Alternate tunings

[flebow]

I play mando and violin
Bluegrass , blues, folk and some classical

There are some alternate fiddle tunings for cajun and other genres
I do not remenber what they were

I would like to convert it & play some slide mandolin.

Any advice is definitely appreciated

Fred

[Joel Spaulding]

Some alternate Mandolin tunings I have used:

Open D, a la "Get up John" From low to high: F#A - DD - aa - ad

the two middle courses remain in standard tuning.

Sawmill tuning AA - EE - aa - ee; and down a step: GG - DD - gg - dd

All three tunings offer some slide-friendly sounds.

I can't recall off the top o' me head what tuning Grisman and Wakefield used on Black Mountain Rag from Early Dawg- but I do recall that info being a few posts down the first page of a thread approximately titled "Get up John Tuning?"

The more experienced players will likely weigh in soon, and IIRC, there are a few Cajun fiddlers that lurk around here who can give you far more robust information.
Best of luck and enjoy!

[John McGann]

Those shared by Joel are probably the most common. There's a nice fiddle tuning DDAD used of Bonaparte's Retreat and probably dozens of other 'old time' tunes.

I heard Sam Bush play "Ladies Fancy" on the fiddle in EDAE in a workshop in the 80's.

Many Irish players used GDAD, and it's quite common on OM/Bouzouki.

Every tuning has it's advantages and drawbacks.