Great tenor playing

[bruce.b]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0sUtluKgjQ

[SincereCorgi]

Now with embedded goodness.

I assume he's in a guitar tuning? I'm at work or I'd figure it out.

[Baron Collins-Hill]

It's hard for me to tell, but something in the way his left hand is moving makes me think he is in mando tuning.

Thanks,
Baron

[Eddie Sheehy]

It's hard for me to tell, but something in the way his left hand is moving makes me think he is in mando tuning.

Thanks,
Baron

You mean 5ths tuning - Tenor Guitar tuning. CGDA or GDAE? Does the previous poster think it's in DGBE?

[Eddie Sheehy]

Looks like G capo'd 7 - so D... and it does look like 5ths tuning... I can't make out what the guitarist is doing though...

[Eddie Sheehy]

He's playing in the Key of G - capo at 7 so he's either using D scales/chords on mando tuning(GDAE) or A scales/chords on Tenor tuning(CGDA)... I guess if it's guitar tuning (DGBE) then he's also playing D scales/chords... Marvelous player either way. Thanks for sharing...

[terzinator]

Holy crap.

He doesn't run out of ideas. That's the most impressive thing to me, really.

[Charles E.]

Sounds like he is playing CGDA capo'd at the 7th fret. Very nice playing indeed!

[Grommet]

Totally Rocks it!

Scott

[FatBear]

Yeah, looks like he's capo'd up to mandolin territory. Really more of a soprano guitar at that point.

[FatBear]

Holy crap.
He doesn't run out of ideas. That's the most impressive thing to me, really.

I couldn't have said it better. Very impressive! I've been playing mandolin for four years now and I've finally got to the point where I've got one song that I'm almost proud of; that I can play well on my own arrangement and I can even manage a few variations and it sure is hard to do. To do it as well as this guy ... well maybe in my next life.

My tenor guitar is supposedly allllllmost done and I had it made without fretboard position dots so I can capo it up higher while I am getting used to the longer scale without getting confused over where I am. I hadn't thought about capoing all the way up to mandolin tuning, but this sounds so good that I will certainly give it a try. (Not that I expect to play that well.) Meanwhile the baritone ukulele tuned lower GDAE is pretty much just good for really slow, moody songs.

[Charles E.]

Here is the original.....

[icuker]

Hey, thanks for sharing this. I'd never heard of him before but he is great. I agree, he does not get tiring to listen to soloing as he keeps something different going all the time. Great stuff.

[michaeloceanmoon]

This country boogie woogie is super inspiring! I am currently only familiar with DGBE tuning. After looking at the Ethan Ballinger video I realized hey this isn't Chicago tuning? So I kept replaying certain sections and using my ear and arrived at CGDA (only then realizing that this thread already confirmed that). So I'm on my iPhone looking at mandolin chord charts and wondering if my head is going to explode! My 21" Regal sounds really cool in this tuning, but my battery is dead on my tuner and transposing the notes for these chords is certainly a mental workout for my first hour in fifths tuning.

How can the human brain switch between DGBE and CGDA most smoothly? For some reason I was naive and thought I would get the shape relationships between guitar and mandolin tuning, or at least find a hold somewhere. Playing in fifths feels like playing a very different instrument! Is there a method for those familiar with guitar tuning to most easily expand into mandolin tuning?

I probably should post a new thread for this. It's just that the country blues boogie woogie has suddenly propelled me into CGDA and I'm realizing i'm gonna have to kneel first before I can fly.

Thanks,
Michael Aiello
artemisiamichaelart.blogspot.com

[Mark Wilson]

My tenor guitar is supposedly allllllmost done and I had it made without fretboard position dots so I can capo it up higher while I am getting used to the longer scale without getting confused over where I am. I hadn't thought about capoing all the way up to mandolin tuning, but this sounds so good that I will certainly give it a try.

I've had mine a year and given over to the fact that for me a capo on 4 or 5 is the only way I can groove on that long scale. Makes me feel better seeing his capoed up there but like already said re his playing - not in my lifetime.

Thx for that post. Really enjoyed!

[FatBear]

How can the human brain switch between DGBE and CGDA most smoothly?

