4 Pick the 2nd string fretted at the 3rd fret and tune the open 1st string to this sound.
5 Pick the 1st string fretted at the 5th fret and tune the open 5th string to this sound.Remember that the 5th string is the short string on your banjo that's located on the opposite side of your neck from the 1st string. Some banjos have 5th-string tuning pegs that are difficult to turn without causing wild fluctuations in pitch. Don't worry if it takes a bit more time to get the 5th string in tune.
Even if you follow my instructions carefully, I'm sure that you may discover the following frustrations when tuning the banjo in this way (but don't “fret” — you aren't alone):
Your reference point is always a fretted string when tuning from a lower- to a higher-pitched string. You need to lift the left hand up to adjust the tuning peg of the string you're attempting to tune and then fret it again on the lower string to play the reference pitch.
If you make a slight error at the beginning of this process, that mistake is exaggerated as you proceed to try and tune the rest of the strings. You may have to start all over.
Reference Tuning: Getting a Little Outside Help
Relative tuning is great when you're playing by yourself or for quickly touching up a string or two in the middle of a practice session. However, when playing with others (or with the audio tracks and video clips that accompany this book, available at www.dummies.com/go/banjo), you need to get accustomed to tuning your banjo using one or more outside reference notes as provided by an electronic tuner or another instrument. I explain how to tune by using reference notes in the following sections.
Using an electronic tuner
Tuners provide a reference point for you to tune individual strings one at a time. These days, a tuner is pretty much an essential accessory to carry with you wherever you take your banjo. When you play a string, the tuner “hears” the note and gives an indication of the note's pitch by showing a letter name for the note closest to it in pitch, with an accompanying ♯ (sharp) or ♭ (flat) sign, if needed (for instance, if the note you're playing is closest to an F♯ in pitch, the tuner reads F♯). The tuner also indicates whether your string is sharp (too high) or flat (too low) in relation to your reference note via a meter or a row of small LED lights. (Check out Chapter 14 for a discussion of how tuners work and of the different types of tuners currently available.) An electronic clip-on tuner is shown in Figure 2-2.
Photograph courtesy of Elderly Instruments
FIGURE 2-2: Using an electronic clip-on tuner makes tuning easier.
G / G♯ or A♭ / A / A♯ or B♭ / B / C / C♯ or D♭ / D / D♯ or E♭ / E / F / F♯ or G♭ / G
Here are a few tidbits of info that may help you better understand this series of notes and how they relate to tuning your banjo:
Equivalent notes: You may notice that some notes in the preceding series have an or between them. Without getting too boring, just remember that a G♯ is the same pitch as an A♭, an A♯ is the same as a B♭, and so on. These equivalent notes are found at the same fret on your fingerboard.
Pitch: As you move to the right in the order of notes, you're naming higher-pitched notes; as you move to the left, the notes are lower pitched.
Half versus whole steps: If you move one note in either direction (for instance, going from a C♯ or D♭ note to a D note), you move a half step. If you move two notes in either direction (for instance, going from an F to a G or from a C to a D), you move a whole step. A half-step movement corresponds to a change of one fret up or down on your banjo fingerboard, and a whole step equals a movement of two frets from one note to the next. For example, if you're playing an open string and you want to move up a half step, you fret the 1st fret of that same string. If you want to move up a whole step from an open string, you fret the 2nd fret.
To use an electronic tuner, you turn the tuning pegs until the readout matches the note that string should match. For example, if you're trying to tune your 3rd string to a G and the tuner gives you an F♯ reading, you know from the preceding order of notes that your 3rd string is far enough below a G pitch that the tuner hears the note as an F♯ — the pitch that's one half step below G.
To get your 3rd string in tune, continue striking the 3rd string with the right hand and slowly turn the tuning peg to raise the string's pitch. At some point, the tuner's readout should change from an F♯ to a G note, but at this point the tuner tells you that your 3rd string is a flat G note instead of a sharp F♯. Continue raising the pitch of the string until the tuner indicates that the string is exactly in tune to a G note. You use the same process for each of the strings, raising or lowering their pitches until the tuner indicates that you've reached the desired note.
Tuning with an electronic tuner at a jam session
When musicians come together to make music, they first take some time to make sure that their instruments are in tune with one another before they start to play. Just before a jam session begins, you may see musicians off in different corners or with their backs turned momentarily from the main group, as they get in tune by using electronic clip-on tuners (see the preceding section for the how-to). In this case, the participants use the reference notes provided by their tuners to get as closely in tune with each other as they can. (If the participants have their backs turned because they're talking to their agents, you might have found an advanced jam session!)