Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

D tuning vs Playing in D

#1

As a Beginner, I have massive gaps in my education. So far I’ve been able to fill these gaps with Confusion, but even that’s not working very well any more.

I would love to get a short, sweet & simple answer, but I’m afraid it’s more complicated than that.

What is the difference between playing a song in D tuning vs playing a song in the key of D?

If my chord progression is 1-4-5, then playing a song in the key of D would be D-G-A.
If my banjo were tuned to D, would the chord progression be the same if the song was in D? Sure, why not.

SO if I’m getting this right, the tuning sets the “mood” or “color” of the song, while the key is chosen to suit the singer’s voice.

What would “Reuben’s Train” sound like in G tuning?

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#2

Great Question @BanJoe My take on this is, it’s all about tone and what sounds right . But I look forward to hearing what others say.

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#3

Technically, you could play any melody, in any key, in any tuning. However, there are certain ways to tune (or capo) to make it easier to play in certain keys. D tuning only changes where you need to fret on your banjo (with the intention of making it simpler to play or sound better). That doesn’t change anything about the chord progression of the song itself or what other instruments will be playing.

In other words, we choose D tuning to play “Reuben’s Train” because we like how it sounds and because it makes it somewhat simpler to play. It’d also be entirely possible to play the song in G tuning, but you wouldn’t have the same type of sound. Mostly preferential.

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#4

OK, not too much music theory vocabulary there.:scream: I can ponder your answer & glean less confusion.
Another song that comes to mind is Shady Grove. Two distinct versions in two distinct keys, but I don’t know if they are typically played in different tunings.

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#5

I’ll do my best to put it in banjo caveman language…

“Key of song ‘D’! Banjo play melody of song in key of D! Now, banjo re-tune to D tuning. Banjo play song melody. Same melody now in different place.”

:joy::joy::joy:

Just kidding. To answer your other question though, yep, there’s a minor melody for Shady Grove:



(The Quartet version changes keys and plays the melody in A min – you may meet someone who wants to do that, but I would guess most folks just play it in Dmin.)

And a major one:

As far as the tunings, Ben uses standard tuning (with the fifth string spiked to A). Given that it’s in D minor, I most likely wouldn’t use normal D tuning (because of that open F# note on the third string). You could, however, use D minor tuning (which makes the third string an F).

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#6

Here is a (somewhat non-realistic) example that might help (or hinder :laughing:). A “normal” banjo is tuning is open G. Every open string is in the G major chord, so the open notes are both useful in the key of G AND you get all that nice ringing of the open G strings even when you aren’t playing on a particular string. So if you play a song in the key of G, let’s say Amazing Grace, you have the benefit of being able to play the most of the melody notes without even fretting. You also have the whole banjo ringing with G B and D notes making a lush sound. Let’s say you have a singer whole can’t sing the lowest note and wants to raise it one half step, G#. Now you can play the song in the key of G# without re-tuning. However none of the open strings will ever be used (you will have to fret every melody note and every chord note), and the banjo won’t ring with all the open strings. So, it’s hard, but you can play the song in the key of G# tuned to open G. It’s just very difficult and won’t sound great. We can capo up to the first fret and that results in us playing in open G# tuning. Back to easy and sounds great. What if you don’t have a capo (or spike on the fifth string)? You could re-tune the entire banjo up a fret and we have now tuned to open G# so that we can easily play in the key of G#. Again, back to easy and sounds great. Hopefully that helps.

Just to be clear, the various tuning are not typically just raising or lowering all the notes by the same amount to move open G tuning to other keys. I just thought by using that type of example, it might make a connection.

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#7

That’s the part I like! :grin:

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#8

I must have been looking for it in the wrong place. :grimacing:

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#9

Wouldn’t you know it? I prefer Ben’s version!

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#10

Y’all did a good job answering this! Great question, too!

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#11

@BanJoe, now that would make it difficult to copy you know? That’s the idea! haha.

What can I compare to? Chess vs Random chess (where pieces are jumbled)! Simple enough?? :wink:

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#12

Oh! “Random chess!” One of my favorites! I like how the pawns can just run away if they feel threatened.:wink:

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#13

Cool, I like that too but don’t know if I had ever really played that with anybody.

So the pawns are now contemplating making a resolution: “We will not allow ourselves to be pushed, passed, promoted, sacrificed or captured!” :joy:

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#14

Yes, the peasants are revolting!

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#15

lol. “Please, good people!..”, “…shut up!!”. :slight_smile: