How To Tune Any Banjo Like A Guitar

Banjos for Guitarists

A customer recently called us asking “which banjos can be tuned like a guitar.”  After reflecting on the question, I said, “They all can!”

One of my coworkers looked at me with a questioning face and said “what do you mean they all can?”

So, rather than spout some clever arguments about possibilities, I referred to some musician’s whom I’ve known who actually tuned their banjos like guitars.

Players have already shown us

There was a fellow I knew in Seattle who played an old tenor banjo who played in a folk duo with his wife.  He tuned his tenor to the first four strings of the guitar, or D, G, B, E from low string to high string.

I saw a great jazz banjo player at Disneyland who played a plectrum banjo (a Deering Deluxe in fact) and he was playing in the same guitar tuning D,G,B,E from low string to high string.   (some plectrum players call this “Chicago” tuning.)

My coworker then said, “ OK Barry, but those are both four string banjos….how can you tune a five string banjo to a guitar tuning?”

Again, when I was in college (back in the dark ages) there was a young man on campus who was given a five string banjo and, because he had never seen a banjo played or known any banjo people, he tuned the first four strings like a guitar and removed the fifth string.  When I met him, he asked me what the fifth string was tuned to.  So, he installed a fifth string and tuned his banjo (from fifth through first) G, D, G, B, E.

He fingerpicked his banjo with his guitar rolls but then started getting the feel for the high fifth string on the banjo, where the guitar had bass strings.  He played for the two years I knew him with this guitar tuned banjo.

6 String Banjos

Deering makes 6 string banjos that are tuned with 6 guitar strings.  These were originally designed for guitar players who wanted to add a banjo to their arsenal but without the learning curve of going to a five or four string banjo.

However, for the person who wants to learn the five string, or four string banjo, the guitar tuning is just as viable as any traditional tuning…..on any of these  banjos. This is mostly what I’m addressing here today.

4- String Tenor and Plectrum Banjos

Tuning a tenor banjo to the first four strings of the guitar is super easy.  The guitar tuning does change the sound character of the tenor quite a bit from the traditional tenor tuning.

Tenor banjos are tuned like a viola.  They are traditionally tuned to C, G, D, A  from low string to high string.  The “intervals” or the distance between the notes of the open tuned strings is a full musical fifth.  On a fretted instrument that means the next note is seven full frets higher. … that’s kind of far compared to guitars and plectrum and five string banjos, which tend to have notes between three and five frets away from each other.

When a tenor is tuned to the first four strings of the guitar, D,G,B,E from low string to high string, the fingerings of chords and melodies tend to be a little “closer together.”  There is a little less “reaching” across the finger board for the next note.

The plectrum banjo on the other hand, is already tuned very close to the guitar tuning.   The traditional plectrum tuning is C,G,B,D from low string to high string.  (compared to the guitar which is D,G,B,E.)  Changing to the guitar tuning only changes two strings on the plectrum banjo so the change here is pretty subtle.

5- String Banjos Tuned Like Guitars

Ok…. but the five string…. Come on…. What do you do with that fifth string?

Here is a challenge to every guitar player who “thinks” he or she can’t play a five string banjo:

Tune your five string banjo to guitar tuning by only raising the first string one whole step.

Yes… you heard me right…. That’s the ONLY difference from a guitar.  Then, on the first four strings, play any guitar chord that you would play on the first four strings of the guitar.

Here’s an easy example:  with your “guitar-tuned” five string banjo, play a G chord by fretting the first string at the third fret.   Sounds great right? That was super easy right?  There was nothing weird right?

Now play a C chord by fretting the second string at the first fret and the fourth string at the second fret.  See where we’re going?

Now play a D7th chord exactly the way you play it on the guitar.  Voila!  You have now adapted perfectly to the banjo, in the guitar tuning.

“Yeah but Barry, what do I do with the fifth string when I want to play in a key other than G or C or D?”

AHHH….. here is where you do exactly what every five sting player does, which requires just a teenie bit of learning…..

You buy yourself an Earl’s Suspender Capo and capo the fifth string where every you need to play in that key.

For example - to play in the key of A, and sometimes D, you capo the fifth string at the 7^th fret.  To play in the key of Bb or Eb, you capo the fifth string at the 8^th fret.

Some players use a capo anyway on the four strings to play in Bb or Eb, but not all do and the point here is that by merely capoing the fifth fret, you can keep your guitar tuning and yet be playing a traditional five string banjo.

Ok Barry, but I play with a flat pick and what do I do with the fifth string?

True, the fifth string was designed more for clawhammer and fingerpicking styles, but I’ve seen flatpickers who played with a flatpick and their fingers like Jazz guitar great Howard Roberts, play the banjo with this beautiful technique; and it lacked for nothing!

The point here though, is that you can now adapt your chord and note fingerings to the banjo straight from your guitar.   

You don’t really need to use the fifth string at the beginning, but you can work into it as your familiarity grows with the banjo.

Start by playing your favorite licks on the first four strings of the banjo in the guitar tuning.   Then, I can almost promise you, you will start developing a “feel” for using the fifth string for the occasional syncopated note.

At the very least, you can look on line for some basic bluegrass picking rolls or basic clawhammer technique.

Alternate Tunings are part of Banjo History 

Of all the string instruments I know, the banjo has had the greatest number of tunings.  One famous banjo historian said, he personally knew of 64 different tunings for the banjo….guitar tuning being one of them.

The popularity of Bluegrass music, has influenced the standardization of the open G tuning.

But this is not the case in Clawhammer banjo.  And this is definitely not the case in four string tenor and plectrum banjos.  So, playing the banjo that is tuned like a guitar is NOT really all that different.

Players Make the Rules

Folk and bluegrass players are often surprised when I tell them that classical guitar pieces have been written in alternate tunings.

All this proves is that, the player, the composer, the artist, the hobbyist is the one who makes the rules.  Some guitar players feel like they would be “cheating” to tune the first string of their banjo up one whole step…..

Bless their hearts…….

They want to “do it right” when the reality is ….

They are the ones who determine what RIGHT is!

When an artist needs a color of blue that can’t be bought, they mix colors on their palette.  That’s part of being an artist….Creating the effect that you want.  It doesn’t matter that there is no NAME for that color…. It looks right, and that’s all that matters.

Keith Richards, who was the guitarist in “The Rolling Stones”, played the guitar in open G and even removed the lowest string….. was he “doing it wrong”?

IF you think he was wrong, I’ll let YOU tell the millions of fans around the world that “he wasn’t doing it right.”  Do you think they’ll care?

Pete Werenick, world class banjoist, banjo teacher and great performer had a great line:  “If it sounds good, it must BE good.”

Play Your 5-String Banjo In Your Familiar Guitar Tuning 

If you want to play the five string banjo, and tune it like your guitar….. DO IT!  It is HIGHLY probable that YOU will come up with a “new style” that will inspire the guitar world to pick up the banjo.

I’ve taught several guitar buddies, who play our Goodtime banjo to finger pick and clawhammer the five string banjo tuned in the guitar tuning.   “It sounded good, so it must have been good.”

Don’t let “new fingerings” or “unfamiliar tuning” shy you away from playing the banjo.

If you don’t have a banjo, buy a Goodtime banjo, tune the first string up one measly step, and MAKE MUSIC.

Tuning, Shmuning…. Playing music is what it’s all about.

Learn how the banjo can make you a better guitar player