Editing Banjo (section)

== Modern forms ==
The modern banjo comes in a variety of forms, including four- and five-string versions. A six-string version, tuned and played similarly to a guitar, has gained popularity. In almost all of its forms, banjo playing is characterized by a fast [[arpeggiated]] plucking, though many different playing styles exist.

The body, or "pot", of a modern banjo typically consists of a circular rim (generally made of wood, though metal was also common on older banjos) and a tensioned head, similar to a drum head. Traditionally, the head was made from animal skin, but today is often made of various synthetic materials. Most modern banjos also have a metal "tone ring" assembly that helps further clarify and project the sound, but many older banjos do not include a tone ring.

The banjo is usually tuned with friction [[tuning peg]]s or [[planetary gear]] tuners, rather than the [[worm gear]] [[machine head]] used on guitars. Frets have become standard since the late 19th century, though fretless banjos are still manufactured and played by those wishing to execute [[glissando]], play quarter tones, or otherwise achieve the sound and feeling of early playing styles.

Modern banjos are typically strung with metal strings. Usually, the fourth string is [[Strings (music)#Winding|wound]] with either steel or bronze-phosphor alloy. Some players may string their banjos with nylon or gut strings to achieve a more mellow, old-time tone.

Some banjos have a separate resonator plate on the back of the pot to project the sound forward and give the instrument more volume. This type of banjo is usually used in bluegrass music, though resonator banjos are played by players of all styles, and are also used in old-time, sometimes as a substitute for electric amplification when playing in large venues.

Open-back banjos generally have a mellower tone and weigh less than resonator banjos. They usually have a different setup than a resonator banjo, often with a higher [[Action (music)|string action]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.promusicinternational.co.uk/ozark-2102g-5-string-open-back-banjo-2102g/dp/3108|title=Ozark 2102G 5-String Open Back Banjo : Pro Music International|website=Promusicinternational.co.uk|access-date=2 December 2016|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203060339/http://www.promusicinternational.co.uk/ozark-2102g-5-string-open-back-banjo-2102g/dp/3108|archive-date=3 December 2016}}</ref>

=== Five-string banjo === <!-- This section is linked from redirect "[[Five-string banjo]]" -->
The modern five-string banjo is a variation on Sweeney's original design. The fifth string is usually the same gauge as the first, but starts from the fifth fret, three-quarters the length of the other strings. This lets the string be tuned to a higher open pitch than possible for the full-length strings. Because of the short fifth string, the five-string banjo uses a [[reentrant tuning]] – the string pitches do not proceed lowest to highest across the fingerboard. Instead, the fourth string is lowest, then third, second, first, and the fifth string is highest.

The short fifth string presents special problems for a [[Capo (musical device)|capo]]. For small changes (going up or down one or two semitones, for example), simply retuning the fifth string is possible. Otherwise, various devices called "fifth-string capos" effectively shorten the vibrating part of the string. Many banjo players use model-railroad spikes or titanium spikes (usually installed at the seventh fret and sometimes at others), under which they hook the string to press it down on the [[fret]].

Five-string banjo players use many tunings. (Tunings are given in left-to-right order, as viewed from the front of the instrument with the neck pointing up for a right-handed instrument. Left handed instruments reverse the order of the strings.) Probably the most common, particularly in bluegrass, is the Open-G tuning G4 D3 G3 B3 D4. In earlier times, the tuning G4 C3 G3 B3 D4 was commonly used instead, and this is still the preferred tuning for some types of folk music and for [[classic banjo]]. Other tunings found in old-time music include double C (G4 C3 G3 C4 D4), "sawmill" (G4 D3 G3 C4 D4) also called "mountain modal" and open D (F#4 D3 F#3 A3 D4). These tunings are often taken up a tone, either by tuning up or using a capo. For example, "double-D" tuning (A4 D3 A3 D4 E4) – commonly reached by tuning up from double C – is often played to accompany fiddle tunes in the key of D, and Open-A (A4 E3 A3 C#4 E4) is usually used for playing tunes in the key of A. Dozens of other banjo tunings are used, mostly in old-time music. These tunings are used to make playing specific tunes easier, usually fiddle tunes or groups of fiddle tunes.

The size of the five-string banjo is largely standardized, with a scale length of {{cvt|26.25|in|mm}}, but smaller and larger sizes exist, including the long-neck or "Seeger neck" variation designed by [[Pete Seeger]]. Petite variations on the five-string banjo have been available since the 1890s. S.S. Stewart introduced the [[banjeaurine]], tuned one fourth above a standard five-string. Piccolo banjos are smaller, and tuned one octave above a standard banjo. Between these sizes and standard lies the A-scale banjo, which is two frets shorter and usually tuned one full step above standard tunings. Many makers have produced banjos of other scale lengths, and with various innovations.

