The banjo is a musical instrument with strings and a thin, stretched membrane over a frame or hollow space to create a resonator. The membrane is usually round, and modern versions are often made of BOPET, while older ones used goat skin.

The earliest versions of the banjo were made by African Americans and had roots in African musical traditions. The instrument was closely linked to Black communities. In the 19th century, interest in the banjo grew across the United States and the United Kingdom through traveling performances, especially blackface minstrel shows. Later, mass production and mail-order sales, along with instructional books, helped spread its use. While simple or homemade banjos stayed common in rural areas, five-string and four-string versions became popular for home music, college clubs, and early 20th-century jazz bands. By the early 1900s, the banjo was most often connected to folk, cowboy, and country music.

By mid-century, the banjo became strongly linked to bluegrass music. It was also used sometimes in other types of popular music. Notable American bluegrass banjo players include Ralph Stanley and Earl Scruggs.

Historically, the banjo was central to Black American traditional music and rural folk culture before becoming widely known through 19th-century minstrel shows. Along with the fiddle, the banjo is a key instrument in American music styles like bluegrass and old-time music. It is also often used in Dixieland jazz and Caribbean music genres such as biguine, calypso, mento, and twoubadou.

History

The modern banjo comes from instruments used in North America and the Caribbean since the 17th century. These were made by enslaved people from West and Central Africa, like the kora. Their African-style instruments were made from split gourds with animal skins stretched across them. Strings, made from gut or vegetable fibers, were attached to a wooden neck. Written references to the banjo in North America and the Caribbean appear in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The earliest written mention of an instrument similar to the banjo is from the 17th century. Richard Jobson (1621) described The Gambia and wrote about an instrument some think is like the banjo.

The word "banjo" has several possible origins. One idea connects it to the Mandinka language, which names the city of Banjul in The Gambia. Another theory links it to the West African akonting, which has a long bamboo neck called a bangoe. The word for the neck in Mandinka is "ban julo," which also relates to "Banjul." In this view, "Banjul" became a name for the akonting as it traveled across the Atlantic. The instrument's name might also come from the Kimbundu word "mbanza," which became "banza" in Portuguese. Early French travelers in the Americas used "banza" to describe the instrument. The term "banjo" first appeared in writing in 1678, when the Sovereign Council of Martinique mentioned a banza in a rule about "dances and assemblies of negroes" called kalenda.

The Oxford English Dictionary says the word "banjo" might come from a Portuguese word called "bandore" or from an early English version of a Spanish word, "bandurria." However, when Europeans saw the instrument or similar ones used by African-descended people, they often heard names like "banza." In places like Haiti, the instrument had a gourd body and a wooden neck. François Richard de Tussac, a former planter from Saint-Domingue, wrote about its construction in a book published in 1810.

Michel Étienne Descourtilz, a naturalist who visited Haiti in the early 1800s, described the instrument as "banzas," a Negro instrument made by cutting a gourd in half and attaching a neck and strings made from aloe plant fibers. It was played at many events, from parties to funerals. It was often played with a drum called "bamboula," made from bamboo covered with skin.

Many African instruments, like the kora, have a skin drumhead and a gourd body. These differ from early African-American banjos because they lack Western-style fingerboards and tuning pegs. Instead, they have stick necks with strings tied in loops for tuning.

Another instrument related to the banjo is the akonting, a spike folk lute made with a gourd body, a long wooden neck, and three strings. It is played by the Jola tribe of Senegambia and the ubaw-akwala of the Igbo. Similar instruments include the xalam of Senegal and the ngoni of the Wassoulou region (parts of Mali, Guinea, and Ivory Coast). A larger version of the ngoni, called the gimbri, was developed in Morocco by sub-Saharan Africans like the Gnawa or Haratin.

Banjo-like instruments seem to have been invented in many places, not just Africa. For example, the Chinese sanxian, the Japanese shamisen, the Persian tar, and the Moroccan sintir are similar.

Banjos with fingerboards and tuning pegs were known in the Caribbean as early as the 17th century. Some 18th- and early 19th-century writers wrote the names of these instruments as "bangie," "banza," "bonjaw," "banjer," and "banjar." In 1812, a British tourist described "bangies" being played by enslaved people in a gambling hall in Wheeling, Virginia.

