinger), unlike the five-string banjo, which is either played with a thumbpick and two fingerpicks, or with bare fingers. The plectrum banjo evolved out of the five-string banjo, to cater to styles of music involving strummed chords.

A further development is the tenor banjo, which also has four strings and is also typically played with a plectrum. It has a shorter neck with around 19 frets and a scale length of 21 3/4" - 23" on shorter models, and 25 1/2" - 26 3/4" on longer ones. It is usually tuned CGDA, like a mandola, but has also been tuned GDAE like an octave mandolin which produces a more mellow tone. These tunings became popular around the turn of the century due to the growing popularity of the mandolin. Another alternative, called "Chicago" tuning is DGBE (like the 1st four strings of a guitar) which is now regaining popularity due to the number of guitarists who double on banjo. The tenor banjo has become a standard instrument for Irish traditional music. Tenor Banjo was also a common rhythm instrument in traditional or Dixieland Jazz because its volume could compete with brass instruments.

The Tenor Banjo is regaining popularity as Dixieland Jazz finds its way back into experimental improvisational music. Its rise to popularity is being supported by the recent manufacturing of Tenors at a working musicians price. Until the late 1990s, Tenors were rare and expensive, not giving players much of a chance to warm up to them.

Banjo variants

The first 5-string electric solid-body banjo was developed by Charles (Buck) Wilburn Trent, Harold "Shot" Jackson, and David Jackson in 1960.

The six-string or guitar-banjo was the instrument of the early jazz great Johnny St. Cyr, as well as of jazzmen Django Reinhardt, Danny Barker, Papa Charlie Jackson and Clancy Hayes, as well as the blues and gospel singer The Reverend Gary Davis. Nowadays, it sometimes appears under such names as guitjo, ganjo, or banjitar.

A number of hybrid instruments exist, crossing the banjo with other stringed instruments. Most of these use the body of a banjo, often with a resonator, and the neck of the other instrument. Examples include the banjo mandolin; the Banjolin; Banjoline and the banjo ukulele or banjolele. These were especially popular in the early decades of the twentieth century, and were probably a result of a desire either to allow players of other instruments to jump on the banjo bandwagon at the height of its popularity, or to get the natural amplification benefits of the banjo resonator in an age before electric amplification.

Instruments using the five-string banjo neck on a wooden body (for example, that of a bouzouki or resonator guitar) have also been made, though these are not so common. A 20th-Century Turkish instrument very similar to the banjo is called Cümbüs.

A different variation is the bassjo used most notably by Les Claypool on the song "Iowan Gal." It is, in essence, a banjo with a bass guitar neck and bass strings.

Rhythm guitarist Dave Day of 1960's proto-punks The Monks replaced his guitar with a six-string, gut-strung banjo upon which he played guitar chords. This instrument sounds much more metallic, scratchy and wiry than a standard electric guitar, due to its amplication via a small microphone stuck inside the banjo's body.

Banjo brands made outside of the United States include Aria and Iida (Japan).

References

See also

• African American music
• Banjo players, list of
• Bluegrass music
• Country music
• Prewar Gibson banjo
• Banjo Evans
• Stringed Instruments Tunings

Further reading

Banjo history

• Conway, Cecelia (1995). African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions, University of Tennessee Press. Paper: ISBN 0-87049-893-2; cloth: ISBN 0-87049-892-4. A study of the influence of African Americans on banjo playing throughout U.S. history.
• Gura, Philip F. and James F. Bollman (1999). America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-2484-4. The definitive history of the banjo, focusing on the instrument's development in the 1800s.
• Katonah Museum of Art (2003). The Birth of the Banjo. Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York. ISBN 0-915171-64-3.
• Linn, Karen (1994). That Half-Barbaric Twang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06433-X. Scholarly cultural history of the banjo, focusing on how its image has evolved over the years.
• Tsumura, Akira (1984). Banjos: The Tsumura Collection. Kodansha International Ltd. ISBN 0-87011-605-3. An illustrated history of the banjo featuring the world's premier collection.
• Webb, Robert Lloyd (1996). Ring the Banjar!. 2nd edition. Centerstream Publishing. ISBN 1-57424-016-1. A short history of the banjo, with pictures from an exhibition at the MIT Museum.

