Tuning videos

[Josh Bushey]

Hi gang,

I'm new to minstrel banjo as in, my prust just showed up this afternoon. I have some experience with clawhammer banjo and those tunings but none with minstrel. Are there any videos showing turning in high and low bass or other common tunings? I have a tuner but am a little tuning shy after snapping a guitar string the other day.

Thanks and I can't wait to start learning these tunes.

Josh 

[Chris Prieto]

dGDF#A - low bass
dADF#A - high bass

That should get ya started. There's a good thread in here where the tunings are discussed more in depth.

My first minstrel banjo was a prust. Pretty spiffy banjo.

[Chris Prieto]

Assuming you have minstrel nylgut strings :)

[Josh Bushey]

yeah that's what I have. It seems like there's bit too much tension in the strings to get the d and the F# without snapping. I guess they need to stretch out a bit. 

Chris Prieto said:

Assuming you have minstrel nylgut strings :)

[Chris Prieto]

You might be up a whole step or something because the tension shouldn't be high enough to snap the string. The strings being fatter will need less tension than a wire rig.

[Paul Draper]

Here's a video that may help: http://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/video/tuning-wmv

[Chris Prieto]

That's the one I was trying to find! Thanks Paul.

[Strumelia]

Welcome Josh!

keep in mind that the d for your fifth string for exampel will be the d BELOW (lower than) the usual g you might tune your 5th string to in clawhammer.  That's 2.5 steps lower.

[Josh Bushey]

Perfect!

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Paul Draper said:

Here's a video that may help: http://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/video/tuning-wmv