The instrument became more widely available in the 19th century because of minstrel show performances. In the antebellum South, many enslaved Africans played the banjo, spreading it to others. Confederate veteran and surgeon John Allan Wyeth remembered learning to play the banjo as a child from an enslaved person on his family’s plantation. Joel Walker Sweeney, a minstrel performer from Virginia, is believed to have added a fifth string to the four-string African-American banjo, popularizing the five-string banjo. Although Robert McAlpin Williamson was the first documented white banjoist, Sweeney became the first white performer to play the banjo on stage in the 1830s. Sweeney helped change the banjo from a homemade folk instrument to a modern one by working with a drum maker to sell banjos commercially.

In 1949, Arthur Woodward said Sweeney replaced the gourd with a wooden sound box covered in skin and added a fifth string around 1831. However, modern scholar Gene Bluestein noted in 1964 that Sweeney may not have created the fifth string or the sound box. The new banjo was first tuned d'Gdf♯a, but by the 1890s, it was tuned g'cgbd'. The American Virginia Minstrels, Sweeney’s group, introduced the banjo to Britain in the 1840s, where it became popular in music halls.

The banjo became more popular in the 1840s after Sweeney started his traveling minstrel show. By the late 1840s, the instrument had spread from the Caribbean to many parts of America and across the Atlantic to England. In 1866, it was estimated that there were about 10,000 banjos in New York City, up from only a few in 1844. People saw banjos not only at minstrel shows but also at medicine shows, Wild-West shows, variety shows, and traveling vaudeville shows. The Civil War also helped spread the banjo,

Technique

Two techniques closely connected to the five-string banjo are rolls and drones. Rolls are patterns of right-hand finger movements that create eight notes, splitting each measure into smaller parts. Drone notes are short, quick notes (usually eighth notes), often played on the 5th (short) string to add sound around the main melody notes (also usually eighth notes). Rolls and drones are common features of the banjo in all musical styles, and their sound is a key part of bluegrass music.

Historically, the banjo was played using the claw-hammer style by Africans who brought their version of the instrument. Other styles developed from this. Clawhammer involves hitting one or more of the four main strings downward with the index, middle, or both fingers. At the same time, the drone or fifth string is played by lifting the thumb upward instead of plucking downward. The thumb usually plays notes between the main beats. Melodies can be complex, using techniques like playing two notes with the thumb at once or dropping the thumb to create rhythm. In old-time Appalachian music, a style called two-finger up-pick is used, as well as a three-finger version developed by Earl Scruggs, known as the "Scruggs" style. This style was broadcasted nationwide in 1945 on the Grand Ole Opry. In this style, individual notes are plucked one at a time. Modern fingerstyle often uses fingerpicks, though some players use their nails or the skin of their fingers instead of picks. In this style, the strings are played directly with the fingers, without any pick or tool.

Five-string banjos are traditionally played using either fingerpicks or the fingers. Tenor and plectrum banjos are played with a pick, either to strum chords or, most often in Irish traditional music, to play single-note melodies.

Modern forms

The modern banjo comes in different types, including four-string and five-string versions. A six-string banjo, which is played and tuned like a guitar, has become popular. In most forms, banjo music is played with fast, rhythmic plucking of the strings, though many styles of playing exist.

The body, or "pot," of a modern banjo is usually made of a circular wooden rim. Older banjos sometimes used metal rims. The pot also has a stretched head, similar to a drum. Traditionally, this head was made from animal skin, but today it is often made from man-made materials. Most modern banjos have a metal "tone ring" that helps make the sound clearer and louder. Some older banjos do not have a tone ring.

Banjos are usually tuned with friction pegs or planetary gear tuners, not the worm gear tuners found on guitars. Since the late 1800s, frets have been standard on banjos, though some banjos still have no frets. These fretless banjos allow players to create special sounds, such as sliding notes or quarter tones, similar to older styles.

Modern banjos are usually strung with metal strings. The fourth string is often wrapped with steel or bronze-phosphor alloy. Some players use nylon or gut strings to create a softer, older-sounding tone.

Some banjos have a separate resonator plate on the back of the pot. This plate helps the sound project forward and increases the instrument's volume. These banjos are often used in bluegrass music but are also played in other styles, including old-time music, where they may replace electric amplification in large venues.

Open-back banjos usually have a softer sound and are lighter than resonator banjos. They are set up with a higher distance between the strings and the fretboard, known as "string action."

The modern five-string banjo is based on Sweeney's original design. The fifth string is shorter than the others, starting at the fifth fret. This allows the string to be tuned to a higher pitch. Because the fifth string is shorter, the tuning is "reentrant," meaning the pitches do not go from lowest to highest across the fingerboard. The order is: fourth string (lowest), third, second, first, and fifth string (highest).

