CGDA and CGDG tunings - Humours of Tullycrine

My wife ordered one of those Ibanez Artwood tenor guitars with the goal of playing it in the more Irish-friendly "bouzouki" tuning of GDAD.  Previously she had been playing a Blueridge BR-40T tenor guitar in DGBE tuning.

The Ibanez arrived today and came out of the box tuned CGDA. It will need some new strings and a professional setup for the GDAD tuning, but as an experiment she dropped the CGDA down to CGDG to mimic the intervals of GDAD in the same way a mandola mimics the intervals of a mandolin.  Since I have a Sawchyn Beavertail mandola in CGDA we decided to try playing the Irish hornpipe/march Humours of Tullycrine together.

Normally this tune requires the chords Aminor, G and Eminor.  It took Laura only a few minutes to learn what those chord shapes would be if she were tuned GDAD.  Of course, in CGDG those same chord shapes instead came out as Dminor, C and Aminor.

I played the melody on mandola with the fingerings I know from mandolin/tenor banjo, so what you hear is in Ddorian instead of Adorian. (I suppose she could have capo'd at 7th fret and I could have played mandolin but this was more fun!).  It all synced up. I think it sounds pretty good for a semi-cheap Made in China guitar that just came out of the box, in a strange open tuning, moments after I said, "Got those chords? I'm hitting the record button".  This is the first and only take!  There may be some slight speeding up on my part. :(

I'll give a follow up on the Ibanez tenor guitar after it's been setup by John at Fan Guitar and Ukulele.  Our initial impression is that it's a pretty OK sounding guitar, definitely a good travel guitar, but not quite as nice as the Bluerdige BR-40T.  Hopefully this tuning lends a bit of authenticity to our Celtic sound. If only I would start playing more triplets!

DGDA and ADAE Tunings (Mandola and Tenor Banjo)

Mandolas are basically just slightly bigger mandolins with a scale length between 15.5" and 17" - so about 12 to 25 percent longer than a mandolin scale, which is typically 13.875".  A mandola is usually tuned in 5ths like a mandolin, but that 5ths tuning is CGDA instead of GDAE.

I recently got a mandola with a 15.5" scale.  I was going to tune it CGDA, but then I was reminded of a chapter in Enda Scahill's Irish Banjo Tutor on Alternate Tunings where he describes tuning a tenor banjo ADAE instead of GDAE.  (Note: the Irish tenor banjo's standard GDAE tuning is one octave lower than the mandolin's GDAE tuning).  Purists beware, ADAE is the way Enda normally tunes his banjo!

Tuning an Irish tenor banjo to ADAE simply involves tuning the 4th string (lowest string) up a whole step from G to A.  On a mandola this would equate to changing the CGDA tuning to DGDA.  I've found out that DGDA is the way Marla Fibish tunes her mandola, and maybe John Doyle as well.   I'm willing to give it a shot!

Enda Scahill

In his tutor Enda Scahill describes several advantages of this alternate tuning, and below I have paraphrased some of these while translating it to mandola-oriented language.

Advantages of DGDA tuning

DGDA is almost an open tuning of D or G.  By playing the A note (fret 2) on the G string or the B note (fret 2) on the A string you play either a 4 string D chord or G chord.  This allows the instrument to resonate more in tune with itself.

The stretch to that pesky low F# (Fret 6 on the low string) is now only a stretch to Fret 4.

The G note on the low string is now at Fret 5 instead of 7.  This allows for fiddle style double G “chording” (open G played with G on the low string).

Tuning the low C up to a low D creates opportunities for droning on the open string.  This is a big advantage for the key of D (the key that most Irish tunes are played in) and for the key of G (arguably the 2nd most common tonal center in Irish traditional music).

The DGDA tuning affords different (easier?) chord formations new found harmonies and voicings.

Tuning up to D tightens the tone and the action by creating more tension in the string.  In other words, you can use a lighter string but still achieve more tension.  This results in the 4^th string being not as twangy, heavy or loose.  (This feature has perhaps more relevance among banjo players tuning up to ADAE from GDAE).

I'll add to Enda's list by saying that this alternate tuning makes the mandola even more of a unique, hybrid instrument.  The interval from the 4^th string (D) to 3^rd string (G) now becomes a perfect 4^th (like on a guitar) instead of a 5^th, yet you still have the interval of a 5th between the other strings.

In this altered mandola tuning you can't quite transpose and use the exact same fingerings you've memorized on mandolin...you have to make adjustments for any notes on the low string.  But, overcoming obstacles and finding advantages in what at first might seem like an unnecessary challenge is all part of the fun of playing an instrument and growing as a musician!