Learning Tenor Guitar

[Normis]

Hey guys - long-time lurker on the mando forum here with a few (hopefully not stupid) questions. I'm fascinated by the Tenor guitar. I've been hooked ever since I saw the Two Man Gentlemen Band the first time, and have been digging into 20's and 30's jazz, Tiny Grimes, etc. The problem is, there doesn't appear to be much instructional material out there for a budding player.

So, my questions are, if you were a new tenor guitar player with little or no experience with playing an instrument, what would be a good starting point? Also, where would you look for a decent beginner instrument? Finally, acoustic or electric?

Thanks all. I really appreciate you takling the time to read.

Norm

[mrmando]

Well, I recommend that you join the Tenor Guitar Registry on Yahoo! Groups. Not quite as active as the Cafe but a good source of info:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group...uitarregistry/

Both GoldTone and Blueridge are making affordable entry-level acoustic tenors now. The Blueridge BR40T is getting great reviews, even from very seasoned players.

If the Gentlemen and Tiny Grimes are what fascinates you, however, you'll eventually want an archtop ... probably a vintage Gibson or Epiphone, and those will require some bank.

You can look for jazz/Dixieland tenor banjo instructional materials ... the chords you'll learn are directly transferable to tenor guitar.

[ambrosepottie]

If you like old jazz, tenor banjo sites will cover that as well as celtic tenor banjo. The tunings, techniques and chord shapes are the same for tenor guitar. First thing you need to decide on is tuning. Traditional tenor banjo/guitar is tuned CGDA, Irish tenor is often tuned GDAE. Some (like Tiny Grimes) tune Chicago style DGBE, like the 4 highest strings on a guitar. Which misses the point for me, unless you have small hands or are coming from a ukulele or guitar background. Tuning in fifths is what the instrument is about. However tuning choice dictates the string weights and to some extent the scale length of the instrument. I have a little Regal tenor with a short scale length 20". Normal is 23" or so.
In my case the instrument (and I) like C tuning.

[Jim Garber]

Here's some electric tenor guitar playing on a Gibson ETB-150 (really a electric tenor guitar in then shape of a banjo). Not sure who the player is but his solo is around 00:58.

[mrmando]

Clair Dorward is credited as the guitarist on some other Larry Clinton recordings, so that might be him. Here's a photo of Clair with a rather ridiculous rug:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/lo...&section=ver01

[Eddie Sheehy]

Well, I recommend that you join the Tenor Guitar Registry on Yahoo! Groups. Not quite as active as the Cafe but a good source of info:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group...uitarregistry/

Both GoldTone and Blueridge are making affordable entry-level acoustic tenors now. The Blueridge BR40T is getting great reviews, even from very seasoned players.

If the Gentlemen and Tiny Grimes are what fascinates you, however, you'll eventually want an archtop ... probably a vintage Gibson or Epiphone, and those will require some bank.

You can look for jazz/Dixieland tenor banjo instructional materials ... the chords you'll learn are directly transferable to tenor guitar.

There's an Archtop, F-hole, Acoustic/Electric TG in the Classifieds... #53147 - mfi

[martinedwards]

Dunno about stateside, but there has been a resurgence of interest on this side of the pond mainly because of Seth Lakeman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx-ZdSLaUOY

He plays a pair of vintage Martin Tenors, but Martin have started making a Lakeman sig model.....



http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/acoust...11062112152227

if you follow tabs then anything tabbed for mandolin will work so long as you don't mind the fact that you'll be a few notes out unless you tune GDAE

[Beanzy]

Although it was something I hadn't intended to do until next summer, I just took the plunge myself today and bought a Martin LMX for £350 instead of £500.
As a guitar to learn on it seemed way up there for the money. They had discounted it to £399 but when they went to £350 I thought I'd be kicking myself later if I didn't just jump.

The sound is just so rich yet clear by comparison with a six string. Luckily I'm able to noodle about already as my scales from the cello transfer (just sounding up an octave) so I've been up and down the finger board guessing out songs on the fly.

Just working a few of the chords out now (from the 7th fret up initially to use the mandolin scores). They're so breathy by comparison with the mandolin. Although the sound won't poke through in jams as much I think it'll be a great option to have when we end up with 5 mandolins at a jam. I normally feel a bit bad when it's always the same two or three who swap to guitar and I can't. Mind you I'm not taking it along or getting too into it until the summer as there's still some serious mando & cello practice to do for a couple of performances.

Rather than MAS I reckon I may have VIAS (varying instrument acquisition syndrome)

[Jill McAuley]

Oh, that Seth Lakeman signature model tenor is VERY nice indeed!!! Love that it's a size 5 as well.

Cheers,
Jill

[Normis]

Thanks for all of the great responses, guys. Beanzy - I hear you on the VIAS!

[Jerry Turberville]

Seems to be a lot of good information on tenors in this forum. I got a Warren Ellis Eastwood (electric) during the holidays and although I know a good many chord forms from my 5 string mando playing I'm finding it a bit more challenging than I expected due to the "reach" required. I have no guitar background. Mine is mostly violin and mandolin, so coming from that perspective I do find it a little hard on my short fat fingers to stretch. Just have to do some hand yoga exercises I guess!!

[JeffD]

If I am not mistaken FIGA (Fretted Instrumen Guild) is very tenor banjo oriented.

[fiddlemike]

I recently purchased a 1956 Harmony H1215 Tenor Guitar off eBay for $50. I had to repair a crack so it isn't as pretty as it could be, but I love the archtop sound. i find that it is easier to play with my fat fingers than a mandolin.

