A special note on notation
Below, we give the tunings of each string as open, making no allowance for the fact that the 5th string is five frets shorter than the other four. So, when fretted the 5th string sounds five frets above what the tuning would at first sight indicate. In C tuning for example, the 5th (g') and 1st (d') strings fretted on the same fret will sound the same pitch, for those frets on which the 5th string can be fretted at all.
See fingerboard extensions for more details.
Standard tuning
Oh, that's a good one!
Pete Seeger once said there were probably more banjo tunings than banjo players.
If you don't like retuning, you have two choices basically:
- Take up another instrument.
- Learn one song on banjo and stick to it, and take up another instrument for the others.
All right, it's not quite that bad... But there's no standard tuning. Pete Seeger used C tuning (not an open tuning) as his starting point, many others use open G.
And retuning between songs is part of many banjo players' standard performance technique.
- g' - c - g - b - d' (C tuning)
Claimed to be the first white feller to perform on stage on banjo, in the 1830s, and did a lot to popularise the instrument and make it a basic part of the Minstrel Show.
Pete Seeger
- g' - c - g - b - d' (C tuning, same as Sweeney))
Seeger's book How to play the 5-string Banjo is a definitive work. Seeger also invented the long neck banjo, and a now popular method of retuning the melody-string by having a small screw adjacent to the relevant fret - modern players often use a model railroad spike. This is used to shorten string 5, which is rarely fretted anyway, in much the same way as a capot can be used on frets 1-4 (or 1-7 on Seeger's longneck) to shorten strings 1-4.
Long neck banjo
A Pete Seeger invention, it just adds three frets to the main four strings (only).
Common tunings
- g' - d - g - b - d' (Open G)
- g' - c - g - c' - d' (Double C)
- g' - d - g - c' - d' (Sawmill, Modal or Mountain Modal)
- a' - d - a - d' - e' (Old-time D)
- f # ' - d - f # - a - d' (Open D)
Scale
There's no standard scale length either. Current Fender models include one at 27.4" and one at 26.25", and as short as 22.25" has been reported. The one thing that is standard is that there are 22 frets.
Other registers
The A scale banjo, sometimes called a travel banjo, was two frets shorter than the standard size and designed to be tuned one tone higher.
The banjeaurine had a scale length of a little more than 18" and was tuned a fourth above the standard five-stringer. It was used in banjo orchestras, where there were typically two banjearine parts and two for standard banjos, plus bass and rhythm instruments.
The piccolo banjo was smaller still, and tuned a full octave above the standard five-string.
External links
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