Clawhammer Tunings

Clawhammer 5 string banjo players perform in a range of tunings which are chosen for their best match of key or open chord tonality. In simple terms, it is easier to play cheerful tunes in one tuning and lonesome ones in another.

The modern uke (with the notable exception of Canada) now gravitates to the standard C ‘my dog has fleas’ tuning gCEA. The little g reminds us the tuning is re-entrant with the 4th string (nearest to your chin) just one tone away from the high A string (string 1).

In the good old days (pre 1960) ukes were the same size but tuned a whole tone higher aDF#B. Listen to old recordings from the 1930s and you will here a higher pitched instrument. Sheet music and tutorial books of the time shows a uke chord accompaniment with the higher tuning. Playing a modern C shape 0003 (open strings 4,3,2 with fret 3 pressed on string 1) would yield a D chord and so on.

Some ukes sound nice in the older tuning, but the sound can be too high and the slight added string tension can be felt. For now, stick with the usual C rather than D. The only time I might change is if I have learnt a song in C and wish to play with a fiddler who of course mostly likes to play traditional tunes in the keys of D, A and G. Few fiddlers will wish to play songs in C as they like to use open strings for double stopping.

I regularly use five different tunings in my teaching and playing: