Banjo playing groups. Banjo - musical instrument - history, photo, video

Learn the rolls. Rolls are specific melodies consisting of eight notes. There are many basic rolls that simply require you to repeat the melody with your right hand.

• The forward roll is the most basic. To play it, you need to hit the strings in the following order: 5-3-1-5-3-1-5-3. The numbers are the strings: fifth, third and first. Since the roll consists of eight notes, it fits exactly into one musical meter.
• Once you have learned the most basic roll, you can start learning more advanced rolls.

Practice playing with rhythm. Although you have learned a few rolls, it is not an easy task to play them without stopping long time. To improve your rhythm, you can use a metronome. A metronome is a device that beats to a rhythm you set.

Learn more difficult music. Once you've learned a few rolls and improved your rhythm, you can start learning songs. It may take you weeks of practice to play well. whole song, but don't let that discourage you.

• Search on the Internet famous songs for banjo. You can also buy special books that contain song scores.
• You can find banjo tabs. Tabs are a description of a melody by numbering the strings and frets of a banjo. To search, simply search for “banjo tabs.”

Exercise every day. The most important thing in learning a musical instrument is daily practice. To become a good banjo player, you must play at least half an hour every day. At first it may seem boring and dull, but gradually you will become more and more interested in it and you will start enjoying the game every day.

“George was holding in his hands some strange package wrapped in oilcloth. It was round and flat at the end, and had a long, straight handle sticking out of it. - What it is? - asked Harris. - Frying pan? “No,” George answered, looking at us with some dangerous gleam in his eyes. - This year it is very fashionable. Everyone takes them with them to the river. This - banjo».

The quote from the popular book “Three in a Boat and a Dog” by the English classic Jerome K. Jerome is probably known to everyone. But what exactly is this “fashionable” late XIX century, an instrument called “banjo” is now known to few. (English banjo) is a plucked string musical instrument, related to the guitar. Its body resembles a flat tambourine with a leather membrane stretched on one side. With the help of a plectrum, the banjo produces a very sharp, sharp sound that fades almost immediately.

Initially, the body of the instrument looked like a flat drum open at the bottom, covered with a leather membrane, with a long neck with a head and no frets. The banjo was stretched from four to nine gut strings, with one of them plucked thumb and was melodic, and all the rest were used for accompaniment.

The future 3rd President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, gave a description of a similar homemade instrument, which was called "bonjar". It was made from half a dried pumpkin, on which a lamb skin was stretched as a soundboard. The strings were made from mutton sinew, and a board served as the fingerboard.

Historians who study American folk music, believe that the banjo is an instrument of black nationalities, either exported from Africa around the 17th century, or restored to an African model in America. Initially there were no frets on the fretboard. This is explained by the fact that black music did not have precise intonation. Permissible deviations from the main tone were up to one and a half tones. In American pop music this has survived to this day (jazz, blues, soul).

From the black environment, the banjo found its way into the white minstrel show. The dance and the sound of the banjo on the minstrel stage were inseparable. From the 1840s until the advent of the first jazz bands, the main actors on stage were two soloists - a dancer and a banjo player. At the same time, the musician to a large extent performed both functions, dancing and beating with his feet complex rhythms characteristic of black dances.

It is no coincidence that of all the various Old World instruments that appeared on the American continent, minstrels chose the banjo. This instrument perfectly performed the role of not only a soloist, but also became an indispensable member of the future minstrel ensemble (band).

The banjo stands out among other instruments due to the clarity and power of sound that its head produces. Therefore, in jazz groups, the instrument performs both rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment. The four-string version is used here.

In the 19th century, the instrument was improved: one more string was added to the four, and frets appeared on the neck. The five-string banjo is characteristic of American folk music. On it, chords are played with the right hand using a plectrum (the thumb is used for bass).

The development of country and bluegrass styles actually began with the spread of the African-American banjo and fiddle, as well as the constant improvement of technology musical performance. Nowadays, the banjo is increasingly used in a variety of musical styles, including pop, hardcore and Celtic punk.

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From West Africa, where its predecessors were some Arabic instruments. In the 19th century, the banjo began to be used by minstrels and thus found its way into early jazz bands as a rhythmic instrument. The banjo is played using a plectrum, the so-called “claws” (three specially designed plectrums worn on the thumb, index and middle fingers right hand) or just your fingers.

The banjo is a relative of the well-known European mandolin, a direct descendant of the African [[K:Wikipedia:Articles without sources (country: Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#property" was not found. )]][[K:Wikipedia:Articles without sources (country: Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#property" was not found. )]] lutes But there is a sharp difference in sound between the mandolin and the banjo - the banjo has a more ringing and harsh sound.

