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olu143
Aloha
21 Posts |
 Posted - 03/15/2010 : 1:32:20 PM
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Hi everybody. Does anyone know what a Tenor Guitar is? I heard it was a 4-string Guitar. Is it? And if so, know anywhere where it could be bought? javascript:insertsmilie(' ')
Mahalo Nui Loa!
Sam
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Feed a man a fish you feed him for a day.
Teach him how to fish you feed him for the rest of his life. |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2010 : 4:42:04 PM
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Tenor guitars are 4 stringed, a bit bigger than a baritone ukulele,tuned the same as tenor banjos. The idea of them was a guitar that a tenor banjo player could pick up and play imediately. Nick Reynolds of The Kingston Trio used one. I believe I have seen pictures of Eddie Kamae using one. He may tune it like a ukulele. They aren't real popular currently, so finding them may be a trick. I can't recall the last time I saw a new one, but once in a while a used one turns up.
Unko Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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Volcano
Akahai
USA
89 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2010 : 5:56:42 PM
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| Martin and Gibson were both well known for tenor guitars. yes, they are four strings. Kind of like a four string mandola with a guitar body. My favorite tenor player of all time is Tiny Grimes. He was a master back in the 30s and 40s. There are some really great You Tubes of him playing. |
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sm80808
Lokahi
347 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2010 : 6:04:39 PM
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Check www.elderly.com they have a few models.
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Allen M Cary
Lokahi
USA
158 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2010 : 07:31:52 AM
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Ginger Johnson of the Hula Honeys (Johnson and Robyn Kneubel with Jonathan Dessler on bass) plays a lovely old Gibson tenor. There was an article on Neko Case in Acoustic Guitar a few months back. She plays a Martin tenor almost exclusively. Basically it is tuned like a guitar without the two bass strings, and thus could be tuned to most slack key tunings. Of course the alternating bass would then depend on your bass player :)
Aloha,
Allen |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2010 : 07:59:58 AM
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"...tuned like a guitar without the two bass strings..."
I believe this is the same tuning as used on Baritone Ukulele's. So it would be a simple matter for a uke or guitar player to pick right up & play.
Unko Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2010 : 08:59:09 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by rendesvous1840
"...tuned like a guitar without the two bass strings..."
I believe this is the same tuning as used on Baritone Ukulele's. So it would be a simple matter for a uke or guitar player to pick right up & play.
Unko Paul
Right you are, unco! Most folks I know, western swingers most of them, use top 4 string (high strings in pitch) guitar tuning. Early on, when tenor banjos went out of favor in the 1930's, a lot of banjoists converted to tenor guitar, e.g., Ken Treitsch of the Hoosier Hotshots (luv 'em, met them in 1974 at the San Diego Folk Festival). |
keaka |
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Trev
Lokahi
United Kingdom
265 Posts |
Posted - 03/17/2010 : 04:11:23 AM
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| This is really interesting. Over where I live, the 4 string banjo is always tuned in 5ths, an octave down from the fiddle. The only tenor guitars I’ve ever seen (a total of about three in twenty odd years) have been tuned likewise. |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 03/18/2010 : 04:50:55 AM
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Most of the tenor guitars I've seen are tuned CDGA and are generally picked like a mandolin. It seemed too foreign, so I never wanted to pick one up.
Jesse Tinsley |
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olu143
Aloha
21 Posts |
Posted - 03/18/2010 : 12:11:30 PM
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| Thank you everyone for the feedback! I really appreciate all the help and comments! =) |
Feed a man a fish you feed him for a day.
Teach him how to fish you feed him for the rest of his life. |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2010 : 08:16:52 AM
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quote:
Over where I live, the 4 string banjo is always tuned in 5ths, an octave down from the fiddle. The only tenor guitars I’ve ever seen (a total of about three in twenty odd years) have been tuned likewise.
quote:
Most folks I know, western swingers most of them, use top 4 string (high strings in pitch) guitar tuning
Yep, you are both correct. There are two common tenor tunings, the original one in fifths, like the tenor banjo, and the one like a guitar that came about a few years later when guitar players started picking them up.
I think the guitar-like tuning is called "Chicago" tuning.
They are hugely popular right now in the old-time and western swing music worlds.
Rabon Delmore of the Delmore Brothers played a tenor. Great stuff!
So did Johnny Marvin... better known as a uke player. According to my Zygote Brother Tim, who has a Johnny Marvin tenor guitar, he played tenor guitar when he was with Gene Autry cuz Gene didn't think any self-respecting cowboy would play the uke.
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2010 : 6:06:32 PM
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This is one banner day! Both of my early heroes were mentioned in a Hawaiian Music forum on one day. Gene here, and Roy on the pun thread. Whodathunk?
Unko Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
Edited by - rendesvous1840 on 03/19/2010 6:08:42 PM |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2010 : 6:10:15 PM
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Is there one "o" or two in "whodathunk"? I never know all this spelling stuff. Good thing I don't teach English!
Unko Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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Baritone
Lokahi
USA
136 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2010 : 7:52:33 PM
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[quote]Originally posted by olu143
I have a tenor since '81 ($100); spruce top, mahogany back. I like it for the higher voice for the 6 string guitar voice, tuned at DGBE. I usually play it at the 5th fret and double the beat/strum of the 6 string guitar in a string band. Tis a Martin look-alike from Spain, no label. Try craigslist and eBay; Elderly Instruments has em, too.
I'd get one, at a low price for the novelty of the sound...and for my young grandson to play BEFORE moving up to 6 and 12 strings.
Aloha, Herb |
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Tenor Guitar???
