sixwatergrog - Posted - 11/21/2023:  12:02:23

I think I'm on to something with a re-entrant or "drop tenor" gDAE tuning. What you do is take the same octave/gauge as like the "G" string from a regular CGDA tenor banjo string set and use that as your "low" G. Then use the DAE strings from an Irish tenor banjo GDAE string set like you would normally for Irish tuning. So the lowest overall pitched string is going to be the open D third string. This gives it a nice ring whenever you play chords (maybe in this or other styles of music, ha ha!). The 4-string tenor banjo chord shapes stay the same. You give up a little range with only three melody strings instead of four, but I did some checking and I would say that for 99% of the common session tunes the 3rd string open D is actually the lowest melody note played in the actual tune. The overall range of gDAE is still decent, because - think about it - it's the same range as DGBE Chicago tuning. And the gauges of the DAE strings still feel good under the fingers, as compared to the highest string in CGDA tuning which is getting a little too razor thin. So this could work for a variety of styles, including ITM.

String gauges are something like:
g .022 wound
D .026 wound
A .018 plain
E .012 plain

Anyone else tried this?

martyjoe - Posted - 11/21/2023:  14:11:16

No I haven’t tried it but I’m going to. The flute only goes as low as D & that covers most tunes. The only thing that may be a concern to me is the intonation may be tricky for bridge placement.

banjered - Posted - 11/21/2023:  14:11:53

When I dabbled in Irish music, learning 6 reels, 6 jigs, 6 hornpipe I settled on DADA tuning. The banjo is tuned between a major and a minor and works great for both those, plus the sympathetic strings adds another flavor to the tunes. I gave up Irish music because I didn't like the frenetic pace of most jams. banjered

DSmoke - Posted - 11/21/2023:  17:53:10

I love the low notes on the G string and most of the tunes that go down there.

Jerry Hatrick - Posted - 11/22/2023:  01:18:18

I confess I’ve never tried the re-entrant style of tuning on tenor banjo, which I can imagine will produce interesting chords for chordal style playing, though surely it would sound more like a ukelele banjo. For Irish style tune playing though it would be a bit of a nuisance, because some tunes do drop down that far. However, for years I used to tune the lower string up to A (ADAE), because a low A note drone was more useful than a G for many of the Irish tunes.

Enda Scahill - Posted - 11/22/2023:  01:23:36

Try as I might, outside of chords, I can’t see a use case for this playing Irish tune melodies.

ADAE is the way for me!

Parker135 - Posted - 11/22/2023:  04:18:59

How did I miss that? I have both your Tutors!

Enda Scahill - Posted - 11/22/2023:  04:25:41

I think I mentioned it in one of them! But I did try to stick to convention for the books.

Talk about it here:

The Connacht Man's Rambles - Tune Tutorial for Irish Tenor Banjo ?? - BUT with odd tuning!
youtu.be/UkycE_5MgsU

And here:

Funk The Cajun Blues - How To Play Gerry O'Connor's Banjo Masterpiece!
youtu.be/tMGSAcwHGdY

martyjoe - Posted - 11/22/2023:  04:48:06

quote:

---

Originally posted by Enda Scahill

Try as I might, outside of chords, I can’t see a use case for this playing Irish tune melodies.



ADAE is the way for me!

---

So now I'm going to be exploring adae tuning as well. It's just as well I plenty of banjos.