The term banjo actually refers to a family of instruments rather than just a single instrument that fits into another family. The banjo instrument family makes use of a membrane made of hide or vellum that is used as a sound board. The first banjo instruments were brought to the United States from Africa by way of slaves during the 1700s, and this introduced not only the banjo to America but also the concept of banjo music as well.

The earliest banjo instruments often had bodies that were crafted from gourds. They nearly always utilized a neck that was without frets, and the number of strings on the banjo would vary greatly. As time went on, there were wooden as well as metal hoops that replaced the concept of the gourd banjo. The nails that once secured the animal hide in place would eventually be replaced by a screw mechanism that mechanically tightens the head over the hoop.

Some banjo instruments make use of an open back, while others have a resonator made of wood or metal that amplifies the sound that is being created by the instrument. Banjo necks tend to be both long and narrow, and while some have metal frets, there are also banjo instruments that do not have any frets at all. Strings made from metal or gut are responsible for fastening in a tailpipe, running across a bridge and continuing up over the instrument's body to slots in a raised wooden piece in the neck's top known as the nut. From this place on the instrument, the strings are all run individually to tuning pegs that are in the headstock of the instrument.

The original banjo was eventually replaced as a result of the four stringed banjo, and this had a great impact in comparison to the mandolin when it came to the instrument of choices among residents of the United States of America. The four stringed version of the banjo, when turned to the same four notes that the mandolin uses, which are E, A, D and G, and played using a plectrum, was actually quite easy for many mandolin players to adopt. Four stringed versions of the banjo are still in use today by minstrel music and many old time types of music as well. Four string banjo instruments do not typically have a closed wooden back or a resonator in the instrument.

There are now five stringed versions of the banjo, which are particularly common in folk music and bluegrass music, and they were first invented in the year 1833. On a banjo with five strings, four of the strings fun along the full length of the instrument while the fifth string only runs from the from the tailpiece all the way to a tuning peg that is only 2/3 along the way between the tailpiece and the instrument's headstock.

Photo Credits: andyket

Originally posted 2009-10-06 03:05:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Acoustic Musical Instruments, Banjos, Instrument History

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banjo instrument, banjo music, banjo necks, choices, fastening, gourd, headstock, instrument family, mandolin players, metal hoops, nails, pegs, plectrum, resonator, screw mechanism, slaves, slots, states of america, tailpipe, united states of america