The short fifth string makes using a capo difficult. For small pitch changes, retuning the fifth string is possible. For larger changes, special tools called "fifth-string capos" are used. Some players use model-railroad spikes or titanium spikes to press the string down on specific frets.

Five-string banjos use many tunings. Tunings are listed from left to right, as viewed from the front of the instrument (right-handed players). The most common tuning in bluegrass is G4 D3 G3 B3 D4. An older tuning, G4 C3 G3 B3 D4, is still used in folk and classic music. Other tunings include double C (G4 C3 G3 C4 D4), "sawmill" (G4 D3 G3 C4 D4), and open D (F#4 D3 F#3 A3 D4). These tunings are sometimes raised by a tone using a capo or by tuning up. For example, "double-D" (A4 D3 A3 D4 E4) is used to play fiddle tunes in the key of D, and Open-A (A4 E3 A3 C#4 E4) is used for tunes in the key of A. Many other tunings are used in old-time music to make specific songs easier to play.

The five-string banjo has a standard size with a scale length of 26.25 inches (667 mm), but smaller and larger versions exist. Pete Seeger designed the "Seeger neck" variation, which has a longer neck. Smaller versions, like the "banjeaurine" (tuned one fourth higher) and "piccolo" (tuned one octave higher), are also available. The A-scale banjo is two frets shorter and usually tuned one full step higher. Many other sizes and designs have been created by instrument makers.

American old-time music often uses the five-string, open-back banjo. It is played in styles like clawhammer or frailing, which use a downward stroke with the fingernail. Frailing techniques sometimes use the thumb to create a drone sound or to add melody notes. Pete Seeger combined clawhammer with up-picking for a folk style. Another style is fingerpicking, which is based on parlor guitar playing.

Bluegrass music uses the five-string resonator banjo. Common styles include Scruggs style (named after Earl Scruggs), melodic or Keith style (named after Bill Keith), and three-finger style (named after Don Reno). These styles use fast, continuous eighth-note rhythms called "rolls" and are played with fingerpicks.

The first five-string electric, solid-body banjo was created in 1960 by Charles Wilburn (B

Banjo family and tuning

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, groups of plucked-string instruments, such as guitar orchestras, mandolin orchestras, and banjo orchestras, were popular. These ensembles often used instruments that matched the range of string sections in symphony orchestras. For example, the violin, viola, cello, and bass were replaced with mandolin, mandola, mandocello, and mandobass. In the case of banjos, similar instruments included the banjolin, banjola, banjo cello, and bass banjo. Because plucked-string instruments typically have a smaller range than bowed-string instruments, additional instruments were often added to these ensembles to extend their musical range.

The banjo cello was usually tuned to C2-G2-D3-A3, one octave lower than the tenor banjo, similar to the tuning of a cello and mandocello. A five-string cello banjo, designed like a bluegrass banjo but with a shorter fifth string, was created by the Goldtone company. This instrument was tuned one octave lower than a standard bluegrass banjo.

Bass banjos were made in two styles: one resembling an upright bass and the other with a standard banjo body. Larger contrabass banjos, with three or four strings, were also produced. Some had headstocks similar to those of bass violins. Tuning varied, with four-string models sometimes tuned in fourths (E1-A1-D2-G2) or in fifths (C1-G1-D2-A2), like a cello banjo one octave lower.

These instruments are sometimes called Seeger banjos, named after Pete Seeger, who invented them. They have three extra frets, which lengthen the neck and allow the instrument to be played one-and-a-half steps lower than a regular banjo. This tuning is helpful for some players who sing or play along with music. Seeger banjos are almost always open-backed. The drone strings on these instruments are not moved three frets back, so the tuning peg for the fifth string aligns with the eighth fret instead of the fifth fret.

Several hybrid instruments combine parts of the banjo with other stringed instruments. These often use a banjo body, sometimes with a resonator, and the neck of another instrument. Examples include the banjo mandolin (first patented in 1882) and the banjo ukulele, famously played by English comedian George Formby. These instruments were popular in the early 1900s, possibly because they allowed players of other instruments to join the trend of playing banjos or to take advantage of the banjo’s natural amplification before electric amplification was available.

In contrast, tenor and plectrum guitars use banjo necks attached to guitar bodies. These were developed in the early 1900s to help banjo players switch to guitar without learning it from scratch.

