Banjo

The banjo is a stringed instrument. As a resonator round frame with fur fabric used. The coat can be stretched across the clamping screws. The banjo has a long neck with frets, but in its original form was a fretless. Banjos have four to six strings.

Developed the banjo from West African slaves who were shipped to the New World. They brought with narrow wooden skewer sounds of the type Ngoni. The most closely related African musical instrument is the round gourds skewer sounds Akonting. The first mention of a banjo dates from 1678.

• 2.1 four-stringed banjo
• 2.2 Fünfsaitiges Banjo

Molding

Four-stringed banjo

The four-string banjo has been used primarily in the early days of Jazz ( Dixieland ). A distinction

• Plectrum Banjo, 22 frets voted, c- g -h -d ', and
• Tenor Banjo, 17 or 19 frets, tuned cg- d'- a '.

Especially in Ireland, the tenor banjo is played in the GDAE tuning '. While the tenor banjo in jazz is used as a rhythm instrument by chords are struck, it appears mostly in Irish music as a melody instrument used. The mood GdAE 'corresponds to the mood of a violin, but an octave lower. Since the mood so a fourth lower than in jazz, stronger strings are wound. Thinner strings have a " muddy" sound result.

Fünfsaitiges Banjo

In the five-string banjo the uppermost string is ( Chanterelle ) not over the full length of the neck, but runs into a mounted at the fifth fret tuning pins. This string sounds higher than all the other strings of the instrument (similar to the ukulele ). Common tunings for 5 - string banjos are gDGcd (modal), gCGcd ( Double C). In bluegrass the open tuning gDGHd is mostly used.

In the hillbilly and minstrel music ( old-time ), the five-string banjo is usually played in clawhammer style. Here, no finger picks are used; Rather, the strings with the thumb and the nail of the middle finger are (a few players use instead the index finger) struck in the downward movement.

In bluegrass music, the five-string banjo playing mainly in the so-called Scruggs style. Scruggs played arpeggio, in which the melody important notes are emphasized. The strings with the thumb, index and middle fingers are plucked. To increase the volume, finger picks are used.

Bluegrass Banjos have a wooden resonator on the side facing the musicians. The resonator reflects the sound towards the listener and creates a higher volume and additional harmonics. In order to limit the harmonic spectrum and to obtain a clearer sound, in bluegrass style of play usually the little finger is pressed alone or with the ring finger next to the bridge on the fur (according to another theory is improved by the positioning of the two fingers on the fur coordination the Zupfhand ). Old-time banjos are open, which is why they sound overtones against the musician.

Further developments

The five-string banjo original form underwent a number of further developments and modifications, such as the tenor and Plektrumbanjo, the guitar banjo and mandolin, the banjo. In contemporary Banjo 's coat is also no longer made ​​of leather, but plastic, which is more stable to humidity and temperature fluctuations. The tuning pins, which were simple wooden dowels in early banjos have been today, rarely also with worm gear, mostly replaced by metal swirls with planetary gear.

Another significant development was the tone ring. When clay ring is a ring of cast metal (often advertised as a bell bronze ), which sits under the skin and is largely responsible for the sound education.

In addition to the classic banjos, the four - and five-string, there are other designs where the ensemble of fur / plastic, but the necks are borrowed from other instruments; then guitar banjo, mandolin banjo and Ukulelenbanjos find. Cello and Bass Banjos, however, have a longer scale length and a larger frame diameter.

Known Banjo Player

Four-stringed banjo

Known Irish banjo player Bob Schmidt are ( Flogging Molly ), Barney McKenna ( The Dubliners ) or Gerry O'Connor.

Fünfsaitiges Banjo

Around 1945 Don Reno and Earl Scruggs revolutionized independently the role of the 5 -string banjo. Inspired by Snuffy Jenkins, they developed what was later named as a bluegrass banjo.

Bobby Thompson and Bill Keith extended this style, they wanted to play " Fiddle Tunes" faithfully.

Another exponent was Tony Trischka, who acted as a teacher of Béla Fleck short term.

Internationally renowned banjo players are or were Derroll Adams, Earl Scruggs, Pete Seeger, who has also written a textbook on the banjo - playing, and Béla Fleck, which greatly expanded the stylistic range of the banjo. Other well-known banjo player Bill Keith are, Alison Brown and Tim Allan. The American actor Steve Martin is regarded as a good banjo player. Among other things, Les Claypool ( Primus ), Peter Tork ( The Monkees ) and Rod Davis ( The Quarrymen ).

In German-speaking countries, inter alia, helped Rüdiger Helbig, the two German -language textbooks to Banjo game published, the banjo to popularity.