The tenor banjo has four strings of equal length, no short 5th string, and is played with a pick. In Irish sessions it usually plays the melody – jigs, reels and polkas – along with fiddle, flute and accordion. There are two common tunings, and the choice depends on the music you want to play.
GDAE: the Irish tuning
In G D A E the tenor banjo is tuned like the fiddle and mandolin, just one octave lower. The big advantage: melodies lie on the fretboard exactly as on fiddle and mandolin. If you can play one of them, you’ll find your way quickly. The vast majority of banjo players in Irish music use this tuning.
CGDA: the classic tenor tuning
In C G D A the tenor banjo sounds brighter and punchier. That was its original tuning, mainly for jazz and Dixieland, where it strums chords in rhythm. The notes are exactly those of the viola. The chord shapes are the same as in GDAE, because both tunings go in fifths – but they have different names: what’s a G in GDAE is a C in CGDA.
Which strings?
- For GDAE you need a string set made for that tuning (often labelled “Irish”). The strings, especially the low G, are much thicker. A CGDA set simply tuned down would be far too floppy and would buzz.
- If you switch from CGDA to GDAE, the nut slots sometimes need widening for the thicker strings. Best left to a repair shop.
- Tenor banjos come with a shorter neck (17 frets) and a longer one (19 frets). For Irish tunes many prefer the shorter one, because the frets are closer together.
And in this app?
To be honest: there’s no tenor banjo in the app. The banjo page is for the five-string banjo. If you play in GDAE, use the mandolin: chord diagrams, chord names and melodies fit exactly, they just sound an octave lower on the banjo. The mandolin tuner, however, expects the notes an octave higher – so for tuning you need a tuner that shows any note.