Popularity comes and goes. In the late 19th century, the banjo was the most popular instrument in America. Then the mandolin, followed by the guitar and ukulele (believe it or not). Nowadays, the guitar is used most often, but other folk instruments are seeing a huge resurgence. Banjos are incredibly versatile. There are hundreds of banjo tunings and dozens of styles.
This style of tone ring is typically 3lbs in weight although, some weigh slightly more & some are purposely made to weigh less. There is also a brass hoop tone ring that Gibson made popular in the 30's. These banjos were light weight, but don't quite produce the sound desired by the most players who play the three fingered style. The lighter weight banjos are still produced today & are growing in popularity.
I suspect an old African "banjo" has about as much in common with the American Bluegrass Banjo as an ancient oxen-drawn two wheeled cart has with a late model Ferrari.
I'd say you're 100% correct. Reminds me of my late wife's uncle. "Uncle Buddy" used to be quite the pool shooter in his youth. He came over to the house one day and shot pool on my little boy's "Ninja Turtle" toy pool table. Though it had been many years since his pool shooting days, you could easily see he still "had it", even on that cheapo toy table! When ya "got it", ya got it! 8-)
They actually have more in common than you might think although, I'm sure metal parts were never used on the first banjos. They would have probably been made of gourds & what ever else they had. The heads would have made from hide or skin & tacked or nailed on while wet & then put in the sun to dry & stretch them to tension. They would have also had gut strings. The methods & styles of playing have changed quite a bit over the years. A version of the technique shown on the video was first introduced by Snuffy Jenkins, Don Reno & Arthur Smith. There were others involved in the evolution of this style, but those are a few of the names I can think of at the moment. The late Earl Scruggs made the style well known when he first stepped out on "The Grand Ole Opry" stage back in 1946 with the late Bill Monroe. Monroe had first used clawhammer of frailing banjoists of the era, but when Earl Scruggs hit the stage, there was a new sound & drive introduced to the American audience. The clawhammer or frailing technique is much closer to what the original sound would have been. There are also several different versions of the banjo. There is a plectrum or 4 string which is basically the same as what we know as the traditional banjo without the shorter 5th string on the side of the neck. There is also a 4 string tenor banjo with a shorter neck & it was often used in what is commonly known as "Dixieland Jazz". There was also a mandolin banjo introduced, I believe in the 20's. This was basically a mandolin neck on a banjo body or "pot". I have one of these made by Gibson in the mid 30's or early 40's.
The two and three strings over gourds and cheese box rims are a far cry from the five string instruments of today. Credit the African continent for the banjar. Credit Sweeney and others for the fifth string...and the modern banjo.
Very interesting story! Anyone who doesn't appreciate African ingenuity lack intelligence. These amazing instruments have very a humble beginning . Yet they are still loved by many, as I have always loved banjo music ever since I was a young man. I can remember going into a Shakey.s Pizza and being entertained by a very talented guy playing one. Also, at Disneyland in Aneheim, California, a strolling band had a banjo in it, and ended up on the Mark Twain River Boat, and I got to stand on the upper deck and watch them below as they really played their hearts out on the lower front deck! That, for me Ws the highlight of my visit there!!
Guitar & Banjo are extremely different despite their similar looks. The tuning is different and the playing is COMPLETELY different. Banjo is much much much more complex to play than guitar. A good quality banjo weights = to or more than a Les Paul. Its harder to make a good Electric banjo because the head is so important to the sound. Very difficult to capture the sound with a pickup. Guitars & Banjos just have different purposes.
Actually the banjo is much easier to pick up and play. Banjo rolls take time to master, but clawhammer or simple strums are learned in a weekend. (Rocket Science Banjo on ytube for example). Bluegrass is learned over a longer interlude.
Lol--As a five-string banjo player myself(who's played guitar even longer ie from '68)I wouldn't have liked to have sat Clarence White or Scotty Anderson down and told them the guitar is easier to play than the banjo.
Very few banjo makers actually do hand cut inlay these days. Custom Inlays in KY & other companies do most of it by CNC. One machine cuts the inlay slots in the peghead veneer or fingerboard & another machine cuts the pearl inlays to exactly fit. CNC is easier, more accurate & cheaper in the long run. The only high dollar banjo builder, that I know of, that still hand cuts inlay, is Frank Neat out of Russel Springs, KY. The last that I heard, his son cuts most, if not all, of his inlay. He's very good & I've watched him do it.
How about the airline pilot guy big in the old Liberty Banjo Company from many years ago and still active(though not cheap)a few years ago(including metalwork manufacture and plating)in the realms of super high end openback banjos?.
Yes, because How It's Made, like Survivorman and numerous other shows on that channel are made in Canada. Let this be a lesson that Canadians have good programming too! And I'm not even Canadian!
Sound waves are transferred from the string into the bridge. Then, from the bridge into the head. Then, into the sound chamber. They bounce back from the resonator through the head & sides of the banjo where you see the holes cut into the metal flange. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's the general idea.
