CGDA: Standard C2 Tuning

[crisscross]

If you, like me, prefer to keep your tenor guitar tuned CGDA and want to play some nice fiddle tunes once in a while without the hassle of transposing the backup chords for tabs or reading standard notation, you can try SC2 (Raising the standard).

The following steps will lead you to playing many tunes' tabs (if not all)

1 Find a mandolin tab for a tune in which the G-string is not used.
Let' say "Ricket's Hornpipe"

2 Put a capo on the second fret of your tenor guitar

3 Play the melody as written in the tab, just one string below.
"Ricket's Hornpipe" starts thus on the third string, the G-string in CGDA tuning which becomes an A-string by using a Capo

4 The high b note, which needs an awkward stretch on a tenor guitar tuned GDAE is a breeze; just play the open first string.

Thus, you might play your tenor guitar in any OT session. If there are notes below the D, just fake them...

I learned this tuning from Rob MacKillop over at Banjohangout. He also has an e-book available with tunes in standard notation and tabs in SC2.
For those who want to know exactly what they are doing, this is a good learning tool.
Those less theoretically inclined: just Capo 2, one string below,,,

Ricket's Hornpipe on my tenor uke tuned CGDA with capo at the second fret (followed by my soprano mando-tuned uke)

[JeffD]

That's what I used to do when I played a mandola.

[Charles E.]

I mostly play Old time and find that a capo on the second fret is very handy for playing fiddle tunes in D and Am.

[Jim Garber]

Or just string it with lighter gauge strings and tune to DAEB (low to high).

[Charles E.]

Hey Jim, I think you would have a devil of a time with that high B string, what a .007? Besides I think tenors sound best in CGDA tuning where one could play Western Swing in C or G after playing fiddle tunes in D and Am.

[Jim Garber]

Hey Jim, I think you would have a devil of a time with that high B string, what a .007? Besides I think tenors sound best in CGDA tuning where one could play Western Swing in C or G after playing fiddle tunes in D and Am.

You are probably right. I was thinking about some players who like that tuning only one octave down.

[WillFly]

I've been doing the capo-2/one string down thing for quite a few years - mainly because I was too lazy to learn new fingering every time I switched from playing a tune on mandolin to the same tune on tenor guitar! I don't try to fake stuff if the bottom note of the tune is below the bass D - I either leave that tune out of the set list or play it as is on the tenor, awkward fingering and all.

Here's a typical fiddle tune from the 19th century Scottish-born fiddler James Hill. It's in D, which isn't a difficult key in itself, but easier in C with the capo on 2. It's called "Proudlocks Fancy" - a typical "dotted" hornpipe from the North-East of England.

And here's it being played:

[crisscross]

Nice Horpipe, thanks for the tabs, it's on my "When I find the time"-list.
You play "Limehouse Blues" in G also with a capo on the second fret.

I don't know whether Django would have approved of this?
So I'm working on a version sans Capo...

[WillFly]

I like playing in F voicing - but the tune sounded a little low in that key, so I cheated and stuck a capo on the 2nd fret!

[JPL]

I was playing a CGDA resonator tenor at an Irish session for a bit . . . I used plenty of capo on the second fret, but you could also do some cool stuff in D without the capo, like a modal DADA chord and letting the D and A strings drone.

[Roman Pekar]

I was playing a CGDA resonator tenor at an Irish session for a bit . . . I used plenty of capo on the second fret, but you could also do some cool stuff in D without the capo, like a modal DADA chord and letting the D and A strings drone.

I play CGDA on mandola and sometimes on tenor banjo as well, agree about playing in D. D on CGDA is the same fingerings as A on GDAE (which is quite a common key for fiddle tunes and sounds nice on a mando).