rkdjones - Posted - 03/15/2026:  20:53:43

This is kind of a follow-on to an earlier thread on dissonance of the fifth string that got quite populated. I found the comments in that thread illuminating. I just had never really fully appreciated the fifth string.

I've been messing around with ear training apps and some play a drone in the pitch of the tonic. It gave me the idea that the fifth string tuned to the key of the tune was an important musical reference. And while it might be OK to tune the fifth to G for a tune in the key or C, it might not provide that same function as tuning it to the tonic.

davidppp - Posted - 03/15/2026:  21:27:01

I don't think there's an absolute "should" in music -- except within some fairly rigid cultures. I like the sound of the drone on the 5th. It helps it stand out as a drone. For me, that just some of the charm of double-C. Many hardcore bluegrass players, when playing in G, drone on the 1st string D and play the melody on strings 2 and 3. Here's a classic example: youtube.com/watch?v=HHYkcjR9hec .  It's capoed at the 5th fret and certainly over the top.  But who's gonna dare fault J.D.?

Culloden - Posted - 03/15/2026:  22:29:26

You can use the fifth note of the scale as a drone, like in Drop C or Double C tuning as David mentioned.
When I play in D tuning, I tune the fifth string to an A note for some songs, for others, I tune it in F#, the third note in the scale.

Bill Rogers - Posted - 03/15/2026:  22:37:10

Not particularly. Generally it should be compatible with the key being used. Sometimes it makes a difference in the sound of the tune being played, notably tuning the 5th to A or F# for different tunes in open D. Note that neither is the tonic for D, but both are part of the chord. This is an issue to trust your ear on, no matter what theory might suggest.  [I see that Culloden was posting some of the same ideas while I was writing,}

Edited by - Bill Rogers on 03/15/2026 22:39:48

Andyrhydycreuau - Posted - 03/16/2026:  04:08:12

Try this - tune in regular double C, but then capo up to the fourth, leaving your fifth string at G. That's now a lovely E minor vibe - I play Darling Cory line this sometimes, it's really nice.
And in F tuning (fDGCD) there quite a few tunes actually in D minor. So again the fifth string is tuned to the minor third.
Open D, sometimes called Reuben tuning (f#DF#AD) has the fifth string tuned to the major 3rd.

Experiment, have fun and keep what you like is my take on this.

Bob Buckingham - Posted - 03/16/2026:  05:16:37

No not absolutely. It can be tuned to the I or the V, or the III depending on what want from the relative tuning you are using. There are modal tunes where I have it tuned to the VII or the IV to get the overall sound to frame the tune. Banjos don't just play melody they also have a unique way of framing it in sound.

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 03/16/2026:  07:25:41

What they said.

When playing in the key of D in G tuning, I'll often play things where my first string stays unfretted most of the time. So it's functioning more or less as a drone on the tonic--just not on the fifth string.

Laurence Diehl - Posted - 03/16/2026:  13:37:08

quote:

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Originally posted by Ira Gitlin

What they said.



When playing in the key of D in G tuning, I'll often play things where my first string stays unfretted most of the time. So it's functioning more or less as a drone on the tonic--just not on the fifth string.

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I often do this too. And there is the added advantage that the fifth string is now the tonic over the G chord and the flat 7th over A, which is a nice sound.

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 03/16/2026:  13:41:34

quote:

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Originally posted by Laurence Diehl

quote:

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Originally posted by Ira Gitlin

What they said.



When playing in the key of D in G tuning, I'll often play things where my first string stays unfretted most of the time. So it's functioning more or less as a drone on the tonic--just not on the fifth string.

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I often do this too. And there is the added advantage that the fifth string is now the tonic over the G chord and the flat 7th over A, which is a nice sound.

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Well, that's if you leave the G string unchanged. But when playing in D, I usually raise it to A.

janolov - Posted - 03/17/2026:  00:22:56

Some time long ago I read that bagpipes usually used the tonic or the fifth as a drone.
The first banjos were tuned to the equivqlent of drop C tuning (gCGBD) and used the G (in C tuning) =(the fifth) for the fifth string.
I once heard a player used the flat seventh (F in G tuning) which gave a very bluesy effect.
Buell Kazee used the fifth string to an E (sixth) in G tuning in Lady Gay.
Reuben is often played in open D tuning (f#DF#AD) where the fifth string is tuned to a third (f#).
Shaving a Dead Man is usually played in doble C tuning wiyj the fifth string to an E (=third) but in this tune the fifth string usually plays notes and does not work as a drone.
Dock Boggs often used f#DGAD where the fifth string was tuned to a major third, while he often sang or played the melody as an F (minor third) on fourth string.

Ao there are a lot of possibilities with the 5th string! You can tuned it different to get special effects. What sound good is right.

carlb - Posted - 03/17/2026:  04:35:26

Back in 1977, I was going to the Chicago Folk Festival with Melvin Wine. Before going I wanted to make sure I could play "Black Cat in the Briar Patch". It's a tune that's in G and C. I tried standard G, double C and open C and none of those worked. Then I remembered someone telling me about A modal with the 5th string tuned to G (gEADE) and that did work. A number of tunes in this tuning can be found at

zeppmusic.com/banjo/aktuning.htm

Black Cat in the Briar Patch 2

 

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 03/17/2026:  06:36:29

quote:

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Originally posted by janolov

Some time long ago I read that bagpipes usually used the tonic or the fifth as a drone.

 

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Appalachian (lap) dulcimers often use I and V as drones.



I note that in bluegrass, when we're playing in G tuning, in the key of G, we often use the open 1st and 5th strings (the V note and I note, respectively) as fillers, regardless of the chord being played by the other instruments. When playing in the key of D, using G tuning but with the 5th string raised to A, we still have a I and V note accessible to our thumb and middle finger--it's just that their positions on the instrument are reversed, with the V now on the 5th string and the I on the 1st string.

Jerry Hatrick - Posted - 03/18/2026:  02:00:25

I’m thinking that there is a significant difference between open G and open D tuning, which means that having the fifth string tuned to the tonic is appropriate for G, but not for D. The open G tuning has only one g note without the drone string, whereas the D tuning actually forms a full and rounded D chord (low d, f#, a and top d), without the fifth string anyway. That gives you the option of trying something different in D tuning, such as a, f# or just leave it as g (the latter being handy if you are playing melodically and fretting the fifth string occasionally higher up the neck). Just a thought….

Old Hickory - Posted - 03/19/2026:  16:57:45

quote:

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Originally posted by Ira Gitlin

I note that in bluegrass, when we're playing in G tuning, in the key of G, we often use the open 1st and 5th strings (the V note and I note, respectively) as fillers, regardless of the chord being played by the other instruments. 

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There's a fairly common technique of playing melody on second string while rolling with fifth and first open.

Other thoughts on fifth string:

I learned ket of D tunes Whiskey Before Breakfast and St. Anne's Reel in melodic style  with fifth string left at G. There are arrangements of both of these with fifth raised to A. Neither G nor A would be considered the "tonic" either in the key of the song or the tuning.

A band I was in 15 years ago covered the Nashville Bluegrass Band's version of "Tear My Stillhouse Down." In D. Learning Alan O'Bryant's intro is what got me into occasionally spiking the fifth string at A for D in G tuning.

Plenty of us play in the key of C without capo. The open 5th fits well and makes a lot of sense. It's not the tonic in C, either.

Key of F doesn't come up a lot in the jams I go to. When it does, and depending on the song, I'll try it in G tuning with no capo, leaving the 5th string at G. 

I think the answer to the question "Should the fifth string be tuned to the tonic" is: Not necessarily. But it can be.