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jethrobodine - Posted - 12/27/2011: 18:12:00
I have tried to stay out of the 6 string banjo/guitar thing. But here goes!
So, tell me. Which is a banjo, 5 string or 4 string? Wait ! Think about it ! Don't say both, because if you do, we will have to say 6 string and 8 strings are banjo also
From dictionary.com:
noun, plural -jos, -joes.
a musical instrument of the guitar family, having a circular body covered in front with tightly stretched parchment and played with the fingers or a plectrum.
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 12/27/2011: 18:22:48
To me a "banjo" is a five-string instrument with a short drone string. That is the "regular banjo" - to put it in, for instance, Gibson's terms - with the the string arrangement that became the standard the 1840s. Other instruments with different string arrangments can also be banjos, but to me they need a qualifier: tenor-, plectrum-, four-string-, six-string-, guitar-, etc. If it is simply a "banjo", I assume a five-string instrument. That obviously is just my own label, and not something I would try to insist is the only right way to define things.
Edited by - EggerRidgeBoy on 12/27/2011 18:23:29
steve davis - Posted - 12/27/2011: 18:26:16
I think of the round pot with any neck attached as a banjo.
jethrobodine - Posted - 12/27/2011: 18:29:27
Yes, I most times think of a 5 string when I hear the word banjo. Because a 5 string is what I try to play. What do you tenor players think when you hear the work banjo? Tenor?
KE - Posted - 12/27/2011: 18:38:49
When I first started playing and learning about banjos, I went to an event advertised as a public concert of the local banjo club. Turned out to be an orchestra of banjos of various sizes -- all with four strings -- a very, very large group that filled two rooms and played turn-of-the century compositions. (They also had a tuba.) This was NOT what I expected. I can assure you that when these 100+ musicians hear the word 'banjo', the thought of a five stringer playing bluegrass is very, very far removed from their mind.
un5trung - Posted - 12/27/2011: 18:52:44
What are you asking?
What a banjo =is=, or
What comes to your mind when you hear the word "banjo"?
I guarantee you ask any seven people either question and you'll get a total of about 19 answers. That is, it's not a question easy to describe or simply answered. Banjo is a lot of different things to anyone. A lot of different things to me. Any single answer risks debasing all others.
PD Kirby - Posted - 12/27/2011: 18:53:59
quote:
Originally posted by KE
When I first started playing and learning about banjos, I went to an event advertised as a public concert of the local banjo club. Turned out to be an orchestra of banjos of various sizes -- all with four strings -- a very, very large group that filled two rooms and played turn-of-the century compositions. (They also had a tuba.) This was NOT what I expected. I can assure you that when these 100+ musicians hear the word 'banjo', the thought of a five stringer playing bluegrass is very, very far removed from their mind.
I had a dream (night terror) like that once, woke up in a cold sweat and was afraid to go back to sleep. 100 Banjos and a Tuba 
all in the same room.... OMG
The Old Timer - Posted - 12/27/2011: 18:55:02
I think of the diaphragmatic "skin" or plastic vibrating top, with a neck attached with some strings on it.
KE - Posted - 12/27/2011: 18:58:21
quote:
Originally posted by PD Kirby
quote:
Originally posted by KE
When I first started playing and learning about banjos, I went to an event advertised as a public concert of the local banjo club. Turned out to be an orchestra of banjos of various sizes -- all with four strings -- a very, very large group that filled two rooms and played turn-of-the century compositions. (They also had a tuba.) This was NOT what I expected. I can assure you that when these 100+ musicians hear the word 'banjo', the thought of a five stringer playing bluegrass is very, very far removed from their mind.
I had a dream (night terror) like that once, woke up in a cold sweat and was afraid to go back to sleep. 100 Banjos and a Tuba all in the same room.... OMG
Honestly (and I know this offends tenor players), it was horrific -- to me. I thought I had died and NOT gone to heaven.
My conceptual definition is that a banjo is a drum with a neck and an indefinite number of tunable strings.
Edited by - KE on 12/27/2011 19:00:44
Gary Blanchard - Posted - 12/27/2011: 19:04:07
When I hear guitar I think of an acoustic instrument with six or twelve strings.
Guess what kind of guitar I play. 
We all have our image of any given item, based solely on our experiences and preferences. Our image may vary from that of others. That, my friends, is life.
Edited by - Gary Blanchard on 12/27/2011 19:04:50
jethrobodine - Posted - 12/27/2011: 19:06:17
quote:
Originally posted by un5trung
What are you asking?
What a banjo =is=, or
What comes to your mind when you hear the word "banjo"?
I guarantee you ask any seven people either question and you'll get a total of about 19 answers. That is, it's not a question easy to describe or simply answered. Banjo is a lot of different things to anyone. A lot of different things to me. Any single answer risks debasing all others.
Asking what exactly is a "banjo" and is anything with a banjo body still a banjo regardless of the number of strings.