A design feature of the banjo is its acoustic body, which looks a little like a small drum, on the front side of which a steel ring is attached with two dozen adjustable ties-screws, tensioning the membrane, and on the back side - with a gap of 2 cm. A slightly larger diameter wooden removable half-body is installed -resonator (removable if necessary to lower the volume of the instrument or to access the anchor rod that secures the neck and regulates the distance from the strings to the plane of the neck). The strings are tensioned through a wooden (less often steel) “filly” resting directly on the membrane. The diaphragm and resonator give the banjo a purity and power of sound that allows it to stand out from other instruments. Therefore, it found a place in New Orleans jazz groups, where it performed both rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment, and sometimes short, energetic solos and transitions. The four strings of a jazz tenor banjo are usually tuned like an alto ( do-sol-re-la) or (less commonly) like a violin ( sol-re-la-mi).

American folk music most often uses a bluegrass banjo (sometimes called a western banjo, country banjo) with 5 strings, a longer scale and specific tuning. The shortened fifth string is not tensioned on the peg head, but on a separate peg on the neck itself (at the fifth fret). Chord playing with a plectrum, which existed initially, was later supplanted by arpeggiated playing with “claws” worn on the fingers. Playing without the use of “claws” and various percussion techniques are also used. The 5-string banjo appears in traditional American music groups along with the fiddle, flat mandolin, and folk or dobro guitar.

The banjo is also widely used in country and bluegrass music. Prominent banjo players include Wade Meiner and Earl Scruggs, who are known for their innovative playing techniques. In Europe, the Czech band Banjo Band of Ivan Mládek became famous.

The 6-string banjo is a relatively rare instrument; it is popular with guitarists because its tuning is completely identical to that of a guitar, but not in classical system E, and one tone lower, in D (D-A-F-C-G-D).

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Notes

1. In Australian slang, the word "banjo" means 10 Australian dollars.

Literature

• Banio // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• Encyclopedia young musician/ Igor Kubersky, E. V. Minina. - St. Petersburg: LLC “Diamant”, 2001. - 576 p.
• Everything about everything (Le Livre des Instruments de Musique) / Translation from French. - M.: AST Publishing House LLC, 2002. - 272 p.

Links

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Excerpt describing Banjo

Musical instrument: Banjo

The culture and way of life of the population of any country is always reflected in folk art, distinguished by its originality and original inimitable flavor. In the United States of America, one of the most common and popular varieties national music is an incendiary and cheerful country music that has absorbed many styles and trends of the country's emigrant population, both white European settlers and African Americans. The main musical instruments for country music are the fiddle, the guitar and, of course, the banjo. This tool is musical symbol and an inherent value of the American people, among whom he is very popular.

Banjo is a very interesting musical instrument with an original, unique sound. It is not difficult to play at all, and if you have a little knowledge guitar, then mastering the banjo will not be difficult for you.

The history of the banjo and many interesting facts Read about this musical instrument on our page.

Sound

Banjo sounds very cheerful and perky. But if we describe the voice of the instrument, it cannot be called anything other than sharp, ringing and sharp. Due to the special membrane it is very clear and sonorous. The source of sound on a banjo is the strings; by pressing them on the frets with the fingers of the left hand, the performer receives the desired height sound.

The technique of playing the instrument is similar to that of the guitar. The main methods of sound production are plucking and striking the strings, performed using special plectrums that are worn on the fingers and are very similar to claws. Performers can also play like a guitar with the fingers of their right hand or using a regular pick.

Particularly used performance techniques on the banjo are tremolo and arpeggiation.

The banjo has a range of almost three octaves. The tuning of the most popular five-string banjo is G; re; salt; si; re.

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Interesting Facts

• In some African states, the banjo is revered as a sacred instrument and is used exclusively by high priests or rulers.
• A musician who plays the banjo is called a banjo player.
• Legendary guitarist worldwide famous group The Beatles John Lenon could play the banjo.John was assisted in his initial mastery of this instrument by his mother, Julia. However, after the banjo, D. Lenon could not play the guitar for a long time, as he muffled the 5th and 6th strings with his thumb.
• The famous American comic actor Steve Martin, known to our audience from many films such as Father of the Bride, The Pink Panther, and Cool Guy, taught himself to play the banjo in his youth. Having created his own group “Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers", he successfully performs performing his songs in the bluegrass style.

