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For Dummies is a registered trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Used here by license.Five-string banjoThe short 5th string is what makes the five-string banjo different from other types of banjos and from just about every other instrument in the known universe. Most of the time, you know immediately that you’re looking at a fivestring banjo when you see a tuning peg (a geared mechanism that keeps the string in tune) that’s sticking out almost halfway up the neck (the long narrow piece of wood where you fret strings with the left hand; for more on these terms, see a later section on the parts of the banjo). This tuning peg holds the 5th string of the banjo.
The 5th string is a crucial distinguishing characteristic of the five-string banjo, both in the instrument’s appearance and the sound of the music. The 5th string is not only shorter than the other four strings of the banjo, but this string is also the highest in sound (or pitch). The 5th string on a banjo lies within easy reach of the right-hand thumb, which you use to play this string in all kinds of banjo music. Having the highest-pitched string next to the string with the lowest pitch is unusual in comparison to how pitches are arranged on the strings of a guitar, but this is one of the things that makes the banjo sound so great! This characteristic of the banjo is also one part of the instrument’s ancient African ancestry.
Tenor and plectrum banjosIn the early decades of the 20th century, folks loved the quality of sound of the banjo so much that they attached different kinds of necks to the banjo body to create new instruments with different numbers of strings. These hybrid instruments were tuned and played differently from the five-string banjo.
Tenor and plectrum banjos are examples of this phenomenon. These four-stringed instruments are commonly used in traditional jazz and Dixieland music, don’t have the short 5th string, and are usually played with a flat-pick instead of with the fingers.
Although these banjos have the same tone and general appearance as the five-string banjo, tenor and plectrum banjos use other tunings and playing techniques and are viewed as different instruments by banjo fans. These days, you may encounter a tenor or plectrum banjo when you hear a Dixieland band or the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, go to a mummers’ parade, or catch an old Lawrence Welk rerun on television.
Don’t confuse these types of banjos with the five-string variety! The five-string banjo is by far the most popular kind of banjo played today and its music is almost certainly what attracted you to the instrument. However, confusing the appearance of a five-string banjo with the four-string tenor or plectrum type of banjo is easy. You see, the bodies of these instruments are the same, but the necks reveal the difference. You can’t play five-string banjo music on a four-string tenor or plectrum banjo — these instruments aren’t interchangeable! You need a five-string banjo to play five-string banjo music.
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For Dummies is a registered trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Used here by license.