Tenor Tuning

[ericmd]

I am tuning this 19 Fret Jedson to GDAE with my Capo on the 2nd fret.
I was struggling with the stretch to the B----_{MISSING TIP OF TOOTSIE.}I [/sub]I thought the frets would be a tad closer together
And I wanted some tension in the G string.
I'm going to shed the Capo tonight and try retuning;but this time lifting the G up to A.
Has anyone tried this?
It should work fine with the jigs reels etc.
What do you think?

[Danny]

To be honest Eric I don't really understand what you are talking about, good luck with it tho either way.

By the way, for being the 1st person to use the Tenor section of the site, you've earned some karma, well done sir

Danny

[ericmd]

I am having difficulty with the english language still
Because I'm thick
;I actually slackened my strings when I tuned to GDAE with a Capo on the 2nd fret.
I went to ashiington folk club last neet so dar not mess my tuning about.I will try tuning my G up to an A this weekend.

I like this site;uncomplicated and no ego.My PC TIME IS BRIEF,with the open office type plan.So I get on with it quick.
I haven't time to search sites for FAQ mullarky.

[Danny]

You can try tuning it however you want Eric, might be an idea to keep a spare set of strings to hand tho, incase of any disasters.

[Fingers n thumbs]

If i understand Eric correctly - He is finding some of the fingering hard beacause he is missing the tip of his little finger.

So he wants to play further up the fret board where the frets are closer together, and to stay in the same key he has an idea to tune down and then capo further up the neck. I don't see why not especialy if it's not a wide interval i.e. two frets.

Only problems come from playing with others, but the why not work out the different chords shapes so even if you are in open A you can still play in any key i.e. a C shape in Open G tuning becomes a D shape in open A?

Hope thats clear enough

Rogf

[Danny]

I don't see why that that shouldn't work, provided you don't slacken the strings off too much

[ericmd]

THanks for the understanding.
I did remove the capo yesterday and tuned my G string up to an A.
I went through dozens of tunes with no trouble.
There are 2 versions of 'Morpeth Rant' played on the D AND G strings and it worked really well.
And a Dixie Hoedown lends to it too.

My chording is not especially good;I usually end a run or stanza with one.
but the 'New' A works well.
D is 2nd fret on E string now.
G needs note C fretting on the 'New A';that's extra work!
C no change there,sounds fuller even.
A becomes easier.
E I've never found that chord yet!

As for strings~you seen the price of copper nowadays?and Steel?
I'll post in Tech on that subject!

[ericmd]

Have just got a .038 guage string to try on my low G.
I may move the .030;.024 and .014 up a position and discard the top E .010.
Me need more tension!

[dick miles]

have you thought of tuning cgda,and using lighter strings,that way your high b,is second fret top string,if you then capo second fret.
your botom c string becomes a d string,
to play in g,is like playing in d on a gdae.
you can take the capo off as well and you will be playing in different keys again,if you then want to play in g,start your scale on the second string open,and your high b will be top string second fret.
your scale of d major uses all the same notes as a g scale,except the c#,this is where youmight have to use your little finger.
but you should not have that problem if when you want to play in Dmajor ,you put the capo on the second fret,and start your scale on the bottom string.

[jonfreeman]

Aug 13, 2008 10:11:46 GMT ericmd said:

Have just got a .038 guage string to try on my low G.
I may move the .030;.024 and .014 up a position and discard the top E .010.
Me need more tension!

Std/Jazz/CDGA sets tend to be too light for the Irish/GDAE tuning. You can get Irish Sets, eg. Eagle Music offer some here.

www.eaglemusicshop.com/products.asp/SubCatID/258/4-string-banjo-strings.htm

Or you can use singles. My 17 fret tenor is strung 40W, 28W, 18W, 13.