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The
tunes transcribed in this collection use one of six different
banjo tunings. Each of the links below opens a Tabledit
file which provides musical information about each tuning.
First, the tablature and MIDI playback provide the simplest
string by string tuning formula for the tuning. This is
followed by a two octave scale for the base key of the tuning.
A separate scale is provided for each of the common modes
the tuning is best suited to. This is followed by closed
position fingerings for various inversions of the most commonly
used chords. Finally, a simple melodic exercise is provided
for each of the tunings, using basically the same simple
scale pattern from tuning to tuning. You can also click
on the link to the Tabledit tablature file for an example,
or link to an MP3 audio file of my playing the particular
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Open
G Tuning: gDGBD
Open
G Tuning need no introduction, it is certainly the standard
bluegrass tuning, used by many pickers almost exclusively,
for all keys. I use it for many of the old tunes which are
customarily in G or A, such as Bill Cheatum, Old Joe Clark,
and Cripple Creek, but not nearly as often as most three
finger players. When I am picking an old-time
tune which is typically fiddled in the key of A, I generally
use my short scale Paramount, and tune the banjo a whole
tone high, to open A. In that case, the tuning is aEAC#E.
Open
G Tuning Chord Chart PDF
Open G Tuning Tabledit
File
Try
Old Joe Clark, in Open G Tuning
Listen
to the Old Joe Clark MP3 File
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Open
D Tuning: aDF#AD
Open
D Tuning, sometimes called Graveyard Tuning, is used for
most of the tunes in this collection. There are two reasons:
first, the key of D is probably the most common in old-time
music, in terms of standard fiddle tunes, anyway. Ssecond,
it generally works much better for the various techniques
found in these arrangements, including the use of bass drones
and substitution notes, etc. Though tuned to a major chord,
it has a more haunting sound than other open tunings. I
generally tune the 5th string to A, rather than F#, the
more common melodic style practice.
Open
D Tuning Chord Chart PDF
Open
D Tuning Tabledit File
Open
D Tuning Fill-In Licks
Try
Angeline the Baker, in Open D Tuning
Listen
to the Angeline the Baker MP3 File
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G
Variant Tuning: gDGAD
In
recent years, I've experimented with this variant of Open
G Tuning, which drops the second string down to A. This
allows a critical interval, between the second and third
note of the G scale, to be obtained by hammering an open
note. In reverse, the third to second interval can be obtained
by pulling off, or through a simple melodic phrase. In a
sense, it works for tunes in the key of G much the way Double
C works for tunes in the key of C. An interesting aspect
of this tuning is that it can be used to play tunes in the
major key, such as Leather Britches, Sail Away Ladies, and
Golden Slippers, but it also works well in either Mixolydian
or Dorian modes, for such tunes as Texas, Frosty Morning,
and Betsy Likens. Like standard Open G, I sometimes tune
this up a whole tone, to aEABE.
G
Variant Tuning Tabledit File
Try
June Apple, in G Variant Tuning
Listen
to the June Apple MP3 File
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Double
C Tuning: gCGCD
Double
C Tuning is one of the most commonly employed tunings among
clawhammer pickers, often capoed or tuned up a whole step
to play the huge repertoire of tunes in the key of D. I
use it less often, basically for tunes traditionally played
in C, such as Wildwood Flower, or Billy in the Lowground,
in this collection. It is basically a variant of standard
C Tuning, with the second string raised from B to C, the
tonic note.
Double
C Tuning Tabledit File
Try
Wildwood Flower in Double C Tuning
Listen
to the Wildwood Flower MP3 File
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G
Modal Tuning: gDGCD
This
tuning is sometimes called Sawmill tuning, presumably because
a tune by that name was played using it. It is used by old
time clawhammer players for g modal tunes, and sometimes
to play in the key of F. A variant of Open G, with the second
string raised to the C, this tuning rings out with the fourth
interval instead of the third. This results in a distinctive
almost medievil tonality, which you don't obtain with G
Minor tuning (GDGBbD).
G
Modal Tuning Tabledit File
Try
Red Haired Boy in Sawmill Tuning
Listen
to the Red Haired Boy MP3 File
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D
Modal Tuning: aDGAD
This
is a D tuning version of G modal, or sawmill tuning, in
that the string tuned normally to the third note of the
scale is tuned to the fourth. Early medievil experiments
with polypany emphasized fourths and fifths rather than
thirds, and this tendency is manifest in these tunings,
providing this very rudimentary harmonic background to the
tune. For this reason, and because I emphasize melodic phrasing
less than I used to, a generally use this tuning rather
than D Minor (ADFAD).