Instruments with a five-string banjo neck on a wooden body, such as a guitar, bouzouki, or dobro, have also been made. One example is the banjola. A 20th-century Turkish instrument called the cümbüş combines a banjo-like resonator with a neck similar to an oud. In the late 1900s, a variation of the five-string banjo called the BanSitar was created. It uses a bone bridge, giving it a sound similar to a sitar.

The Brazilian samba banjo is built with a cavaquinho neck attached to a banjo body. This design produces a louder sound than a cavaquinho. It is tuned the same as the top four strings of a five-string banjo, raised one octave, or in any cavaquinho tuning.

Noted banjoists

• Joel Sweeney (1810–1860), also known as Joe Sweeney, was an early white blackface minstrel performer. He helped make the banjo popular and improved the design of the modern five-string banjo.
• Vess Ossman (1868–1923) was one of the first recording artists. He formed several recording groups, with the Ossman-Dudley trio being the most well-known.
• Clifford Essex (1869–1946) was a British banjo player and a maker of musical instruments.
• Uncle Dave Macon (1870–1952) was a banjo player and comedian known for his "million dollar Tennessee smile."
• Fred Van Eps (1878–1960) was a skilled five-string banjo player and maker. He learned to play by listening to records of Vess Ossman. He recorded some of the earliest ragtime music outside of player piano recordings.
• Frank Lawes (1894–1970) was a British banjoist who created a unique four-string plectrum fingerstyle technique. He also composed many pieces of banjo music that are still popular today.
• Pasquale Troise (1895–1957) was an Italian British musician who formed a group called Troise and his Banjoliers in 1933. They recorded music for Decca and performed on the BBC's long-running show Music While You Work.
• Harry Reser (1896–1965) was a plectrum player and top tenor banjoist in the 1920s. He wrote many compositions for tenor banjo and created instructional books for the instrument and others like guitar, ukulele, and mandolin. He also developed the "chord melody" technique.
• Mike Pingitore (1888–1952) played tenor banjo for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.
• Roy Smeck (1900–1994), nicknamed "Wizard of the Strings," was an early radio and recording pioneer. He also wrote many instructional books.
• Eddie Peabody (1902–1970) was a plectrum banjoist and recording artist. He was called "King of the Banjo," created new instruments, produced records, and appeared in movies.
• Narvin Kimball (1909–2006) was a left-handed tenor banjoist who became famous for playing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
• Ola Belle Reed (1916–2002) was an Appalachian American folk singer, songwriter, and banjo player.
• Pete Seeger (1919–2014) was a famous singer-songwriter who gained recognition with the folk group the Weavers. His 1948 book How to Play the Five-String Banjo is widely used. He invented the long-neck banjo, also called the "Seeger Banjo," which adds three lower frets and tunes the strings differently to make playing in certain keys easier.
• Earl Scruggs (1924–2012) is widely considered the father of bluegrass banjo playing. The three-finger style he developed while playing with Bill Monroe's band is now called "Scruggs Style."
• Ralph Stanley (1927–2016) played with his brother as the Stanley Brothers and with his band the Clinch Mountain Boys. He was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry. He won a Grammy for his performance in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• Charlie Tagawa (1935–2017) was a Japanese-born American ragtime and dixieland musician. He was inducted into the National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame in 2003.
• Barney McKenna (1939–2012), a founding member of The Dubliners, played tenor banjo, violin, mandolin, and melodeon. He is best known for making the GDAE-tuned tenor banjo the standard in Irish music.
• Béla Fleck (b. 1958) is recognized as one of the most innovative banjo players in the world. His work includes many genres, such as jazz, bluegrass, classical, and world music. He has created a large collection of music and videos.
• Howard Alden (b. 1958), a jazz guitarist, started his career playing tenor banjo and still uses it in jazz performances.
• Cynthia Sayer (b. 1962) is considered one of the top jazz plectrum banjoists.
• Bill Lowrey (b. 1963) was a ragtime and dixieland player.
• Rhiannon Giddens (b. 1977) is likely the most well-known African American banjoist today. She is also a vocalist and fiddler who plays many African American styles, from folk to modern music. She gained fame through her work with the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
• Noam Pikelny (b. 1981) is an American banjoist who plays bluegrass, classical, rock, and jazz. He has been nominated for eight Grammys and won one with his band, the Punch Brothers, in 2018.
• Winston Marshall (b. 1988), a rock and country performer, plays banjo for the British folk rock group Mumford and Sons. The band won the 2013 Grammy Award for "Best Album of the Year."