| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

four string guitars and banjos

Page history last edited by Andrew Alder 14 years, 6 months ago

Intro

 

This page deals with tunings of a number of closely-related instruments, each with four steel strings, and all played guitar fashion rather than steel guitar fashion. They include the four-string tenor guitar and the tenor banjo. All were popular in the 20th century, particularly in the United States of America where they were developed. For earlier four-string guitars, see historic guitar tunings.

 

These instruments, by whatever name, come in three body types:

 

  • Arch-top guitar.
  • Resonator guitar.
  • Banjo.

 

There are at least three different scale lengths, and this is extremely important in determining which tunings are practical. Another difference to be noted is that while the gauge and composition of strings may be the same, some of these instruments use bullet end (guitar) strings, others loop end (banjo). For musicologists and collectors, this may be a curiouslty, but for the working musicians who were the original customers for many of these designs the ability to use the same string sets on several instruments was of critical practical and economic significance.

 

While both banjo and resonator guitar versions of most fretted instruments probably exist, in the case of these instruments they are particularly significant, in all three scale lengths. Four-string archtop guitars, on the other hand, are generally of the shortest scale length, but check it before committing to a tuning!

 

For tuning purposes, the body style is not of great significance, and several (perhaps all!) of these instruments were specifically created to enable players to diversify. The tenor guitar, for example, allowed a tenor banjo player to double on guitar, using exactly the same string gauges, tuning and technique; The plectrum banjo allowed a five-string banjo player to use their familiar stringing and tunings to play an accompaniment more suited to early jazz. Whatever their original purpose, all have served in this way from time to time.

 

Plectrum banjo

The plectrum banjo has the longest scale length, the same as the standard 5 string banjo, 26"-27", and is essentially identical to it except that it lacks the fifth string. As the name suggets, it is played with a plectrum. In theory it could be tuned to match the first four strings of any standard-scale 5-string banjo tuning, but the two standard tunings are:

 

C tuning:

  • c - g - b - d'

 

Guitar tuning:

  • d - g - b - e'

 

Tenor banjo, tenor guitar, alto guitar

Note: See alto guitar and tenor guitar for instruments by these names having six strings, or other numbers other than four.

 

These instruments have a scale length of either 25", about that of a standard guitar, or 21"-23". In either case, higher tunings are possible, especially for the higher strings.

 

In this context, tenor guitar and alto guitar are synonymous! There is little consistency in naming overall where any of these instruments are concerned.

 

Guitar scale

 

Short scale

Standard tuning matches the viola or an uncoursed mandola:

 

  • c - g - d' - a'

 

Other tunings:

  • d - g - b - e'  (known as Chicago tuning, baritone ukulele tuning, or guitar tuning)
  • c - g - b - d'  (C tuning)

 

 

 

more to come!

 

 

External links

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.