Editing Banjo (section)

===Four-string banjos{{anchor|four_string}}===
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2014}}
[[File:Item-ps-250-(plectrum-special)-1458 lg.jpg|thumb|right|100px|Plectrum banjo from Gold Tone]]

The four-string plectrum banjo is a standard banjo without the short drone string. It usually has 22 frets on the neck and a scale length of 26 to 28&nbsp;inches, and was originally tuned C3 G3 B3 D4. It can also be tuned like the top four strings of a guitar, which is known as "Chicago tuning".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Witt |first1=Lawrence |title=What is a Plectrum Banjo |url=https://blog.deeringbanjos.com/what-is-a-plectrum-banjo |website=Deering Banjos |access-date=15 October 2020}}</ref> As the name suggests, it is usually played with a guitar-style [[plectrum|pick]] (that is, a single one held between thumb and forefinger), unlike the five-string banjo, which is either played with a [[thumbpick]] and two fingerpicks, or with bare fingers. The plectrum banjo evolved out of the five-string banjo, to cater to styles of music involving strummed chords. The plectrum is also featured in many early jazz recordings and arrangements.<ref>{{cite web |title=The History Of The Plectrum Banjo |url=https://baileyandbanjo.com/the-history-of-the-plectrum-banjo/ |website=Bailey And Banjo |date=15 January 2024 |access-date=15 January 2024}}</ref>

Four-string banjos can be used for chordal accompaniment (as in early jazz), for single-string melody playing (as in Irish traditional music), in "chord melody" style (a succession of chords in which the highest notes carry the melody), in tremolo style (both on chords and single strings), and a mixed technique called duo style that combines single-string tremolo and rhythm chords.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Waldrep |first1=Barry |title=Sweet Sounds of the Banjo: The History of the Banjo |url=https://banjo.com/sweet-sounds-of-the-banjo-the-history-of-the-banjo/ |website=Banjo.com |date=13 July 2015 }}</ref>

Four-string banjos are used from time to time in musical theater. Examples include: ''[[Hello, Dolly! (musical)|Hello, Dolly!]]'', ''[[Mame (musical)|Mame]]'', ''[[Chicago (musical)|Chicago]]'', ''[[Cabaret (musical)|Cabaret]]'', ''[[Oklahoma!]]'', ''[[Half a Sixpence]]'', ''[[Annie (musical)|Annie]]'', ''[[Barnum (musical)|Barnum]]'', ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'', ''[[Monty Python's Spamalot]]'', and countless others. [[Joe Raposo]] had used it variably in the imaginative seven-piece orchestration for the long-running TV show ''[[Sesame Street]]'', and has sometimes had it overdubbed with itself or an electric guitar. The banjo is still (albeit rarely) in use in the show's arrangement currently.

====Tenor banjo====
{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
 |header= Tenor banjos
 | align = left
 | image1 = Riverside Stompers - Peter Schwanzer solo - Dieter Bietak 2007.jpg
 | width1 = 154
 | alt1 =Man playing a four-string banjo.
 | caption1 = Man playing a four-string banjo.
 | image2 = Gibson Tenor Banjos at the American Banjo Museum.jpg
 | width2 = 154
 | alt2 = Bacon and Day banjo in American Banjo Museum.
 | caption2  =Two Gibson tenor banjos from the early 20th century at the [[American Banjo Museum]]. (Right) A 15 fret tenor banjo. (Left) A 19 fret tenor banjo.}}

The shorter-necked, tenor banjo, with 17 ("short scale") or 19 frets, is also typically played with a plectrum. It became a popular instrument after about 1910. Early models used for melodic picking typically had 17 frets on the neck and a scale length of 19{{frac|2}} to 21{{frac|2}}&nbsp;inches. By the mid-1920s, when the instrument was used primarily for strummed chordal accompaniment, 19-fret necks with a scale length of 21{{frac|3|4}} to 23&nbsp;inches became standard. The usual tuning is the [[all-fifths tuning]] C3 G3 D4 A4, in which exactly seven [[semitone]]s (a [[perfect fifth]]) occur between the [[open note]]s of consecutive [[open string (music)|string]]s; this is identical to the tuning of a [[viola]]. Other players (particularly in Irish traditional music) tune the banjo G2 D3 A3 E4 like an [[octave mandolin]], which lets the banjoist duplicate fiddle and mandolin fingering.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.deeringbanjos.com/blogs/banjo-playing-tips/10152829-the-symmetrical-tuning-of-the-tenor-banjo | title=The Tenor Banjo | publisher=Deering Banjo Company | date=14 November 2013 | access-date=27 June 2014 | author=Bandrowski, David}}</ref> The popularization of this tuning is usually attributed to the late [[Barney McKenna]], banjoist with [[The Dubliners]].<ref name=meade>{{cite web | url=http://blarneystar.com/BANJO_030912X.pdf | title=The Irish Tenor Banjo|website=Blarneystar.com | access-date=27 June 2014 | author=Meade, Don}}</ref>

The tenor banjo was a common rhythm instrument in early 20th-century dance bands. Its volume and timbre suited early jazz (and jazz-influenced popular music styles) and could both compete with other instruments (such as [[brass instruments]] and saxophones) and be heard clearly on acoustic recordings. [[George Gershwin]]'s ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]'', in [[Ferde Grofe]]'s original jazz-orchestra arrangement, includes tenor banjo, with widely spaced chords not easily playable on plectrum banjo in its conventional tunings. With development of the archtop and electric guitar, the tenor banjo largely disappeared from jazz and popular music, though keeping its place in traditional "Dixieland" jazz.

Some 1920s Irish banjo players picked out the melodies of jigs, reels, and hornpipes on tenor banjos, decorating the tunes with snappy triplet ornaments. The most important Irish banjo player of this era was Mike Flanagan of the New York-based [[Flanagan Brothers]], one of the most popular Irish-American groups of the day. Other pre-WWII Irish banjo players included Neil Nolan, who recorded with Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band in Boston, and Jimmy McDade, who recorded with the Four Provinces Orchestra in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, in Ireland, the rise of ''ceili'' bands provided a new market for a loud instrument like the tenor banjo. Use of the tenor banjo in Irish music has increased greatly since the folk revival of the 1960s.<ref name=meade/>