PDA

View Full Version : Cavaquinho tuned like a mandolin



Mental Floss
Jul-02-2008, 2:45pm
Cavaquinho is a cool little player and I wondered if anyone here has tried tuning it like a mandoin.
Also is there any training for the traditional samba style playing and tuning of the Cavaquinho by way of dvd?

Mental Floss
Jul-02-2008, 2:48pm
Yes ...I am thinking about buying one....anyone with a used one for sale?

Jesse Appelman
Jul-02-2008, 3:45pm
The typical cavaquinho tuning is DGBD, but it's not unheard of to tune the cavaquinho like a mandolin. According to Pedro Amorim, the great Brazilian bandolim player, it used to be common in older samba recordings to track two cavaquinhos - one in standard tuning and one tuned like a mandolin. They would play different, complementary grooves and mix one on the left and one on the right for a very cool recording effect.

Today it's much less common to see cavaquinhos tuned in 5ths - Pedro Amorim does it in his samba band, Samba de Fato, but mostly it's fallen out of practice. As it used to be common practice, though, you can go ahead and tune your cavaquinho like a mandolin without worrying that you're committing a samba sacrilege.

Don't know about instructional materials. I would think most resources out there would be in Portuguese. The best way to learn would probably be to track down some classic samba recordings (I'd recommend Cartola's "Verde que Te Quero Rosa" for the clarity of the cavaquinho in the mix) and just copy what the cavaquinho does, one measure at a time, over and over again, until the groove starts to feel natural.

Good luck!

Paul Hostetter
Jul-02-2008, 10:19pm
I've heard a few tracks by Jacob that seemed to me to be on cavaco rather than bandolim, but the voicings indicated tuning in fifths anyway. I think Henrique Cazes uses both tunings, though he writes his methods for the DGBD tuning. I see this latter tuning as perfect for samba (and bluegrass banjo!), but really counterintuitive for choro, yet it's done anyway! Vive la diferença!

Jesse Appelman
Jul-03-2008, 3:17pm
I've heard a few tracks by Jacob that seemed to me to be on cavaco rather than bandolim, but the voicings indicated tuning in fifths anyway. I think Henrique Cazes uses both tunings, though he writes his methods for the DGBD tuning. I see this latter tuning as perfect for samba (and bluegrass banjo!), but really counterintuitive for choro, yet it's done anyway! Vive la diferença!
Jacob recorded a few tunes on tenor guitar, which is maybe what you're thinking of. Most notably "A Ginga do Mane", but there are a few others as well.

I heard that Henrique Cazes tunes his cavaquinho like the highest four strings of a guitar - DGBE rather thang DGBD. I could be wrong, though.

I guess the lesson is - as long as you play like Henrique or Jacob, tune however the heck you want!

Jim MacDaniel
Jul-03-2008, 7:27pm
I had a solidbody electric cavaco for a while that tuned like a mandolin, which worked out nicely -- and thanks to the slightly shorter scale, I could reach more notes without changing position.

lastchair
Dec-03-2008, 6:24pm
Just wondering how you guys got it to work GDAE? I tried to tune a Cavaco to mandolin tuning and could not get the 7th fret to match the open string below it. Is it because the Cavaco and similarly a Ukelele has straight bridges, and are not designed for open fifths?

Will Patton
Dec-04-2008, 1:43pm
On the other hand, I once used amandolin as a cava - using 3 strings... I was changing strings and started messing around with my JBouvier F style ( a bit thinner than the Gibson A I usually use) and the sound of the top 3 strings (not double coursed) reminded me of that cavaquinho sound. I used this to record 'Parana', which is on the MandoCafe mp3 page. Sort of convincing on a quick listen...
Still looking for a good cava, then I'll need to learn to play it and mando simultaneously - and, oh, yes, the pandeiro as well.
Will in northern Vermont, singularly bereft of Brasilian musicians....:)

mandolooter
Dec-04-2008, 3:45pm
well Will I love that tune so it worked!