Talk:Joel Sweeney

A fact from Joel Sweeney appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 21 October 2005. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that after Joel Sweeney (pictured) popularized the banjo in the United States he did the same in Europe as a member of the Virginia Minstrels?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2005/October.

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Added string

I was told by an old-time banjo player in New Zealand that Sweeney did not add the high fifth string but the low fourth string – and that (as this article states) the short string was already in use. Can anyone shed any light here? Koro Neil (talk) 16:27, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I heard the same thing. One of my professors at Appalachian State University, who wrote the book on banjos (African Echos of the Banjo in Appalachia) also told me that Sweeney added the low fourth. She pointed out that the high fifth string existed on African instruments like the Akonting already. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.221.29.81 (talk) 14:20, 9 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]