My apologies if this topic has been here before, but a quick search didn't show it.
The banjitar variant of the 6-string banjo is generally tuned in guitar standard: EADGBE. I am happy with that for much of the time. My Gold Tone AC-6 Mini is waiting for a resonator so that it will be heard better in sessions when being picked with bare fingers.
My old Samick was never up to much until I tried Nashville tuning. The EADG strings are an octave up. It's a D'Addario EXL150H set: 10 - 14 - 9 - 12 - 18 - 26w. That cheap little 'jo now sounds loud and clear and people really like it. It's a lot more banjo-ish than regular tuning.
I understand that some folks use a set where the G is not octaved. It's an interesting idea that I haven't tried yet.
I have dabbled in 5-string playing but the high-strung banjitar works so well, and is so versatile, that I hesitate to visit that territory again.
So, what I'm saying is, if you have a 6-string and don't find yourself using it much, but you're a fingerpicker, maybe try Nashville tuning.
I have done this with a guitar but not a banjo. I have a banjitar that I built. I'll have to give it a try.
Do that, Culloden.
On the guitar it's a studio thing, adding some airiness to a mix. On the banjo it stands up as a solo or session tuning.
I tuned my banjo-guitar that way when I played in an Irish bar-band.
It worked well -- flatpicked, it drove the rhythm almost like a trad-jazz tenor banjo.
The band is no longer, and I have reverted to standard tuning with light-gauge electric strings and fingerpick it -- ragtime blues, calypso, mento, and such.
Our house high-strung guitar is my wife's first guitar, a Yamaha FG75.
When my brother was dissatisfied with the bass strings on his banjitar about a decade ago, we suggested that he try high-strung tuning. He was quite happy with the results.
quote:
Originally posted by Dr. JugDo that, Culloden.
On the guitar it's a studio thing, adding some airiness to a mix. On the banjo it stands up as a solo or session tuning.
We break out the high strung when we have a jam with a number of guitars.
Even as a solo instrument it works. Ian Tamblyn uses a high strung for a couple of songs every show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnxdDZUuybY&list=RDKnxdDZUuybY&start_radio=1
An update.
Both of my banjitars are now in Nashville tuning. It increasingly feels and sounds as though this ought to be the default tuning.
My duo partner plays clarsach and some guitar. She was recently given a banjitar and I set it up & strung it Nashville style. It has really got her into playing.
Can you direct me to a sample of what it sound like?
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