A hereditary class of West African musicians, griots, play only tanged lutes; but non-griot performers in West Africa play a mixture of both spike lutes and tanged lutes.
[3] The resonator of these West African lutes may be made of wood, metal (such as a discarded can), hide, or a half-calabash gourd.
[3] Non-griot lutes are not restricted by heredity, and are used for many social purposes, most commonly hunting.
[3] It is likely that one or more of these instruments is the ancestor of the African American banjo.
[4] These instruments may be classified with a suffix, based on how the strings are caused to vibrate.