Quote:
Originally Posted by jwhelan56
... I am a guitar player, and have not owned a mandolin (or other variants mentioned in the thread subject).
I know mandolins are tuned G-D-A-E. The mandola I have coming is tuned C-G-D-A. Obviously I will have some learning curve for chords on this mandola vs. guitar chords. Neither of these tunings mimic guitar tuning.
Any advice on getting acclimated to this new instrument?...
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The late LA Wrecking Crew member Tommy Tedesco built a lucrative 40+ year career on being able to play virtually any stringed instrument called for at a given session - his secret being that all of them were in some variation of guitar tuning. If you don't want to master a whole new set of fingerings, focus on the most-used range of a given instrument and, with an appropriately-gauged set of strings, set it up in a guitar-related tuning; FWIW there's a century-old precedent - 1920's guitarists switching over to tenor/plectrum banjo would set them up in DGBE "Chicago" tuning, uke players would use drop-G tuning on their tenor banjos (a trick I learned from Chuck Romanoff of Schooner Fare) -
and IME most of the audience will never know the difference 
...
Here's some tunings I've heard of and/or use myself (
Note: since there's no formal lexicon most names are my own):
- Soprano uke-o-lin: DGBE, an octave above baritone uke (emphasizes middle/upper registers of mandolin, first-choice "cheater" tuning)
- Alto uke-o-lin: GCEA drop-G tenor uke tuning (emphasizes low/middle registers of mandolin, also good mid/high register mandola tuning with lighter string gauges and a new nut)
- "Chicag-ola": DGBE baritone uke tuning covers the bulk of the mandola's customary range
- Piccolo bass: EADG, like the lowest four strings of a guitar - this electric-derived tuning (most often associated with Stanley Clarke and his purpose-built instruments) is a great alternative for long-scale octave mando or (even better, thanks to the larger/deeper body) mandocello
- Contrabass uke: DGBE, an octave below baritone uke - this one's strictly for mandocello, and makes an interesting alternative to baritone guitar in an ensemble arrangement
- "Highgrass": One of the better-known "cheater" banjo tunings - if you're thinking of doubling on 5-string (and your shrink can't talk you out of it
) this variation on "Chicago" tenor/plectrum (gDGBE) virtually eliminates the left-hand learning curve and, if you're a proficient fingerpicker, retuning/fretting that high-G string allows for up-the-neck chromatic chord voicings impossible to achieve otherwise
- "North Chicago": The GCEA drop-G tenor-uke tuning adapted for tenor banjo - extremely versatile, I've used it for neo-trad folk, Irish (far better lead instrument than GDAE tenor IME), chanteys, Dixieland/vaudeville, and even fingerstyle (pair this one with GCEA mandola for a night of Irish/Celtic music - use the mando for the ballads, the banjo for the drinking/Rebel songs)
Hope this helps...