D
Modal Tuning Tabledit File
Try
Sally in the Garden, in D Modal Tuning
Listen
to the Child Grove/Sally in the Garden MP3 File
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There
are two very different points of view in the five-string banjo
world, regarding the use of multiple banjo tunings. At one
extreme, there are the old time banjo pickers who employ dozens
of different tunings for the banjo, often having specific
tunings that they use for just one song. Anita Kermode has
identified and listed 124 different tunings on the website
for the Banjo-L list group.
On the other side are the bluegrass pickers
who will only play out of open G tuning and nothing else.
The true zealots at this extreme are the pickers who won't
even employ a capo, learning to play instead in every conceivable
key out of the open G chord. Those in this last group tend
to be the bluegrass/jazz fusion progressives, who make use
of a lot of closed positions and Reno/Adcock style single
string runs.
Scruggs traditionalists, though devoted
as they are to open G, will usually follow his example and
play a few tunes out of standard C or open D tuning. But
that is about it, and those deviations are a relatively
small portion of the repertoire. Much of what makes the
Scruggs sound comes from a distinctive vocabulary of standard,
timeless licks, and most of those are fused with open G
tuning.
There is another practical reason for holding
to basically one tuning, if one is a professional player.
On stage during a performance, under a set of hot lights,
and with the ambient noise coming from the audience, its
hard enough to stay in tune even when you stick with just
one tuning. It would be impossible to significantly retune
back and forth every three or four songs, and have any hope
of staying in pitch. Some of the old-timers, like Uncle
Dave Macon, one of the most beloved and copied of the early
Grand Old Opry performers, solved this problem by bringing
two or even three instruments on stage during a performance,
each one with its own dedicated tuning. For many bluegrass
pickers, who may have already stretched their budgets to
own just one professional quality Mastertone style instrument,
this is not practical.
However, as a devoted shade tree picker
who performs only occasionally on stage, this is an acceptable
problem. If I'm participating in an old time jam, I will
bring two instruments, a Paramount with a short scale neck,
tuned to open A (G tuning pitched up one whole tone), and
a Tubaphone banjo tuned to open D. Both are semi-fretless.
If I am headed to a bluegrass session, I will bring a Gibson
Mastertone banjo instead of the Paramount, fully fretted,
of course, tuned to open G. The other tunings I use, such
as G Variant, D modal, or Sawmill
generally deviate only slightly from one
or another of the basic tunings, and retuning is usually
managable, unless the setting is particularly noisy. If
I am performing, I will try to group together tunes which
use the same tuning and banjo, thus minimizing the amount
of retuning that needs to be done on stage. Still, the amount
of extra time spent on tuning is less than ideal.
All of this, of course, begs the question,
why not just stick to one tuning, and avoid the retuning
problem altogether. This is the best solution for pickers
who think mostly in a linear fashion, and have built a style
which uses a lot of closed chords and linear melodic or
single string runs. It also makes some sense for Scruggs
devotees, who want to have Earl's classic licks punch through
in every arrangement. But as my playing has evolved over
the years, it has become anything but linear. Instead, it
has become layered, so that the subtle harmonic nuances
represented by drone notes, right hand patterns, and other
harmonic devices are as important to the overall sound as
the actual notes of the melody that are imbedded along with
them. For someone who picks with that more "old-timey"
sensibility, each tuning has its own unique character, each
provides a musical ambience that contributes significantly
to the special sound of a tune setting.
With some hyperbole, I would argue that
with the progressive linear approach, the odd configuration
of the five string banjo neck is essentially an obstacle
to be overcome in search of a pure musical form. In contrast,
I think more like a clawhammer picker in this regard, seeing
the banjo neck instead as a unique structure which suggests
patterns that help define and propel the music. One's musical
path then becomes a lifelong search for those patterns,
which include all of the right hand rolls and other movements,
and the close relationship of those fingerings with hammers,
slides, and other left hand techniques. It includes as well
the underlying tunings, and eventually even the choice of
the banjo itself, with its compatible tonal characteristics.
Thus, the tunings employed in this collection are a central
component of my personal style and approach to banjo. But
I am the first to admit that they do come with a price.
I remember that years ago a Banjo Newsletter
reader submitted an arrangement to prove that he could play
all of the notes of Bill Keith's break for Little Sadie
in open G tuning. Keith played his elegant arrangement,
recorded on the Blue Velvet Band album, in D minor tuning.
The contributor's main intent was to prove that there was
never a need to retune the banjo. He insisted that he could
get all of the same notes, or nearly all, so that if both
were written out in standard notation, the two arrangements
would look identical. Still, inevitably, if you played it,
the open G setting didn't have the sound of Keith's stunning
arrangement. That is because it didn't have all of the sympathetic
tones contributed by the open strings of the D minor tuning.
But if you're not looking for that ancient sound, the overall
sense of timelessness, the connection with the eternal flow
of human history, if that's not why you're playing the banjo,
then you won't notice the difference.
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(c)
copyright 2008, by Donald J. Borchelt, all rights reserved.
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