Derivative of the west African akonting, which has 4 strings (3 full strings and 1 drone) arranged high string on top, same as on a 5-string. Played 3 fingers in a style nearly identical to Appalachian clawhammer. It became the American banjo when the akonting's gourd was replaced with a round cake box because the latter was more widely available to slave banjo makers.
Some makers do, but it wastes wood. The reason for the peghead veneer is because the black ebony makes the white pearl stand out better. Staining the wood takes more time & they can buy the veneers already cut & ready for the inlay. The same company cuts the peghead veneer & pearl on separate machines but by the same specs so that it fits perfectly & installs quickly.
The background music in this clip is really horrible. What were they thinking? And why in the hell didn't they show how the pegboard was routed for the pearl inlay?
the banjo is just as versatile, it is a great instrument and i have been playing it for 5 years, i have been playing guitar for 10 years and they are both equally versatile but with different aspects. i actually prefer playing the banjo and it has switched to become my favorite instrument. the main reason it is not popular is simply because of the racism and the strong stereotypes that are in its history. like the drunk hillbilly, or blackface. people dont look at seriously like guitar now.
bobby smith , Your absolutely right. Myself, I love to hear a good banjo player over much of the other music. One day, Id like to learn how to play one myself.
The stereotypes are what keep more ppl from playing the banjo. Believing such stereotypes without doing research is what usually makes the public less intelligent.
Re the overseas playing fraternity/sorority I don't think the stereotypes(apart from Deliverance)count for much anymore.Mind you Bela Fleck,Jens Kruger etc sparkle brightly enough to put anyone off playing big time.😂🪕😂.
It's possible that the Africans may have been inspired by a Chinese instrument of similar appearance & sound, but the American version of the banjo is derived from African slaves who brought it to America in the 1700's & 1800's. The only way the Africans could have borrowed the idea would have been from Chinese merchants who travelled & traded goods with them. As a proficient banjo myself, I'm curious as to what Chinese instrument you were referring to?
Based what I know, the guitar is the more versatile of the both instruments. Why is the banjo objectively better than the guitar? Shouldn't it have been the more popular instrument if that was the case?
@carlos bean That's easy. Look on Ebay or Etsy. You can buy peghead veneers already inlayed with pearl & you can buy fretboards already inlayed & slotted for frets. You can even buy pearl patterns already cut out & ready to inlay.
banjo is such a weird instrument... here is the story on how it was invented ...Once apon a time there was a guy who owned a guitar.. one he was running with his guitar when he suddenly fell over and landed on a snare drum...THE END
Then you weren't paying attention. They used CNC, but it wasn't shown. All the pearl & peghead veneer was cut by CNC. That's how the pearl fit so perfectly in place.
"and the rest is music history" yeah like several decades of extremely racist minstrel shows that led pretty much every black person at the time to abandon the instrument before it was adopted into white music lmao
Your musical knowledge of the banjo is very shallow. Just because you don't seem to like the banjo, doesn't mean you have to smear negativity all over it for everyone else. The black faced minstrel shows did not last for several decades, thank God. The banjo was used widely in different configurations & in several different music formats. It was never abandoned. It's best to leave the past where it belongs & move on.
@@redlinemando minstrel shows were popular for almost the entirety of the 1800s, and remained so to varying degrees for close to a century, on into the early 1900s. you could also argue that minstrel shows were around well before and after this - certainly the connotations of banjos being slave instruments were around well before. technically it wasnt "abandoned" - black banjo players never went away, but the number certainly dwindled and the white players started to and continue to greatly outnumber them to this day. i actually love the banjo, even if im not very good at playing them, but you cant argue that the banjo today isnt seen as a "white" instrument, which is part of the reason why i think its important to know the history behind the instrument, no matter how unsavory it may be. if you want to ignore it, then so be it, but please at the very least read a wikipedia page or something before replying with something like this. also, mostly unrelated, but i love the irony in your name!
@@erogeguy8887 From your first comment, I assumed that you were no fan of the banjo & once again, assuming something has indeed made an ass out of me. Wikipedia doesn't always give you the full story, but you are right about the number of white banjo players outnumbering blacks, but I don't look at it that way. The ppl who play the banjo can make a new history for the future generations to learn from & I think that should be the main focus of today's banjo enthusiasts. I would just assume that the past be forgotten & ignored. I know we certainly can't change it regardless of how much I wish we could. Especially the black faced minstrel part as well as the whole "Deliverance" connotation. In my opinion both were stupid & unfortunately, both Hollywood & the uneducated buffoons of our society have run with those ideas. At least the "Oh Brother" movie didn't build more on those bad ideas. As a matter of fact, that movie has probably been a huge reason for the massive folk movement that's been going on. At any rate, I hope you'll accept my apologies. With the amount of race baiting & other constant insanity that ppl try to keep stirred up, I can't stand it when someone brings up anything to do with race & then, in the same breath, they bring up the instrument I've loved & played since I was 11 yrs old. As far as the name...….It's completely unrelated to the name you may be thinking of. It's a part of the history of the banjo & is a talented individual that I greatly admire.
