Anybody use alternate tunings on their mandolin?

[OkieWolf]

No it's ok to be blunt. I actually expected a response like that

And by the way, I understand your point. And you're right, it's not a guitar. I guess I'm just trying to be lazy about learning mandolin.

[Tobin]

I get it. Like many, many folks here (probably the majority, if we're truthful), I was a guitar player first. Learning the mandolin was not as easy as I wanted it to be, since it wasn't at all like playing the guitar.

But fifths-tuning really does make a lot more sense than fourths. The only way to really discover the beauty of it is to immerse yourself in it for a while, and learn to play the mandolin as it was intended. If you're like the rest of us, you'll eventually come to the conclusion that it's superior to everything else.

[OkieWolf]

Ok. Mandolin tuning it is then. I appreciate all the feedback.

[MikeEdgerton]

Leo Kottke used to capo his 12 string high to mimic a mandolin.

[jim simpson]

I alternate between playing out-of-tune (oot) and close-to-being-in-tune (ctbit), lol!

[mrmando]

Lots of additional alternate tunings here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scordatura

You've probably heard Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre" (G-D-A-E flat) even if you don't realize it...

[k0k0peli]

I like 'Irish' tuning on my mandola (CGDG) and one mandolin (GDAD) because 1) I like the ringing / droning high courses, 2) I can play guitar tricks on those top courses, and 3) barre chords are easy to move around. I'm about to string an extra mandolin as a dulcimer (Ddad), again because of droning. I haven't gotten enough into old-time fiddle tunes to try those open tunings yet. Soon, soon...

But what is the reasoning behind the GG-DD-AA-EE tuning as opposed to typical guitar tuning of EE-AA-DD-GG

With GDAE (fifths) tuning, you get a wider range without moving your hand up the fretboard but can still reach all the notes within that range since the mandolin has a short scale length.

The 'why' is evolutionary, not theoretical: we string and tune these axes to these intervals because that's where they've proven to be most usable and comfortable for their size. The popularity of each bears this out; MANY more mandolins are made and sold than larger instruments in the family, and not just because of cost. Cheap mandolas abound but they're just not flying off the shelves.

Smaller intervals allow chords to be formed in more varied ways, but there's less tonal range. Try tuning a guitar to all 3rds; it's great for chording but limits melodic playing. Larger intervals give greater range on a fretboard but you must stretch more to form many chords, especially on larger instruments. I've strung my 21-inch-scale fretted Cümbüş in 5ths like a mandobass and it's *very* clumsy to chord. (Sure is nice hitting that C2, though!)

I've thought of stringing a small axe in 7ths. It would have huge tonal range but almost impossible chording except maybe on a sopranino (pocket) 'uke.

I have a soprano 'uke nylgut-strung in 5ths. The 'uke and mandolin are both 14-inch-scale but the 'uke's neck is wider at the nut, 35mm vs 27-29mm of most mandolins. (My Keith Coleman mando is 32mm wide, very nice.) I find such *slightly* wider fretboards more comfortable when chording 5ths. But my Cümbüş and mandola's necks at 41mm, which is narrow guitar-neck range, are too wide for most comfortable chording. And I have big hands! No sopraninos for me.

Anyway, we use these tunings because they mostly work. And when they don't, we re-tune.

[David Lewis]

As said above its the stretch of your hand. You can play in fifths tuning on a mandolin or violin without losing your place because the hand doesn't stretch far enough. (Ok you say, what about tenor guitar: I don't know.) on a bass or a guitar fourths is easier (except for the third for the B, which I suspect is to give a parallel for the low E rather than going to the C Then the F.



To understand fifths tuning and for a great rationale for its practical usage go to www.jazzmando.com. The FfCP is perfect for getting your head around it.

[MikeEdgerton]

By the way, just so you understand it, almost every mandolin is in some sort of alternate tuning. At any given time in the entire world only three mandolins are in tune at any one time and two of those belong to David Grisman. Good luck with your journey.

[mandroid]

By The Way ..

I just got an Email Reply from Mr. Muldaur, after asking about his 'Minglewood Blues' tuning.

from the bottom G / C / G / C,E (the top 2 split)

[Petrus]

I actually started on mando before the guitar, and was led to the mando primarily because of childhood experience with the violin, sot he 5ths GDAE schema was natural to me. The guitar still feels weird to me and I regularly try to finagle it into either fifths tuning or at least consistent fourths tuning but it never quite works out.

I experiment with alternate tunings to get different sounds out of the mandolin. GDGD or CGCG allow for a sort of Middle Eastern sound if you also play it with a lot of half steps. Sometimes I will use slack tuning, putting a mandolin into CGDA or DAEB as it allows for string bending. Also on older instruments it keeps the tension down. (CGDA doesn't always work ... it can be excessively slack depending on the scale length.)

[k0k0peli]

Preface: My soprano 'ukes have the same scale length as a mandolin but with fretboards about 25% wider, chording is a bit easier for my big hands. I keep one soprano strung in Aquila Fifths (set 30U) tuned standard GDae. On another I flipped and tweaked the standard re-entrant tuning gCEa to a#FCg (same intervals as gDAe). Why? So I can practice mando chording on quieter and more comfortable instruments, and the re-entrant stringing FORCES me to focus on chopped chording rather than my usual melody+chord picking.

