How to Tune a Five String (American) Banjo
Take a look at your banjo., Notice that the string nearest to you does not run all the way up to the top of the fretboard with the rest, but has its tuning knob in the middle of the neck., REMEMBER that string through the tuning process, because...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Take a look at your banjo.
Hold the "neck" (the long, narrow part with the strings) in your left hand, with the fat part across your stomach, and look at all five strings. -
Step 2: Notice that the string nearest to you does not run all the way up to the top of the fretboard with the rest
This strange "5th string" placement is unique to the banjo, is used to give the Banjo that unique "roll" and "bounce" to its sound. , The SECOND string your hand plucks will in fact be the FIRST string on the tuning board, and so on.
Follow the strings from bottom to top, and you'll understand. , The banjo, when tuned, will play an open "G" chord.
This means, unlike most string instruments, you can just strum without holding any strings, and it will still make a pleasant, ringing harmony. , This is the first one to tune.
You can use many different tools to tune with.
The easiest is any mechanical "tuner" that tells you when you are above/beneath the pitch.
If you don't have one, though, a piano, pitch-pipe, or any other fixed pitch instrument (like an accordion) will do.
All you need is a constant, even pitch, plus an half-sensitive ear. , Keep plucking the string and twiddling the knob, until it is tuned perfectly to a G below middle C, using any of the above methods. ,,, Tune this to a G, a full octave above the first G you tuned. , This gets tuned to a low D. , You are DONE! -
Step 3: but has its tuning knob in the middle of the neck.
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Step 4: REMEMBER that string through the tuning process
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Step 5: because otherwise you will get confused and turn the wrong knob for the wrong string.
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Step 6: It's time to start tuning.
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Step 7: Look at the five strings at the bottom
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Step 8: and find the center string.
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Step 9: Follow the middle string to the top of the Banjo
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Step 10: and find its corresponding tuning knob.
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Step 11: Use the same method to tune the adjacent
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Step 12: slightly thinner string to a B (below middle C)
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Step 13: The next and last string in that direction is thinner still; tune it to a D.
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Step 14: Go back to that first half-length string.
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Step 15: Finally
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Step 16: grab the adjacent string
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Step 17: (It's the final remaining string you haven't touched; the fattest one).
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Step 18: Strum a chord.
Detailed Guide
Hold the "neck" (the long, narrow part with the strings) in your left hand, with the fat part across your stomach, and look at all five strings.
This strange "5th string" placement is unique to the banjo, is used to give the Banjo that unique "roll" and "bounce" to its sound. , The SECOND string your hand plucks will in fact be the FIRST string on the tuning board, and so on.
Follow the strings from bottom to top, and you'll understand. , The banjo, when tuned, will play an open "G" chord.
This means, unlike most string instruments, you can just strum without holding any strings, and it will still make a pleasant, ringing harmony. , This is the first one to tune.
You can use many different tools to tune with.
The easiest is any mechanical "tuner" that tells you when you are above/beneath the pitch.
If you don't have one, though, a piano, pitch-pipe, or any other fixed pitch instrument (like an accordion) will do.
All you need is a constant, even pitch, plus an half-sensitive ear. , Keep plucking the string and twiddling the knob, until it is tuned perfectly to a G below middle C, using any of the above methods. ,,, Tune this to a G, a full octave above the first G you tuned. , This gets tuned to a low D. , You are DONE!
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Melissa Nguyen
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