Banjo String 5?

Subject: Banjo String 5?
From: Bennet Zurofsky
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 09:24 AM

My son asked me: which came first, the five-string banjo or the four string (tenor) banjo? I sure didn't know. Can anyone help me? Also, when did the fifth string (i.e., the high drone usually played with the thumb) first appear? Do we know who invented it? (I expect not.) Do we know when its use was first described or recorded? (I expect some mudcatters will have some interesting quotations or citations here.)

The fifth string on the banjo is undoubtedly one of this country's greatest musical inventions. What do we know about it?

Subject: RE: Banjo String 5?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 09:40 AM

Bennet, this thread and the links from it should contain all the information you are looking for.

I have seen no evidence to confirm that the 5th string (as in the short string) is an American invention. A popular claim is that Joel Walker Sweeny invented it but I belive there is evidence to proove that claim to be false.

Jon

Subject: RE: Banjo String 5?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 10:35 AM

Reportedly, Joel Sweeny did add a 5'th string to an African-based instrument, but it wasn't the short string--it was the bass, or what is now the 4th string. I believe that the short string was African in origin. The modern 4-string tenor and plectrum banjos came after the 5-string. As pop music became more musically complex, the short string got in the way of fancier chords.