[[File:Don Wayne Reno playing the banjo with fingerpicks.jpg|left|thumb|250px|A five-string banjo]]

American [[old-time music]] typically uses the five-string, open-back banjo. It is played in a number of different styles, the most common being [[clawhammer]] or frailing, characterized by the use of a downward rather than upward stroke when striking the strings with a fingernail. Frailing techniques use the thumb to catch the fifth string for a [[drone (music)|drone]] after most [[strums]] or after each stroke ("double thumbing"), or to pick out additional melody notes in what is known as drop-thumb. Pete Seeger popularized a [[Folk music|folk]] style by combining clawhammer with up picking, usually without the use of [[fingerpick]]s. Another common style of old-time banjo playing is fingerpicking banjo or classic banjo. This style is based upon [[parlor-style guitar]].<ref name="Trischka">Trischka, Tony (1992). ''Banjo Songbook'', p.20. {{ISBN|0-8256-0197-5}}.</ref>

Bluegrass music, which uses the five-string resonator banjo almost exclusively, is played in several common styles. These include Scruggs style, named after Earl Scruggs; melodic, or [[Keith style]], named for [[Bill Keith (musician)|Bill Keith]]; and three-finger style with single-string work, also called Reno style after [[Don Reno]]. In these styles, the emphasis is on arpeggiated figures played in a continuous eighth-note rhythm, known as [[banjo roll|rolls]]. All of these styles are typically played with fingerpicks.

The first five-string, electric, solid-body banjo was developed by [[Buck Trent|Charles Wilburn (Buck) Trent]], Harold "Shot" Jackson, and David Jackson in 1960.

The five-string banjo has been used in classical music since before the turn of the 20th century. [[contemporary classical music|Contemporary and modern]] works have been written or arranged for the instrument by Don Vappie, [[Jerry Garcia]], Buck Trent, [[Béla Fleck]], [[Tony Trischka]], [[Ralph Stanley]], George Gibson, [[Steve Martin]], Clifton Hicks, [[George Crumb]], [[Tim Lake]], [[Modest Mouse]], [[Jo Kondo]], [[Paul Elwood]], [[Hans Werner Henze]] (notably in his [[Symphony No. 6 (Henze)|''Sixth Symphony'']]), Daniel Mason, [[Beck]], [[the Water Tower Bucket Boys]], [[Todd Taylor (banjo player)|Todd Taylor]], [[J.P. Pickens]], Peggy Honeywell, [[Norfolk & Western]], Putnam Smith, [[Iron & Wine]], [[The Avett Brothers]], [[The Well Pennies]], [[Punch Brothers]], [[Julian Koster]], [[Sufjan Stevens]], and [[Sarah Jarosz]].

[[George Gershwin]] includes a banjo in his opera ''[[Porgy and Bess]]''

[[Frederick Delius]] wrote for a banjo in his opera ''[[Koanga]]''.

[[Ernst Krenek]] includes two banjos in his ''Kleine Symphonie'' (''Little Symphony'').

[[Kurt Weill]] has a banjo in his opera ''[[The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny]]''.

[[Viktor Ullmann]] included a tenor banjo part in his ''Piano Concerto'' (op. 25).

[[Virgil Thomson]] includes a banjo in his orchestral music to accompany the film ''[[The Plow That Broke the Plains]]'' (1936).

===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/>

===Six-string banjos===
[[File:Banjo.png|left|thumb|300px|Old six-string zither banjo]]
The six-string banjo began as a British innovation by William Temlett, one of England's earliest banjo makers. He opened a shop in London in 1846, and sold seven-string banjos which he marketed as "zither" banjos from his 1869 patent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://creekdontrise.com/acoustic/zither_banjo/zither_banjo.htm|work=Creek Don't Rise|title=What is a Zither Banjo?|first=Paul|last=Race|access-date=27 January 2021}}</ref> A zither banjo usually has a closed back and sides with the drum body and skin tensioning system suspended inside the wooden rim, the neck and string tailpiece mounted on the outside of the rim, and the drone string led through a tube in the neck so that the tuning peg can be mounted on the head. They were often made by builders who used guitar tuners that came in banks of three, so five-stringed instruments had a redundant tuner; these banjos could be somewhat easily converted over to a six-string banjo.

American Alfred Davis Cammeyer (1862–1949), a young violinist turned concert banjo player, devised the six-string zither banjo around 1880. British opera diva [[Adelina Patti]] advised Cammeyer that the zither banjo might be popular with English audiences as it had been invented there, and Cammeyer went to London in 1888. With his virtuoso playing, he helped show that banjos could make more sophisticated music than normally played by [[blackface]] minstrels. He was soon performing for London society, where he met Sir [[Arthur Sullivan]], who recommended that Cammeyer progress from arranging the music of others for banjo to composing his own music.

Modern six-string bluegrass banjos have been made. These add a bass string between the lowest string and the drone string on a five-string banjo, and are usually tuned G4 G2 D3 G3 B3 D4. [[Sonny Osborne]] played one of these instruments for several years. It was modified by luthier Rual Yarbrough from a Vega five-string model. A picture of Sonny with this banjo appears in Pete Wernick's ''Bluegrass Banjo'' method book.<ref>Wernick, Pete; ''Bluegrass Banjo''; Oak Publications; Oakland, California: 1992, p. 27. 0-825-60148-7</ref>

Six-string banjos known as [[banjo guitar]]s basically consist of a six-string guitar neck attached to a bluegrass or plectrum banjo body, which allows players who have learned the guitar to play a banjo sound without having to relearn fingerings. This was the instrument of the early jazz great [[Johnny St. Cyr]], jazzmen [[Django Reinhardt]], [[Danny Barker]], [[Papa Charlie Jackson]] and [[Clancy Hayes]], as well as the blues and gospel singer [[Reverend Gary Davis]]. Today, musicians as diverse as [[Keith Urban]], [[Rod Stewart]], [[Taj Mahal (musician)|Taj Mahal]], [[Joe Satriani]], [[David Hidalgo]], [[Larry Lalonde]] and [[Doc Watson]] play the six-string guitar banjo. They have become increasingly popular since the mid-1990s.