Basic Fingering for closed position scales and modes on tenor

[Flattpicker]

I'm brand new to tenor guitar but have played mandolin for a while. I"m familiar with the differences between guitar and bass fingerings, ditto for violin or viola versus cello. It would seem that tenor guitar and mandolin are in the same boat--that is, you can't make the same stretches on TG that you can on mando so you have to have a different approach to fingering. I"m guessing it involves more shifting(?) Anyway, I have searched the internet to no avail. Can anyone please help me get me started? Once I understand the basic idea I'm sure I can figure it out from there.

many thanks.

[Charles E.]

Well you can forget about bluegrass chop chords for one thing. Bar chords and three fingered chords are the way to go. As for melody playing, it depends on what you want to play and what tuning you choose to use. If you go with GDAE (octave mandolin tuning) the fingering will be the same as the mandolin but with more stretches and shifts, more pinkey action as well. If you choose to use traditional tenor tuning, CGDA, you will need to think about things being a fifth lower and adjust. I use a capo on the second fret a lot when using this tuning when playing Old Time music, esp for tunes in the key's of D and Am. Go on youtube and look at tenor guitar videos there, there are some great players in all types of music and you can see what they are doing.

[Jacob]

I found this helpful.
It's from an Irish tenor banjo site that seems to have gone away.

[Dolamon]

Hi - one of the most useful ... but slightly canted for a Tenor Guitar player is found in Ray Bells' remarkable book, Mandolin Scales and Studies ( http://elderly.com/books/items/02-95542.htm ). This is for a GDAE instrument but ... the basic shapes of the scales are there and - if you are a tab user, it will stretch you in some interesting ways. I've used it for years and it's helped me learn many of the flatted and sharped keys. You will have to do a conversion of a fifth to be in the proper key.

More specific - but also more expensive is the Chord Wizard Gold program http://www.chordwizard.com/gold.aspx by Stephen Clark. This not only will help you learn scales and chord positions on virtually any fretted instrument, it will help you learn scales and - relationships of scales to chords. I've used it for years and the graphic display has shown me placements on the fret board of my various instruments which would have taken years to understand and appreciate. This program can be modified if you want to explore alternate tunings.

I have no financial interest in either of the above products but think they are both useful. (Finding a scale to play over a ninth chord is a real delight.)

Dion

[Flattpicker]

Many thanks to all for the good info. That chart will really help. I did email Tyler Jackson last week, haven't heard back yet. I'm hopeful he can steer me towards some general or specific fingering ideas. His youtube videos on tenor banjo and tenor guitar are great.
I have some good jazz mando resources for chords and scales, but again the problem is the conversion to the larger instrument. Would love to find some dedicated tenor guitar stuff.
Dolamon, it was good to hear you mention Ray Bell. I met him in Little Rock back in the late 70's when he and I played classical guitar duets at the wedding of a mutual friend. He's a great guy and has a wealth of knowledge about stringed instruments.