Banjo
OriginWest Africa
Year1600s
FamilyString
About the Banjo
Origins trace to African instruments like the akonting. Popularized in American minstrel shows in the 1830s. The resonator banjo is used in bluegrass. Earl Scruggs invented the three-finger picking style. Five strings is standard, the fifth is a drone string. The body is a drum head stretched over a rim.
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