# Music by Genre > Jazz/Blues Variants, Bossa, Choro, Klezmer >  blues tunning

## 1213brett

Im new to playing any kind of music. I want to know if I play the blues on the mandolin do I have to change the tuning of the mandolin from eadg?

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## DavidKOS

You don't have to, for sure....but a number of folks including Yank Rachell tune down a minor 3rd to E B F# C#.

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Mark Gunter

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## k0k0peli

No, you need not retune from standard to play blues. But to accompany the common guitar blues key of E puts a standard mandolin into rather a high voice range. I get a more 'gutsy' sound by tuning down three 1/2 steps as David mentioned, into the Yank Rachell E blues tuning. I like to go further and take the 'Irish' *G D a d* tuning down to *E B f# b* which IMHO makes chording easier. YMMV.

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DavidKOS

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## Mandobart

You can play blues in any key, and should.  Blues is fun, lots of great tunes, but when I hear more than ~an hour's work of any genre with every song in the same key, it's time to move on.  If you have problems using the full range of the mando in E you need to put in a little more time with scales and chords.  The open G is a natural for blues in E as it's the flatted 3rd - that's what makes the blues.

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DavidKOS, 

Mark Gunter

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## k0k0peli

> You can play blues in any key, and should.  Blues is fun, lots of great tunes, but when I hear more than ~an hour's work of any genre with every song in the same key, it's time to move on.  If you have problems using the full range of the mando in E you need to put in a little more time with scales and chords.  The open G is a natural for blues in E as it's the flatted 3rd - that's what makes the blues.


 Quite true. And IMHO going to a nonstandard tuning depends on your playing style, who you're playing with (if anyone), your vocal range (if any), and how much you want to experiment. We can play blues in many styles on many types of instruments in many tunings depending on the sounds we want. Know the scales and you can go anywhere.

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## zoukboy

G,DGd works really well for bottleneck...  ;-)

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## mandroid

I got a reply from Geoff Muldaur    recently    when I asked via web, 
about the tuning he used for 'the Mingle Wood blues' .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUAgFvfoRY0 ...  circa 88  

He replied : low to hi, G-C-G, top of E pair is another C, 1st string still E.

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## zedmando

I play guitar as well, and try to play in various keys--in addition to the ubiquitous A & E, I like D, G & even B.

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## Mark Gunter

> G,DGd works really well for bottleneck...  ;-)


zoukboy, any videos on bottleneck mandolin?

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## Pete Martin

> even B.


To quote the late, great Johnny Gimble "There's nothing natural about B natural".   :Mandosmiley:

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des, 

Mark Gunter

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## sharkabilly

> You don't have to, for sure....but a number of folks including Yank Rachell tune down a minor 3rd to E B F# C#.


I've been using GDGB for a very long time. I play everything in that tuning. It was the tuning I made up in the late 60's when i picked up the mandolin for the first time as a secondary instrument to the guitar, my main instrument. I play old time country, blues, all kinds of Americana and even some rockabilly and rock'n'roll on the mandolin in that tuning. After opening for David Bromberg and the Breakfast Special at a concert in Eastern MA David Grisman asked me for the tuning which he wrote down. It has served me well.

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DavidKOS

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## DavidKOS

> I've been using GDGB for a very long time. I play everything in that tuning. It was the tuning I made up in the late 60's when i picked up the mandolin for the first time as a secondary instrument to the guitar, my main instrument. I play old time country, blues, all kinds of Americana and even some rockabilly and rock'n'roll on the mandolin in that tuning. After opening for David Bromberg and the Breakfast Special at a concert in Eastern MA David Grisman asked me for the tuning which he wrote down. It has served me well.


I'm impressed when anyone creates workable tuning!

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## Marc Woodward

Slide video as requested:
Standard tuning playing in G major 
 :Smile:

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Ron McMillan

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## Barry Canada

When you tune down the mandolin do you have to change the string gauges to accommodate the altered string tensions. I suspect tuning down a minor third would lead to quite a reduced tension and loose strings?

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## Shelagh Moore

I tend to stick to standard tuning for blues, mainly because I play behind a singer where the key can be somewhat of a lottery...

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Ron McMillan

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