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 Playing Advice: 4-String (Irish Trad Music & Related Styles)
 ARCHIVED TOPIC: Sounding like Lewdite on GDAE Tenor


Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/397825

euls - Posted - 06/12/2024:  09:48:14

Has anyone figured out how to sound like Lewdite: (youtu.be/8w1bpZUvdD8?si=zBcXJWgyNwqekF-3) on a GDAE tuned Tenor Banjo?

Basically fingerpicking a tune producing an old time sound?

I only have 1 Instrument and it's a GDAE tuned Tenor Banjo. I'd like to be a bit more versatile with my Instrument. I really love the sound Lewdite can produce with his Tenor Banjo - but I don't really want to restring it to DGBE. I'd retune it to another tuning that works with GDAE as a starting point.

I can't reproduce what he is doing (I am not an experienced musicians), but I thought there are surely musicians who tried and made it work.

Enda Scahill - Posted - 06/12/2024:  10:07:25

Tune it ADAD and then drop it down a whole note or so. So GCGC open C tuning. The looser strings reverberate more and open tuning gives more sustain. That’s what I’ve tried and it goes someway to achieving the tone you’re asking about.

Then things like a fibre skin head, open back banjo etc can all contribute to that old time banjo sound

euls - Posted - 06/12/2024:  10:19:41

Thank you Enda - The tuning sounds do able. I'll try this and report back in a week if it did work for me.

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 06/12/2024:  14:16:49

Here's an "out of the box" way to turn your GDAE to DGCD as in the video.

Tune down your D string down to C, A string to F, E string to D and capo string
4 3 & 2 at the seventh fret. BTW stretch your strings by pulling on them before capoing.


retuning


 

euls - Posted - 06/22/2024:  11:50:01

Hello Guys,



I tried tuning my banjo to GCGC as Enda suggested, and I thought it sounded very good overall. I also tried to notate the song, but since I can't really read notation, it wasn't that easy either. So, I think for now I'll give up. I'll buy a capo and try mmuussiiccaall's suggestion, which might work since I could reproduce what lewdite did in his video 1:1. However, I think with my 17-fret banjo and a capo on the 7th fret, I might have a pretty short scale length.



Thank you for the help

Edited by - euls on 06/22/2024 11:50:46


GCGC Banjo


 

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