Total newb question. But is there a significant difference in playing a tenor banjo from a standard. I know rolls will all be the same. My understanding is they a keyed is a lower key than open G. I’m thinking they aren’t. And Why would a person choose a Tenor Banjo over a Standard open. The reason for my curiosity is one of these days down the road and my rich uncle dies I really like Deerings Julie Belle banjo but my understanding is it’s a tenor.
Standard vs. Tenor
Tenor is a shorter scale and usually four strings (think dixieland)…below is a link w/explanation
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Gotcha the Julia Belle is a 5 string. So I guess it’s not a Tenor just says 5 string low tuned
Hi Woody, When you say standard what do you actually mean ?
A Tenor banjo comes in two neck lengths 17 & 19 and as far as I am aware are tuned the same. The 17 fret version is what is often referred to as the short scale.
For Jazz / Dixieland CGDA 4321
For Irish GDAE 4321 which is the same tuning for a mandolin if I am not mistaken
Both are generally played with a plectrum. But and there is always a but, I know of at least one guy in the Netherlands or Belgium who plays bluegrass on a Tenor Banjo and he uses picks and plays rolls.
I believe the Plectrum Banjo is also used for Jazz among other things has 22 frets same as a 5 string Banjo however John Hartford had a 5 string banjo made special that had 24 frets tuned to E which better suited his voice and the longer neck meant he could get two full scales on his 24 fret Banjo
I guess by Standard I mean a 22 fret Open G tuned Banjo like my Deering Goodtime Classic Special. So I guess my next question is What would be the difference in playing a banjo like my Deering Goodtime and playing a banjo like the Deering Julia Belle (I guess any 2 banjos tuned in different Keys) or are you getting the same effect using a capo? Starting to show my inexperience here lol
The Deering neck would be 2 frets longer creating a lower tuning.
“The Julia Belle is specifically designed to shine when played in lower tunings such as E or D”
it could be capoed up to G…
Hi Woody. I would say the difference would be like night and day.
I have never actually played a Dearing banjo but I have a Chinese built Fender and a Stelling and there is a huge difference. I believe the Julia Belle has 24 frets so I personally wouldn’t want to attempt tuning it to open G. However it would be ok to put a capo on the second fret and spike the 5th string to G.
Why don’t you just pop into your local Deering dealership and ask to try out a few models. They might not have a Julia Belle in stock as it a fairly new model but you would at least learn a lot more through personal experience than by asking a bunch of questions.
Lol my local dealer had 1 banjo a Dean and he had no idea of the model the seller thought they only made 1 hahaha. It’s gonna be a couple years down the road before I’ll be looking at a 5k banjo and by that time hopefully their will be some good deals on used ones. My interest in the Julia Belle is the Riverboat and John Hartford theme it has
yup
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Ok.