The 5-string Banjo is a very "happy" instrument that can give anyone hours of fun. If you don't tune it, though, you are in BIG trouble; few sounds are more vile than an un-tuned banjo. Follow these easy steps to learn how to tune a five string banjo.
1Take a look at your banjo. Hold the "neck" (the long, narrow part with the strings) in your left hand, with the fat part across your stomach, and look at all five strings.
2Notice that the string nearest to you does not run all the way up to the top of the fretboard with the rest, but has its tuning knob in the middle of the neck. This strange "5th string" placement is unique to the banjo, is used to give the Banjo that unique "roll" and "bounce" to its sound.
3REMEMBER that string through the tuning process, because otherwise you will get confused and turn the wrong knob for the wrong string. The SECOND string your hand plucks will in fact be the FIRST string on the tuning board, and so on. Follow the strings from bottom to top, and you'll understand.
4It's time to start tuning. The banjo, when tuned, will play an open "G" chord. This means, unlike most string instruments, you can just strum without holding any strings, and it will still make a pleasant, ringing harmony.
5Look at the five strings at the bottom, and find the center string. This is the first one to tune. You can use many different tools to tune with. The easiest is any mechanical "tuner" that tells you when you are above/beneath the pitch. If you don't have one, though, a piano, pitch-pipe, or any other fixed pitch instrument (like an accordion) will do. All you need is a constant, even pitch, plus an half-sensitive ear.
6Follow the middle string to the top of the Banjo, and find its corresponding tuning knob. Keep plucking the string and twiddling the knob, until it is tuned perfectly to a G below middle C, using any of the above methods.
7Use the same method to tune the adjacent, slightly thinner string to a B (below middle C)
8The next and last string in that direction is thinner still; tune it to a D.
9Go back to that first half-length string. Tune this to a G, a full octave above the first G you tuned.
10Finally, grab the adjacent string, (It's the final remaining string you haven't touched; the fattest one). This gets tuned to a low D.
11Strum a chord. You are DONE!
- The first few times you tune a banjo, you'll want tuners/pitches to help you with each individual string. However, if only one pitch is available, an alternate method is to tune the Banjo's strings to each other. First, get a G and tune the G-string. Next, hold the 5th fret of the D string, and make it match pitch with the G string. Then, the 4th fret of G string matches B, whose 3rd fret matches the high D. Finally, hold the fifth fret of the D string to make it match the high G. (Note: you'll notice that these two strings play the same pitch on the same fret. They are, in fact, identical strings, but one is shorter)
- The G-string is the easiest string to tune to; you can, of course, tune to any of its other strings as well.
- search for "Tune Banjo" on YouTube.com. You'll get plenty of stuff.
- Now, when you get an ear for it, you can start tuning each string in relation to the other. If you do this, It's best to start from the G string, then do B, D, and High G, each off of the string before. but again, be sure that the the G string's in tune first, if you want to play with anyone else! :)
- Tighten slowly! Don't over-tighten and be careful: strings, if broken, carry tremendous energy that will whip them in all directions, risking injury especially to your eyes.
- Again, remember that short string! You'll see five strings on the bottom and four strings on the top, and you'll start tuning the second string on the board, and it's really the third string on the head... and it's confusing. Trust me, I've broken strings this way.
Things You'll Need
- A banjo with the appropriate strings on
- Either a) a mechanical tuner, b) an even-pitch instrument that plays D, G, D, B, G on the right octaves, c) a decent ear that also knows what the notes should sound like, or d) any combination of the above
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