Instructional (5-String Banjo)

• Bailey, Jay. "Historical Origin and Stylistic Development of the Five-String Banjo." The Journal of American Folklore 85.335 (1972): 58-65.
• Costello, Patrick (2003). The How and the Tao of Old Time Banjo. Pik-Ware Publishing. ISBN 0-9744190-0-1. Instruction in frailing banjo. Available online under a Creative Commons license on several web sites including ezfolk.
• Scruggs, Earl. "Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo". Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0-634-06042-2. Instruction in Scruggs or 3 finger style 5 string banjo.
• Seeger, Mike (2005). "Old-Time Banjo Styles". Homespun Tapes. OCLC 32193876. Seeger teaches several old-time picking techniques - clawhammer, two-finger, three-finger, up-picking and others.
• Seeger, Pete (1969). How to Play the 5-String Banjo. 3rd edition. Music Sales Corporation. ISBN 0-8256-0024-3. The seminal instruction book, still in print decades later. Seeger has since recorded an instruction video, available on DVD.
• Wernick, Pete (1985 DVD). Beginning Bluegrass Banjo. Full course in the basics of Scruggs style.
• Wernick, Pete & Trischka, Tony (2000). Masters of the Five-String Banjo. Acutab Publications. ISBN 0-7866-5939-4. 70 banjo pieces from Scruggs, Reno, Osborne and Crowe to Fleck, Munde, and Cloud. Technique, improvising, set-up, learning, backup, favorite banjos, practice tips, equipment.
• Winans, Robert B. "The Folk, the Stage, and the Five-String Banjo in the Nineteenth Century." The Journal of American Folklore 89. 354 (1976): 407-37. 14 Sep. 2006.

Instructional (Tenor Banjo)

• Bay, Mel (1990). Complete Tenor Banjo Method. Porcupine Press. ISBN 1-56222-018-7. An instructional guide.
• Bay, Mel (1973). Deluxe Encyclopedia of Tenor Banjo Chords. Porcupine Press. ISBN 0-87166-877-7. A comprehensive chord dictionary for CGDA or standard tuning.
• Nichols, Fox (1985). "I Do Declare That Tenors Are Cool: But They are for Chumps". Grill Books. ISBN 0-756842-445-1. A comprehensive guide for dislikement of tenors.
• O'Connor, Gerry. 50 solos for Irish tenor banjo: (featuring jigs, reels and hornpipes arranged for E, A, D, G and A, D, G, C tuning). Soodlum, Waltons Mfg. Ltd. ISBN 978-1857201482.
• Richards, Tobe A. (2006). The Tenor Banjo Chord Bible: CGDA Standard Jazz Tuning 1,728 Chords. Cabot Books. ISBN 0-9553944-4-9. A comprehensive chord dictionary in standard jazz tuning.
• Richards, Tobe A. (2006). The Irish Tenor Banjo Chord Bible: GDAE Irish Tuning 1,728 Chords. Cabot Books. ISBN 0-9553944-6-5. A comprehensive chord dictionary in Irish tuning.
• Wachter, Buddy (2005). Learning Tenor Banjo. Homespun. ISBN 1-59773-078-5. An instructional guide.

Instructional (Plectrum Banjo)

• Richards, Tobe A. (2007). The Plectrum Banjo Chord Bible: CGBD Standard Tuning 1,728 Chords. Cabot Books. ISBN 978-1-906207-07-6. A comprehensive chord dictionary in standard tuning.

External links

• The International Bluegrass Music Museum
• Banjo Music & Theory
• Chord finder for 4-string banjos
• Banjo-L
• The Banjo Hangout
• The Banjo Newsletter

Bluegrass music
Typical instruments	acoustic guitar · banjo · resonator guitar · fiddle · mandolin · upright bass
Stylistic origins	blues · country music · folk music
Sub- and fusion genres	traditional bluegrass · progressive bluegrass · bluegrass gospel · jam band
Notable festivals	High Sierra Music Festival · Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Festival · Telluride Bluegrass Festival
Other	International Bluegrass Music Museum
Category · Portal · Project

American roots music
African American music • Appalachian/old-time • Blues (Ragtime) • Cajun music • Country (Honky tonk and Bluegrass) • Folk music revival (1950s/'60s) • Jazz (Dixieland) • Native American • Spirituals and Gospel • Swamp pop • Tejano • Zydeco

Country music • Country genres
Bakersfield sound • Bluegrass • Close harmony • Country blues • Honky tonk • Lubbock sound • Nashville sound • New Traditionalists • Outlaw country • Australian country music • Alternative country • Country pop • Country rock • Psychobilly • Rockabilly • Country-rap

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