I suspect that it partly depends on how much time you have to devote to it and partly on how early you started your stringed musical training. I think if you start young and/or practice for quite a few hours a day, you might be able to jump back and forth more easily than the rest of us. There are certainly people right here who post often on this forum who can jump around between all sorts of tunings. It might even come naturally to someone who started playing stringed instruments at age 10 and has always jumped around. But I think for most of the rest of us DGBE is how a 6 string guitar player adapts to tenor guitar and CGDA is how a mandolin or tenor banjo player adapts to tenor guitar. I come from the mandolin and I think I have the rest of my life laid out for me just struggling to learn to play it (GDAE) and the tenor guitar (CGDA) well.

[michaeloceanmoon]

Well it's a life time gig I guess. I mean, I've still got so much to learn with DGBE , but somehow the fifths just jumped out and bit me. I'm really wanting to ultimately play even lower in GDAE, so I just have to put the time in. My inclination is to keep transposing songs that I know, familiarizing myself with the necks and somehow find a way to retain the Aahaa moments. The different tunings somehow feed each other right?

I also hope my hands can handle a 23" scale tuned in fifths. The Regal is so gentle on the hands in DGBE, but a bit stretched in fifths. I'd like to have another tenor in the larger size for sound, yet that still relatively small instrument may present some physical hurdles with the stretched shapes and bars of fifths. I hadn't been considering that aspect. One step at a time I guess.

Time to go down the rabbit hole! At least I'm in good company, especially at MC..
Michael Aiello
artemisiamichaelart.blogspot.com

[bruce.b]

I went from DGBE to GDAE, partly because I wanted to play fiddle tunes and you need the low G for that. I didn't bring any songs or tunes over. I love GDAE for fiddle tunes, and unlike some people, I prefer the open sounding chords you get with fifths tuning. My main tenor is 21.25". I can play a 23" scaled tenor just fine, but I'm just a little bit faster and more precise with the shorter scale. IMO, the sweet spot for me is 21" to 22".

[Explorer]

He's playing in the Key of G - capo at 7 so he's either using D scales/chords on mando tuning(GDAE) or A scales/chords on Tenor tuning(CGDA)... I guess if it's guitar tuning (DGBE) then he's also playing D scales/chords... Marvelous player either way. Thanks for sharing...

Just a comment from trying this since the video was posted...

Matching against the chords and open notes he played in that video, the "open" capoed strings in the video are tuned CGDA. The instrument i was using was tuned GDAE, and I had to capo at the fifth fret. Since he's capoed at the seventh fret, that means his uncapoed open strings are actually FCGD.

I was puzzled at some of the bass note on some of the chords, due to the camera angles, until I saw his thumb sneakin' onto the neck on the 2452 chord. I don't use my thumb for chording, so I'm glad I caught that in a different camera angle, because it wouldn't have occurred to me....

[Charles E.]

I am sure he is playing CGDA , with a capo at the 7th fret. That puts the root (G) chord at the 10th fret.

I have played along with this video with my tenor capoed at the 7th fret enough times to leave me no doubt he is tuned CGDA.

[Explorer]

I am sure he is playing CGDA , with a capo at the 7th fret. That puts the root (G) chord at the 10th fret.

I have played along with this video with my tenor capoed at the 7th fret enough times to leave me no doubt he is tuned CGDA.

That,s two members who have gotten CGDA at the seventh fret, which means their open strings are tuned FCGD. I had no idea this was a common tuning!

How many other folks tune to FCGD?

[delsbrother]

The original rips it up! Who are the players? (or is it all Merle?)

I can imagine Frank Wakefield sitting in on that track..

[Seonachan]

That,s two members who have gotten CGDA at the seventh fret, which means their open strings are tuned FCGD. I had no idea this was a common tuning!

How many other folks tune to FCGD?

That's my favorite tuning, but I don't think most acoustic tenors are well suited for it.

[djweiss]

I tune FCGDA on my 5 string tenors, and FCGD on my 4 string tenors...

[fox]

Hi djweiss, can you you please tell me the string gauges you use to get FCGD and the scale lenth of your guitar?