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   BowserNoodle ☦️ (bowsacnoodle@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 10:55:09 JST BowserNoodle ☦️
   Internet is telling me African slaves invented the 5 string banjo. Is this true or no? Can I get a revisionism check please?
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     KushanaFan01 (kf01@breastmilk.club)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 11:07:34 JST KushanaFan01

     in reply to
     @BowsacNoodle this one looks like it checks out but the actual instrument "type" itself did spring up individually in a vacuum without influence in China and Jaypan (see shamisen)
     
     One more tally mark in black inventions next to the Super Soaker and the word Rizz
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     BowserNoodle ☦️ (bowsacnoodle@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 11:07:34 JST BowserNoodle ☦️

     in reply to

     • KushanaFan01
     @kf01 Thank you friend. The guy who invented the super soaker is cut from a different cloth. Very stable genius, unironically.
     >He once "tore up his sister's baby doll to see what made her eyes close". He also tried to cook up rocket fuel in a saucepan but in doing so almost burned down the house.
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     gozfarb (gozfarber@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 11:16:24 JST gozfarb

     in reply to
     @BowsacNoodle The 5-string, I am not sure. I know the original akontings and banjos were usually a three or four string instrument, sometimes with a drone string.
     
     The modern 5 string banjo wasn't invented by any specific black or African that I've seen claimed. Only the general statement. And Joel Sweeney's five-string design is pretty well-documented and seems to have been novel compared to the slave instrument. And certainly the Scruggs and clawhammer picking styles are more strongly associated with Earl Scruggs and old-time Appalachian mountain pickers than any black group.
     
     You can see videos of akonting players on YouTube pretty readily and the playing style and nature of instrument aren't really recognizable. That said, it's hard to track anything firm down owing to the lack of a form of writing or historical documentation. Especially given the absolutely black-obsessed nature of music history scholarship.
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     BowserNoodle ☦️ (bowsacnoodle@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 11:16:24 JST BowserNoodle ☦️

     in reply to

     • gozfarb
     @gozfarber Thanks for the detailed answer friend! Ifigured it was less straightforward than what quick reading was telling me.
     >Sometimes with a drone string
     What does this mean? Like a drumming string?
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     BowserNoodle ☦️ (bowsacnoodle@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 11:25:45 JST BowserNoodle ☦️

     in reply to

     • CoQ_10
     • gozfarb
     @CoQ_10 @gozfarber I like the banjo. I've considered making one. Never built a guitar but figured the banjo is unique enough that even if it sounds bit off it would still be acceptable.
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     CoQ_10 (coq_10@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 11:25:46 JST CoQ_10

     in reply to

     • gozfarb
     @BowsacNoodle @gozfarber
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     gozfarb (gozfarber@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 11:25:56 JST gozfarb

     in reply to
     @BowsacNoodle The fifth string (the short one) on a 5-string banjo is called the "drone string" because you generally never fret it. It is always just played as the note that it is and is usually plucked as part of a "roll" to keep it sounding nearly constantly.
     BowserNoodle ☦️ likes this.