Alternate tunings

klaatu

Have any of you played around with other tunings for mando than the standard g d' a' e'' ? I've played a little mando but never got comfortable with chording, and now that so much of my time is taken up with gypsy guitar, I have little time to spare to work on that. A friend of mine was playing around with ukulele tunings on a mando and inspired me to try a guitar-type tuning:
d' g' b' e''

This would be an octave above guitar. It requires that you change string gauges because the tension of the lower strings would be way too high with standard gauges. You give up the deeper sonorities of the lower strings, and it changes the character of the chords by closing the intervals quite a bit.

Being basically lazy (except where gypsy guitar is concerned), I'm all in favor of short cuts. I also own an Epiphone plectrum banjo (circa 1928) which I tune like a guitar (this is known as "Chicago" tuning on a plectrum, for some reason and is considered to be a legitimate tuning by all except purists).

Found a site that lists a gazillion alternate tunings, for anyone who is interested:
http://www.mandolin-player.com/instruments/mandolin/tunings.html

jmcgann

If it helps you get the music that is inside you out, I'm all for it.

Personally, I love the difference between guitar tuning and 5ths tuning. It's fun to "think music" and apply it to the instrument, rather than being locked into guitar boxes or mandolin boxes...although those boxes are darned handy to know!