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Whats with the banjo obsession?

ICF	Date: October 1, 2004 @ 4:57 PM No really, whats with these banjo fans?? Why not have a guitar forum or anything like that
gstring	Date: October 1, 2004 @ 5:14 PM A banjo is every man's fantasy..it's got head...a tailpiece..a neck..two "g strings"..not to mention plenty of parts to move around, trade, swap, build, rebuild. What more could you want. To be serious..bluegrass is making a small comeback and the banjo is being used in groups where it never would have before seen the light of day..it took a hundred years, but it's finally being looked upon as a fantastic instrument.. But I'm a biased banjo player.
rhthesinner	Date: October 1, 2004 @ 5:58 PM Let's not forget the zither...
kingo	Date: October 2, 2004 @ 12:09 AM There IS a guitar forum. It's the forum called "Guitar Forum."
blacklieder	Date: October 2, 2004 @ 12:32 AM The banjo is an authenic American instrument; the backbone of American folk music. Besides, playing the banjo is, to quote our president, "hard work", and should be given the respect it is due. Not a quick study, that's for sure.
ICF	Date: October 2, 2004 @ 7:58 AM dammit, halaka there are so many forums i didnt see they had one for every instrument! My apologies :embaressed:
ICF	Date: October 2, 2004 @ 7:59 AM or even
Cryxan	Date: October 2, 2004 @ 10:32 PM I'm really happy that the banjo is getting more inclusion lately. Where I'm from it was a pretty standard instrument and used in a very wide range of songs, and I've missed that.
Jennae	Date: October 3, 2004 @ 1:06 AM http://www.dmusic.com/forum/guitar/
JFF	Date: October 4, 2004 @ 12:08 PM Banjo's are evil. Bagpipes, now there's an instrument to be reckoned with
imemine	Date: October 4, 2004 @ 12:19 PM Hey there’s an idea! A bagpipe forum!
MarvThePirate	Date: October 4, 2004 @ 5:34 PM HELL YA! Banjos and Bagpipes both rock like an illusionary 4 ft. hamster in a biker uniform. And, if you were wondering... THAT ROCKS!
ajpresentsky	Date: September 5, 2005 @ 2:27 PM Made a lot of dosh from a banjo / bagpipes 2 piece on the streets of Glasgow - don't knock it!
jerseyguy	Date: October 5, 2006 @ 3:31 PM The predecessor of the modern banjo was first spotted in use by natives in Africa along the Ghana River around 1620. Naturally it turned up later in use by slave in the United States who bought the instrument over with them prior to the civil war. By the early part of the 19th century, the banjo was in regular use in minstral shows. Most banjo music of the time was folk and popular music, but there were also banjo virtuosos who were part of symphony orchestras and could literally play anything that violist could play. In 1925, the first Gibson Mastertone was introduced and eighty years later it remains one of the finest banjos in production. Along came the Great Depression of 1929 and suddenly there was almost no demand for bright and happy music, as we all know, it's almost nearly impossible to play a sad song on the banjo. So for years after, it was almost impossible to buy a five string banjo or even replacement strings, but in the early 1940s a five string picker named Earl Scruggs, developed a three finger style based on the old classical method. He combined it with a folk style originating in the Appalachian Mountains and started bluegrass music as we know it today. This long scale five string bluegrass banjo is the most popular style today and is the direct result of the influence of Earl Scruggs and his band. If your at all interested in learning to play the banjo, I reccomend this site: http://hobbies.expertvillage.com/videos/banjo-history.htm
Opossum	Date: October 6, 2006 @ 1:11 AM Way back when, my dad had performed quite often with a banjo player known as Blaine Cox(spelling?) He'd been the best I'd heard and his hands moved so fast they literally turned invisible.
EchoMinor	Date: October 6, 2006 @ 5:05 AM banjo got a nasty reputation as being the hillbilly instrument of choice thanks to the film "deliverence". it really is a pretty cool instrument. sad that everytime i go into guitar center and play with a banjo, everyone in the acoustic section that can hear me gives me that evil eye of "oh! no! not the deliverence instrument!
Opossum	Date: October 6, 2006 @ 5:07 AM Heh.
hate9wicket	Date: October 8, 2006 @ 8:38 PM I love the banjo, too bad I can't really play it that well, but, then again, that's true of anything I pick up...I can't seem to keep the drone string key in place, though, so I just play it 4 string, but I like to test the neck a bit and put it into a few different tunings, open C gives it a nice weird Middle eastern feel to it. I can't seem to get the hang of 3 finger claw hammer style, or wearing finger picks for that matter, so my thumb and forefinger are developing very nice calluses.