Strings are always an issue. I can find several GDAE sets for Tenor Banjo with loop ends; ball end are a different story. I'm ordering singles from juststrings.com.
Sizes are 11, 15 in plain steel and 24, 36 in 80/20 bronze. If I order 12 at a time it comes out to about $2.00 per set.

[Dolamon]

I posted a lead to this in another thread ... this guy has been out there a long time and his tenor banjo vids and his tenor guitar stuff is really remarkable http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKk0SLTVhJs Other than that, I'd check out Elderly for books on tenor banjo and especially keep your eyes opened for a Mel Bay book on Tenor Banjo Chord Melody ... (Available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Tenor-Banjo-Me...6916443&sr=8-1) Not for the faint of heart - but you have a background in C tuning and this probably is a great way to get going on the instrument ...

If you want to try something really quick and great sounding on a tenor guitar ... try this: 2233 (D Minor) 2235 (D Minor Seventh) 7788 (G Minor), 778(10). This occurs in a lot of early Jazz bridges and it really makes a tenor full sounding. The resolve on this sequence is an A7 4650. There are all kinds of three and four fret chord changes which are fast and fun, it is almost embarrassing. (I hope I got the chord names correct ...

Have fun - Dion

[Jim Garber]

Eddy is a great guy and a wonderful player. I am pleased to have met and hung with him in NYC a bunch. Chord melody is my favorite thing to do on tenor guitar -- it gives you a little more room to move around and slightly lower range than the mandolin.

[mrmando]

If you want to try something really quick and great sounding on a tenor guitar ... try this: 2233 (D Minor) 2235 (D Minor Seventh) 7788 (G Minor), 778(10). This occurs in a lot of early Jazz bridges and it really makes a tenor full sounding. The resolve on this sequence is an A7 4650.

Close. 2235 is Dm; 2233 is Dm7. 778(10) is Gm, 7788 is Gm7. Of course, for Gm to Gm7 you can also play 2001 to 2031. 4650 is one way to play A7; you could also do 1020.

[Tenor Chick]

Hi all. I'm new to the tenor guitar scene. So new, I don't have one yet, but I'm very interested in the Blueridge BR-40T. I've had a guitar in my house since I was 15...a "few" years ago. I've had both 6 and 12-strings, classical and dreadnaughts. A couple of years ago I became interested in ukuleles...four strings/four fingers. Seems logical, right? Now, I've become interested in the tenor guitar. Not being able to afford one right now, I've restrung one of my baritone ukes in CGDA, to learn tenor guitar chords. Dont' get me wrong. While I've had intruments nearly all my life, I've never gained proficiency in any of them. I don't read music or TAB. If there aren't chord diagrams printed on the music, and I don't know the tune, I'm stuck. I've decided that it's time I devoted myself to mastery (or at least become semi-proficient) of at least one instrument. So with my limited ability, where can I go to at least learn the basics, so that private lessons will be a more worthwhile endeavor? Thank you so much for any assistance you can offer.

[Beanzy]

Only just saw this post from November Tenor Chick. I think the lack of rersponse is due to the lack of a single specific resource which can be pointed out.
For what it's worth what I've been doing is just using chord charts and learning those. I'm all over the fingerboard no problem in terms of melody lines and double stops, but getting fluid chord changes are really what makes the TG come alive for me, so much work to do. The problem with many Tenor Banjo/Guitar chord books is they include too much to work with as a beginner and it just becomes a sea of information. I extracted this chord chart by combining bits from one Tenor Banjo resource

and it works to give me a good basic set of chords to kick off. Later I'll get into the various nuances, but for now clarity and compact information are more important.

I would say pick some nice slow tunes that you like, something along the lines of "LazyBones" works for me (I've only got scribbled chords on a bit of paper. Then just pick the chords from the chart, nice and slow just running through the chorus and verse.

The trick is to give yourself the reward of getting a few pieces you like down first.

Make sure you check out the groups page for Tenor Guitar players , this section tends to be lots of current stuff about the actual guitars and the like, but you may get more out of the slower moving threads in the TG group.

[Canoedad]

I extracted this chord chart by combining bits from one Tenor Banjo resource

and it works to give me a good basic set of chords to kick off. Later I'll get into the various nuances, but for now clarity and compact information are more important.

Beanzy that is a nice chart. What program did you create that in? I'm working on one for mandolin using MS excel but it's not as nice as yours. As you said, it's very compact.

[Beanzy]

Beanzy that is a nice chart. What program did you create that in? I'm working on one for mandolin using MS excel but it's not as nice as yours. As you said, it's very compact.

It's just a composting of what came out of the mandozine Tenor Guitar/Banjo Charts.
I just removed loads of info, rather that actually created anything, then did a Nitro PDF of it so it'd be more useful to me.

The link for the whole of their chord sheet is http://www.mandotunes.com/chordgen/c...rt_Tguitar.php
It's a really cool resource they have but was just too much for me to use to work out simple tunes on the fly. The single PDF page just meant I could do a laminated sheet for the guitar bag.

[Canoedad]

Thanks Beanzy. That Mandozine chord chart is a nice resource. I hadn't seen it before.

I copied the mando chords page and pasted them into a word doc so I can manipulate them. Very cool.

[Tenor Chick]

Thank you, Beanzy. I'd have answered sooner, but was experiencing some "login issues"...ie: I forgot my password!! ah well. It is what it is, right? My plan is to buy a 4-string rubber stamp and put tenor guitar chords in any music books that strike my fancy. here's hoping that does it for me. I'm sure at some point, I'll actually want to take lessons. Again, Thank you.