Banjo

Jangle_Jamie

I was wandering round an antiques centre recently near Inverness, when a 4 string banjo took my fancy. It's a cheap ARIA brand, but it's in perfect condition and seems to play well. I am however struggling with the tuning and associated fingering... so... can I put the top 4 strings from a set of Argentines on?! and tune to E,B,G,D? That would make my life much easier!!!

Once I get up to speed, prepare for some serious Django Banjo!!!

pdg

What's the scale length (nut to bridge)?

Willie

E, B, G, D is "Chicago tuning", one of the tunings for tenor banjo and tenor guitar. It surely is very useful for switching between guitar and banjo, but you will miss those beautiful wide chord sounds you would get by tuning in fifths.

billyshakes

I think @Lango-Django might have something to add to this conversation.... :-)

pdg

Tenor banjos and plectrum banjos are both 4-string, but they have vastly different string lengths. You need to know what string length you have before you can select strings for a given tuning.

JasonS

Tenor scale length would be more common for Aria I'd think, not sure I've seen an Aria plectrum but maybe they did produce them. You can do Chicago tuning on either scale length with the appropriate string gauges. I wouldn't use Argentines though, use banjo strings. The main thing is getting the correct gauge for the tuning you want to use at the scale length of your banjo.

Jangle_Jamie

Ok, it's measuring 28.7cm to the 12th fret, 57cm nut to bridge.

I copied this from a banjo forum -

Anyone wanting to use Chicago tuning on a 17 fret Goodtime banjo 

I have done a lot of experimenting and I suggest buying a set of D’addario EJ63 strings 9 : 16 : 23 : 30 and purchase an additional 012 string to replace the 9

The EJ63 set is designed for jazz tuning C : G : D : A

For Chicago tuning D : G : B : E 

The C string is easily raised to D : The G string remains the same : the D string is lowered to a B ( this string is in any event very tight in D )

The A string ( that is in any event, tuned to the point of extinction is lowered to E and replaced with a slightly thicker 12

This set up does work with a nice balance across the strings

I am assuming this setup will work on my banjo.

Jangle_Jamie

There appears to be a set by Eagle Puretone (Eagle Music) that is made for Chicago tuning

- 4 string Tenor Banjo String Set. "Chicago" Tuning is the same as the top four strings as a regular guitar. D, G, B, E. String gauges are - 13, 17, 26w, 34w

JasonS

Yeah that set should work for Chicago tuning, or at least be a good starting point if you decide you want more or less tension. I know I mentioned banjo strings above but you can use acoustic guitar strings for this, if you have a shop close by they'll probably have a set with those gauges.

paulmcevoy75

Totally sort of off topic but I've been playing some electric bass lately (upright bass was sort of my first instrument) and remembering how bottom up I used to think about guitar and how I still do sort of think that way. Like the guitar is a bass with two extra strings and the top 4 strings of the guitar are a bit less familiar than the bottom 4.

Then I was thinking oh I could get a banjo or a tenor guitar and just work on the top 4 but then I remembered a practice trick I came up with but forgot about...just detune the low E and A strings and practice only on the upper 4. As I'm a lazy person if I just try to do it mentally I will end up playing some of the lower strings and get distracted but if they are actually out of tune on the wrong notes, I am stuck playing only the higher strings. Could be the top 3 or middle three or whatever you want as well.

Back to your regularly scheduled banjo conversation. I think it somehow reminded me of this idea. Thanks.

L50EF15

Tenor banjo is one of my other main instruments. And when I took it up, it immediately felt natural in standard CGDA tuning. It also became very clear to me how much tenor banjo technique was transferred to swing guitar. In grossly oversimplified terms, the progression was mandolin up to about 1920 or so; tenor banjo as the bands got bigger and louder until about 1930; when the bands got bigger and louder still, but the rhythm and tempo smoothed out—the difference between a fast Charleston or foxtrot and Big Band Swing.

The guys who were on mandolin as the Edwardian/Vaudeville mandolin ensembles were superseded by “hot” jazz bands could not get what they needed in tone or volume from the mandolin, certainly not with a horn section around. And the early tenor banjos were pitched literally and figuratively to those players. Standard tenor tuning, after all, is identical to mandola, identical to the viola, and a perfect fifth above the violin ranged mandolin. And given the limits of 1920a recording technology and the fairly staccato sound of 1920s jazz and popular song, the tenor was perfectly suited to the rhythm sections of those bands (e.g. Mike Pingatore with Paul Whitman, the various New Orleans masters, etc).

The technique developed, certainly in terms of chord voicings, derived somewhat from mandolin practices. But the switch to archtop guitar, from Eddie Lang’s influence, didn’t change that part of the technique. The essence of Freddie Green IS tenor banjo on guitar.

But there was a whole school of virtuoso tenor banjo lead playing. Harry Reser, to cite the obvious example, sounds a LOT like Django. That’s less so for Eddie Peabody or Perry Bechtel, but they could rip it up too.

Anyway, here’s Harry Reser:

https://youtu.be/cCTidc8WHss?si=tvbv6K_FD751A7-W

A lot like Eddie Lang for that matter—and of course, Eddie played tenor too…