Oldpiper - Posted - 12/27/2011: 19:14:36
A banjo is an instrument that eats all my money!
Fred
DeanT - Posted - 12/27/2011: 19:24:13
Gibson made banjos with 4,5 and 6 strings and called them all banjos. The Deering banjo company makes banjos with 4,5, and 6 strings, and calls them all banjos. That's a pretty good in indicator of what they are. I like to go by what the audience says, that keeps things simple. If it's round and goes plink-plank, it's a banjo.
rbergesch - Posted - 12/27/2011: 20:57:38
"If it's round and goes plink-plank, it's a banjo. "
I think that about covers it. Certainly there are other stringed instruments with a skin head, and varying numbers of strings. Maybe we ought to identify it also by size, and kind of the method by which it is sounded. IE, banjo-ukes are smaller, banjo-cellos are larger, some of the african instruments are sounded with a bow, etc.
Maybe its kind of like pornography: kind of hard to define precisely, but you know it when you see it. And if you don't know, just ask your wife. She can probably set you straight...
Bill H - Posted - 12/28/2011: 02:32:07
I have an old record by a bluegrass group called the Southern Ramblers. They play very fast and the banjo player is playing a four string with a flat pick. You'd never know from listening, only the picture on the cover gives it away. I agree with Rbergesch, you know it when you hear it.
Fathand - Posted - 12/28/2011: 05:54:32
My belief is that technically, a banjo is a stringed instrument that uses a vibrating skin like membrane to produce the sound.
Psychologically or philosophically to me, a "banjo" is a 5 string and other variants of the vibrating membrane family are identified by there neck layout, i.e. Tenor Banjo, Mandolin Banjo etc.
When you get to solid body electric instruments with 4 or 5 strings it muddies the waters further for me.
steve davis - Posted - 12/28/2011: 05:58:51
What do you call banjos with other than 5 string necks?
hidehead - Posted - 12/28/2011: 06:25:04
They are all banjos! Why divide forces? Gibson made TB, PB, RB, MB and even GB models as far back as the mid 1920s. And they were all in the Gibson banjo catalog. Would you all like Taylor Swift and Keith Urban better if they played pre-war GB Granadas?
On second thought...bad idea! That might start a trend. I can see the Nashville hippity hop bands buying up old 5 string banjos and putting 6 string necks on them. Kind of the reverse of what we did to the tenor and plectrum banjos...
larry
steve davis - Posted - 12/28/2011: 06:31:35
quote:
Originally posted by jethrobodine
I have tried to stay out of the 6 string banjo/guitar thing. But here goes!
So, tell me. Which is a banjo, 5 string or 4 string? Wait ! Think about it ! Don't say both, because if you do, we will have to say 6 string and 8 strings are banjo also
From dictionary.com:
noun, plural -jos, -joes.
a musical instrument of the guitar family, having a circular body covered in front with tightly stretched parchment and played with the fingers or a plectrum.
There's the definition in black and white.
minstrelmike - Posted - 12/28/2011: 09:58:16
Any definition is an exploration in fractal boundaries.
The classic philosophy exercise is to define a cat separate from a dog.
To me, the word banjo means a stringed instrument of African origin. There are also ancient Chinese and Arabic instruments that have the appearance of a banjo with strings and a round body and would satisfy the given minimalist definition but they aren't banjos at all.
The farther you get from the African-American origin, the less banjoey the instrument is.
The main difference between the original American 1843 5-string banjo and the Chinese and Arab instruments is the chanterelle string.
When you remove that, you remove all distinction between the African origins and any other plucked stringed instrument.
In my lexicon, there is
1. BANJO (5-string with possible 4 and 6 strings but always with the top string tuned high even if it is full-length).
2. Plectrum/Tenor Banjos--plucked violins with a banjo body and
3. Banjo-shaped objects which include the 6-string guitar-banjo, the 4-string uke-banjo and mando-banjo and the cumbus as well as the foreign instruments.
DeanT - Posted - 12/28/2011: 13:18:32
>1. BANJO (5-string with possible 4 and 6 strings but always with the top string tuned high even if it is full-length).<
Just curious Mike, but by your definition, are you saying that 6 string "BSO" becomes a real "banjo" by using a high top string instead of a low top string?
verbel - Posted - 12/28/2011: 15:33:15
quote:
Originally posted by steve davis
quote:
Originally posted by jethrobodine
I have tried to stay out of the 6 string banjo/guitar thing. But here goes!
So, tell me. Which is a banjo, 5 string or 4 string? Wait ! Think about it ! Don't say both, because if you do, we will have to say 6 string and 8 strings are banjo also
From dictionary.com:
noun, plural -jos, -joes.
a musical instrument of the guitar family, having a circular body covered in front with tightly stretched parchment and played with the fingers or a plectrum.
There's the definition in black and white.
The definition from Webster's dictionary is ":a musical instrument with a drumlike body, a fretted neck, and usually four or five strings which may be plucked or strummed "
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