Tuning Your Banjo

Tuning Your Bluegrass Banjo

One of the most important (and sometimes most difficult) things to do is to get your banjo in tune. If it is not in tune it really won't sound right. Learning how the strings should sound takes a lot of time, but don't let that discourage you. Electronic tuners can now be purchased very reasonably and should be considered an essential investment for all banjo players. For tuning your banjo you should have a chromatic tuner.

Here are the notes for each banjo string. Note that the short string on the top of the neck is the 5th string. The first string is the one on the bottom as you are holding the banjo in your lap.

1st string = D
2nd string = B
3rd string = G
4th string = D
5th string = G (small string on the side of the neck)

You will see that two pairs of strings are the same note, G or D. These are actually tuned an octave apart. The three notes; G, B, and D make up a G chord. This means that if you are in tune, if you strum across all five strings you will get a nice sounding chord.

Tenor 4 String (Irish Banjos)

Tenor Banjos are used extensively in both Irish traditional music, and tradition al jazz. They have a shorter scale than the G banjo, and 4 strings tuned CGDA, but it is normal for Irish musicians to retune down to GDAE using thicker string s. We can supply banjos in either tuning.