There are quite a few ways to tune your Banjo. The standard Tuning for a Bluegrass or 5 String banjo is known as Open G. other common tunings in G are : G Modal, G Minor, although these sound much better for a Frailing Style of playing Banjo.

The 5 strings on the Banjo are from the bottom :
String 1 = D
String 2 = B
String 3 = G
String 4 = D
String 5 = G


Tuning the Banjo to open G

O.K. heres the simple way to tune your banjo....just click on the string number below to hear how it should sound... then tune your banjo strings to the same pitch.....easy as that...dont go mad tightening and loosening the strings, just take your time and Tune the strings up slowly.......

The sound files may take a moment to load first time, subsequent times should be faster D B G D G STRING 1STRING 2 STRING 3STRING 4 STRING 5

Or do it the hard way shown below

O.K. thats tuning the banjo to Open G out of the way.....try playing the Open G sound file below...you will probably find that your banjo sounds slightly different....the Open G sound file was recorded from an old Frailing Style Banjo ...so if you are playing a Bluegrass Banjo the tone from your Banjo will be sharper....If you dont get it in tune first time, dont worry....it does take a little time for your "ear" to get tuned into how a banjo should sound......

The Banjo is now tuned to open G.




CLICK TO HEAR OPEN G TUNING



Finding notes on your Banjo

An Octave is 12 Notes....you now know that the 5 strings are:

String 1 = D
String 2 = B
String 3 = G
String 4 = D
String 5 = G

Armed with this Information you should now know that string 3 if played open will play the Note (G) to play the next note in the diagram below you have to move up a fret. The next fret in this case, will be the first fret. So ....holding down string 3 on the first fret produces the next note up the scale which is A flat (b).... or.... G sharp (#)......holding down string 3 on the 2nd fret plays the next note up the scale which is (A)........and so on until you reach the 12th fret.
Holding down the 3rd string on the 12th fret plays the note (G)....sound familiar?.....you have now moved up a full octave or 12 notes ..what do you think playing a note on the 13th fret produces?.......yes ...A flat (b).... or.... G sharp (#) once again, and so on it goes until you run out of frets.



Now try the first string...playing it open produces the note (D)
.....you work out now what the notes should be.

The scale is as follows:





Setting your bridge position

The positioning of the bridge is very important....the easiest way to start is, measure the distance from the nut to the center of the 12th fret, take note of the measurement. Now from the center of the 12th fret, measure the same distance and mark the position on the head of your banjo. with the strings replaced you can now fine tune the bridge position by moving the bridge slightly towards the tailpiece or away from the tailpiece....the harmonics should ring when you place your middle finger (left hand) very lightly on the strings of the 12th fret and pick the string..... it takes a bit of practice to get the harmonics.

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