Banjo Facts
Banjo Facts
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| Interesting Banjo Facts: |
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| The first banjo description referred to the instrument as a 'strum strump'. An English doctor was in Jamaica when he saw it and wrote about the banjo in his journal in 1687. |
| The earliest written reference in North America to the banjo was in 1736 in the New York Weekly Journal. In 1754 it was mentioned as a 'banjer' in a Maryland newspaper. |
| By the 1800s the banjo had been given 19 different spellings including bonjoe, and banza. It is believed the word 'banjo' is derived from the Yoruba word 'Bami jo' which means 'dance for me'. |
| The first white banjo player to learn from African Americans was Joel Walker Sweeney who lived from 1810 to 1860. |
| He first company to manufacture banjos was owned by William Boucher. In the 1850s Boucher won several awards for instruments including the banjo. |
| Banjo players are sometimes referred to as banjoists as well. |
| Banjos are traditionally made with a frame, neck, and a head made of animal skin although plastic is more common now. Early banjos were made of a gourd shell, wood stick neck, and strings. |
| Banjos became extremely popular during the jazz age and in the 1940s guitars began to replace them. |
| The five string banjo is the most popular. Some musicians play with fingerpicks and a resonator but many prefer to use just their fingers. |
| The duelling banjo piece in the 1972 movie Deliverance was actually recorded with a guitar and a banjo not two banjos. It is still one of the most famous banjo pieces known to the general public. |
| Four string banjos include the plectrum banjo, tenor banjo, cello banjo, and the bass and contraband banjos. |
| The five string banjo can be classic, open back (common with old-timey music), or resonator with five strings. The five string banjo is still the most common. |
| The banjo was used in the minstrel era when white entertainers dressed up in blackface and portrayed African Americans in negative ways but the instrument managed to rise above the connotation of the minstrel era and remain a popular instrument in America. |
| Six string banjos were invented by William Temlet in Britain who sold banjos with as many as seven strings in 1846. |
| Some famous banjoists include Steve Martin (actor, comedian and Grammy winning musician), George Crumb, Paul Elwood, Punch Brothers, Modest Mouse, and Beck. One of the most famous banjoists is Pete Seeger who plays with a longer-necked banjo. |
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