Banjo

The banjo is a stringed plucked musical instrument with a long neck and circular drum-type sound box. It is usually associated with country, folk, Irish traditional music and bluegrass music.

Five strings are typical: four full-length strings and a shorter fifth "thumb" string running to a tuning screw halfway up the neck.

The banjo was originally a nine-stringed instrument with a gourd body and a wooden stick neck, which originated in Africa before making its way to America, where it has long been associated with the culture of Southern African Americans.

The first definitive description of an early banjo is from a 1687 journal entry by Sir Hans Sloane, an English physician visiting Jamaica, who called this Afro-Caribbean instrument a “strum strump.”

President Thomas Jefferson remarked on the skill of black slaves playing the instrument in the late 18th century, referring to it as a "banjar."

The banjo was popularized by the minstrel shows of the 19th century. Joel Walker Sweeney, an American minstrel performer from Virginia, was the first white man to play the banjo on stage. He replaced the gourd with the drum-like sound box and reduced the strings from nine to five.

William Boucher (1822-1899) was the earliest commercial manufacturer of banjos. The Smithsonian Institution has three of his banjos from the years 1845-7.

Union cavalry uniform with banjo

Sweeney's group, the American Virginia Minstrels, introduced the banjo to Britain in 1846, where they became very popular in music halls.

The five-string banjo, plucked with the fingers, is common in folk music and commercial bluegrass bands. The plectrum-plucked four-string banjo was popular around 1900 in vaudeville bands. 

The banjo is the only Western stringed instrument with a vellum belly.

A common tuning (beginning with the thumb string) is g1 c0 g0 b0 d1 (g1 = G above middle C; c0 = C below middle C). Often a five-string banjo body is suspended in a metal or wood resonator. 

Here are some contemporary songs featuring the banjo.

Sources Songfacts, Oxford University Press, Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia, Copyright 1997-1998 Versaware Technologies Inc.