• At the end of the 19th century in England, an instrument called the banjo became so fashionable that English classic Jerome K. Jerome mentioned this very prominently in his famous work“Three in the boat, not counting the dogs.”
• The famous American composer D. Gershwin used the sound of a banjo in his opera " Porgy and Bess ».
• Frank Converse, who made a significant contribution to the popularization of the banjo, was called by his friends “The Father of the Banjo.”
• The sound of the banjo is very often used in various television shows, for example, in the world-famous children's television educational program"Sesame Street".
• The four-string banjo is widely used in musical performances, staged on Broadway. He can be heard in such musicals as “Cabaret”, “Hello Dolly”, “ Chicago ».
• Commercial production of the banjo began in the United States at William Boucher's musical instrument factory. Three instruments that were made in 1845 are exhibited in one of the museums Smithsonian Institution Washington.

• The production of banjos is mainly carried out by manufacturing companies guitars . The leading manufacturer among them is the American Fender. Also very popular among professional performers and music lovers are instruments from the South Korean company Cort, the Chinese company Veston, and the American company Washburn and Gibson.
• The first five-string electric banjo was developed in 1960 by Wilburn Trent and David Jackson.
• The six-string banjo, which has also become very popular and is tuned like a guitar, was invented by an Englishman by birth, William Templett.

Performers

Originally used primarily by the African-American population of the United States, the banjo gradually attracted the attention of white players. One of the first banjo players who not only successfully brought the instrument to the concert stage, but also made a significant contribution to its improvement, was Joel Walker Sweeney, a true banjo enthusiast.

Subsequently, the instrument, gaining more and more recognition among listeners, brought more and more talented performers- virtuosos, among whom A. Farland especially stood out, who became famous for performing transcriptions of works of European music on the banjo classical music, such as sonatas L.V. Beethoven and overtures by D. Rossini.

As the banjo became very popular not only on the American continent, but throughout the world, more and more performers proved their love for this instrument.

E. Peabody, D. Bayer, B. Lowry, S. Peterson, D. Bandrowski. B. Trent, R. Stanley, S. Martin, H. Williams, T. Taylor, P. Smith, K. Douglas, D. Garcia, D. Crumb, P. Elwood, P. Seeger, B. Mandrell, D. Gilmour, B. Ives, D. Lennon, B. Mumy, D. Osmond, P. Seeger, T. Swift, P. Tork, D. Dyck - just to name a few famous musicians, which delighted the audience with their skillful performance.

Since the instrument has found application in various genres, special mention should be made of the performers who adorned jazz compositions with their performances. On early stage It should be noted D. Reinhardt, D. Saint-Cyr, D. Barker. Today, very famous jazz banjo players are K. Urban, R. Stewart and D. Satriani.

Story

The banjo, which appeared on the American continent, has a very interesting story, which can be traced back to 1600, although the ancestors of this instrument appeared in West Africa long before this time, about 6 thousand years ago. To date, studies of West African music present more than 60 different instruments that have some similarity to the banjo and may be its probable predecessors.

The first description of the instrument was made by the English physician and naturalist Hans Sloan in 1687 after visiting Jamaica, where he saw a banjo among slaves brought from Africa. Early instruments, according to the Englishman, were made from dried gourd or wooden case, which were tightly tightened with leather on top. On a wooden fingerboard, in addition to the main strings, one or more drone strings were added. And the first mention in the press about the banjo, which for a long time was considered a tool of black slaves, in North America appeared in « New York Weekly" by John Peter Zenger in 1736.

Banjo with early XIX century along with violin was the most popular tool in African American music in the United States. But then whites also began to take an active interest in him. professional performers, showcasing the banjo to a wider audience. In the 1830s, Joel Walker Sweeney was the first white musician to not only master the instrument and bring it to the stage, but also received great recognition as a banjo player. D. Sweeney is also credited with a significant modernization of the banjo: he replaced the pumpkin body with a drum body, delimited the neck of the neck with frets and left five strings: four long and one short. Since the second half of the 19th century, the banjo has become very popular not only in concert venues, but also among music lovers.

In 1848, the first manual on how to independently master the instrument was published. There is information about various banjo performance competitions. The first workshops for the manufacture of these instruments opened in Baltimore and New York, where smaller banjos were produced especially for women. Manufacturers experimented with the design of the instrument and replaced gut strings with metal ones. In the last quarter of the 19th century, banjos of various sizes were constructed, such as the bass banjo and the piccolo banjo, from which banjo bands were subsequently formed. Similar musical groups began to appear in colleges, one of the first was the Hamilton College ensemble. By the end of the century, the banjo craze had reached its peak. Professional musicians on concert stages even performed works by classical composers, for example such masters as L.V. Beethoven and D. Rossini arranged for banjo. Last decade The 19th century was marked by the emergence of new styles, such as ragtime, jazz and blues, in which the instrument occupied an important place. However, in the thirties of the 20th century, due to the advent of electric guitars, which had a brighter sound compared to the banjo, interest in the instrument began to wane. However, this did not last relatively long. In the 40s, the banjo again successfully returned to concert venues.