How To Tune A Banjo

A banjo is a stringed musical instrument, which is associated with bluegrass music, folk music, country music, and Irish music. Like the guitar and the mandolin, a banjo also belongs to the category of stringed musical instruments. Generally, the instrument is available with four or five strings, though the ones with six strings are also available in the represent times. While, different patterns are used to tune the banjo, the tuning process of this musical instrument is pretty similar to that of a guitar. This article brings you tips on how to tune a banjo. Read on to tune it the right way.

The counting pattern of the strings of a banjo is similar to that of an electric or an acoustic pattern. This implies that the counting will begin from the bottom, with the thinnest string counted as the first and the thickest as the last. As in the case of alternate guitar training, a banjo has a variety of tunings as well. Any type of tuning can be chosen, according to the preference of the musician. In case you are a beginner, it is better to practice the common tunings first. You can move on to the specific tunings later on, when you get a hang of the instrument.

Tuning a banjo is all about matching the open sounds of the strings to the universal standard notes, depending on the pattern you choose. The standard tuning pattern for a four-string banjo would be C-G-D-A, with 'C' for the lowest last string and 'A' for the highest first string. If your banjo has five strings, ‘G’ pattern will be the typical format, such as G-D-G-B-D, with ‘G’ being the last string and ‘D’ being the first. There are other patterns as well that you can try on a banjo, once you know how to play the instrument well.