How-to
How to tune a banjo
Almost every 5-string banjo is tuned to open G — strum the open strings and you get a G chord. Here is the exact note for every string, how to tune by ear or with a clip-on tuner, and the other tunings you will run into on tenor and plectrum banjos.
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Standard 5-string tuning: open G (gDGBD)
“Open G” means the strings are tuned to the notes of a G major chord, so strumming them open sounds a G. Reading the tuning from the 5th (short) string down to the 1st: g – D – G – B – D. The lower-case g marks the short 5th string, which is pitched an octave above the 3rd-string G. This is the tuning Earl Scruggs used, and it is what nearly every bluegrass and clawhammer tab assumes.
By ear vs. a clip-on tuner
When you are starting out, use a chromatic clip-on tuner. It clamps to the headstock, reads the pitch through the wood, and shows you the note name and whether you are sharp or flat — no ambient noise from a jam or the TV throws it off. “Chromatic” matters: it recognizes every note, so it works for open-G and every alternate tuning below. A decent clip-on costs about $12–20 and is the single most useful accessory a beginner can own.
Tuning by ear is worth learning in parallel. Once the 3rd string is at a true G (matched to a tuner, a piano, or a reference tone), you can tune the rest relative to it using fretted notes: the 4th fret of the 3rd string gives B for the 2nd string, the 3rd fret of the 2nd string gives D for the 1st, and the 5th fret of the 1st string gives the high g for the 5th. Your ear gets faster every week, but keep the tuner on the headstock as a backstop.
Step by step: tuning to open G
Clip your tuner on the headstock and pluck the 4th string. Turn the peg slowly until the tuner reads D. Always tune up to the note — if you overshoot, come back below it and rise into pitch so the string settles.
This is your anchor. Pluck the 3rd string and bring it to G. If you only have a reference pitch and no tuner, this is the string to match first, then tune the rest to it.
Bring the 2nd string up to B. By ear: fret the 3rd string at the 4th fret — that note is B, and the open 2nd string should match it.
The thin 1st string is D. By ear: fret the 2nd string at the 3rd fret to get D, then match the open 1st string to it.
The short 5th string is a high g. Fret the 1st string at the 5th fret to get a g, then match the open 5th string an octave up. Check it last — it slips most easily.
Strum all five open strings. It should ring as a clean G major. If any string sounds sour, nudge it and strum again. New strings especially will drift, so run the whole cycle twice.
A fresh set of strings will not hold pitch until it has been stretched in. After you tune up, gently pull each string away from the fretboard along its length, then re-tune. Repeat a few times. Expect to re-tune often for the first day or two of playing — it is the strings settling, not a fault with the banjo.
Tenor, plectrum and Irish tenor (4-string) tunings
Four-string banjos are a different world from the 5-string, and there is no single “4-string banjo tuning” — it depends on the instrument and the style:
- Tenor banjo (CGDA) — the standard jazz and Dixieland tuning, tuned in fifths like a viola or mandola: C–G–D–A from the 4th string to the 1st. Bright and cutting, built for chord-melody and rhythm in a trad-jazz band.
- Plectrum banjo (CGBD) — a long-neck 4-string, essentially a 5-string with the short string removed. It is tuned C–G–B–D, which is open-G without the high drone, so 5-string chord shapes transfer easily.
- Irish tenor (GDAE) — the same notes as a fiddle or mandolin, an octave lower: G–D–A–E. This is what Irish trad players use for fast single-note melody lines, and it lets fiddle tunes sit right under the fingers.