Apply the latter approach to mandolin. You want an alternate tuning that feels guitar-like? Merely reverse the strings and tweak the tuning. Flip GDae to eaDG for straight 4ths chord forms (like playing bass) or to fa#DG for mixed 4ths+3rd forms (like a DGbe guitar). The eaDG stringing also gives right-handed mandolinists a taste of what lefties experience.

Another alternate mando stringing puts the courses in octaves instead of unisons. Use light gauge strings and string it gG-dD-aA-eE. If string tension worries you, slack the tuning to fF-cC-gG-dD or take it to a Sawmill gG-dD-gG-dD. Or if you want to get funky without an elaborate re-stringing, which is admittedly tougher on mando than on 'uke, just tune to Sawmill minor GE-DB-ge-db. Have fun!

[T.D.Nydn]

It may not be an "alternate" tuning , but I sometimes use a type of "string splitting",,where each of the courses,all 4 pair,when playing,the upper string is in standard tuning,and the lower string just a shy flat.i do this when playing jazz,......

[Irénée]

(answer to OkieWolf)
... normal, from low E the first 4 low strings of the guitar (same for the double bass) in tuned in fourth : EADG...
But the mandolin is tuned (from G low to high) in fifth: GDAE
... You can also to use the "chicago tuning" of the 4 upper string's guitar : DGBE (but it's not mandolin taste), and also to play a tenor guitar....

[Irénée]

Hello All !
I am looking for mandolin or "tablatures" music sheet (or tutorial books) in/for Sawmill tuning...
Somebody here know about this Sawmill research ?
Thank you by advance...

[Irénée]

(answer to mandroid)
... in the past was used an antic mandolin tuning in order to cut trough the other instruments (such as primitive 10 string (2 strings x 5 courses) romantic guitars...
... Because these instruments were strung with gut strings, the low GG was factually gG octavied course to cut and pass over... So the result was (low 2 high) gG-DD-AA-EE...

! The "Celtic bouzouki" is today often tuned (for the same purpose) in Gg - Dd - AA - EE or gG - dD - AA - EE...

[RustyMadd]

Yeah I use G Sawmill or GDGD and have a mandolin dedicated to that tuning. Blessings

[Astro]

I think I have. But not on purpose.

[ralph johansson]

It may be a silly question, but what is the ' for? I'm figuring it's not meant to be a # or a b.
Sometimes these things fly right over my head. Probably why there's not much hair up there.

Helmholtz notation. In that notation a mandolin is tuned g d' a' e'', a guitar is E A d g b e', a mandoloncello C G d a,
and a contrabass E, A, D G. Middle c (the c between bass and treble clef) is c'. Enumerating the c's from abysmal depths and upwards you get C,,, C,, C, C c c' c'' and the octave beginning with a given c is notated the same way, e.g.: C,, to B,, (subcontra octave) C, to B, (contra) C to B (great) c to b (small) c' to b' (one-line) etc.

[Ronny]

I use a fc'g'd'' tuned mandolin to play with a Bflat clarinet player : I can play his scores easily this way (when the clarinet plays a C it sounds Bflat, as do my mando tuned this way.)

[dhergert]

I routinely tune my mandolins GCEG, aka open C, slak-key C or taropatch C. For the E and G courses (formerly A and E courses) I use .017 and .015 (non-wound) strings. The G and C courses (formerly G and D courses) are the standard mandolin wound strings.

I come from a 50-year 5-string banjo background; this tuning is like strings 1-through-4 on a 5-string banjo with a capo at the 5th fret. I also play plectrum banjo (flat picking) and square-neck Dobro (finger picking), so this is a very natural tuning for me.

This tuning tames down the high strings on a mandolin very nicely, plus it's a pretty low tension tuning for those who prefer that for their mandolins. You do lose about 9 half-steps from your top range with this tuning, in my case I play barre chords (and chord-melodies) up the neck quite a bit.

Don't be put off by this, many pros make tuning accommodations to play the instruments that they play -- for example, many types of banjos have been tuned like violins, mandolins, guitars and ukuleles for over a century for the convenience of experienced players of those instruments. There is even some historical implication that the mandolin itself took on violin tuning for the same reasons. There are also a large number of less common alternative tuniings for most stringed instruments.

In my case most band mates, jam partners, and often even experienced mandolin players, cannot tell that I'm playing my mandolins in a non-standard tuning. But, if you are used to standard mandolin tuning and you try to play one of my mandolins, don't be surprised if you feel like a mandolin newbie again.

[ralph johansson]

Capo your guitar on the 7th fret. "Might" sound mandolinish.

You would get roughly the range of a mandola minus the highest notes. And it wouldn't sound a bit like mandolin or mandola.

[RustyMadd]

Yeah it is crazy that no one just states "this song in Sawmill" or these songs in Sawmill tuning.

I play one song so far in Sawmill, but I would like to learn more, I just can't seem to find anyone that will just name songs in Sawmill tuning!

Anyone care to elucidate? Please?