Quote:
Originally Posted by mrjop1975
I am wondering how people that discovered and came to playing the 4 string tenor guitar? For me, I saw it online and decided it would be fun to try, and got some chord books and got a Kala model. I decided to stick with standard tenor tuning CGDA just for different chord voicings even if I was just playing in the key of C.
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I noticed them in the 1960's in music stores and magazines, but what informed me the most was the 1930 Gibson L-5 I bought from the daughter of the original owner.
The Master Model Label says TGL-5, and it was indeed built as a tenor guitar in 1930, along with 4 other TGL-5's. Mine was converted to 6 string at the factory in 1933 according to the Gibson ledgers.
It still has a fret marker on the 10th fret; a vestige of the banjo. Tenor guitars were developed to entice banjo players to have the 'new sound' without having to learn a new instrument during the 1920's when banjo HAD been the king of rhythm ensembles.
Regards,
Howard Emerson