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| Moderated by: Richard Hefner |
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| The Gold Tone Plucky - Beginner Questions - Banjo - Banjo - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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Ukulele Approved 
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I acctually play the ukulele but im interested in learning the banjo. I liked the size and price of the Plucky. I was wondering if ayone knows anything about this banjo. Thanks. Here are some pictures http://www.goldtone.com/products/pages/plucky.asp#bottom
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banjo brad Super Moderator 
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It looks like a nice travel banjo, or kid's instrument, but the main drawback I see for learning as an adult is that it can't be tuned down to standard G tuning. You will have to transpose a huge portion of the banjo playbooks up to C, or stick to D tunes. I would suggest looking at a full size banjo to learn on. If price is a consideration, it might work.  Keep on pickin'Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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1four5 Approved 
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I own a full size Gold Tone banjo, and it's an awesome instrument, so I would hope thier quality (and looks like very somilar construction) would be the same. What a darling instrument! ...I'm with Brad on the tuning though, unless you're better than me at music theory and transposing.  BTW, I also went from uke to banjo. I tuned my uke to banjo tuning and still use it a lot for practice and working out songs.
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Ukulele Approved
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The tuning doesn't really matter to me because I am not going to be playing with anyone. All the chord shapes will be the same right? They will just be in a different key. I really like the small size. I know it sounds wierd, but I guess it is the Uke in me! Last edited on Mon Nov 7th, 2005 09:21 pm by Ukulele |
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banjo brad Super Moderator
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The chord shapes for C tuning probably would be the same as the open G on a regular banjo, just 2 1/2 steps (5 frets) higher. D tuning is normally open C capoed 2 frets on the banjo. To play out of D in normal tuning, the sound would be 1 more step higher. A banjo is normally tuned (for comparison in the tunings above) gDGBD - Open C (double C) is gCGCD. Since you play the ukelele, the shorter scale banjo you are looking at would be more familiar in fingerings, you would just need to know the banjo chord shapes. Of course, clawhammer banjo does a lot of alternate tunings and has a songlist heavy in songs with just one chord. Keep on pickin'Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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Ukulele Approved
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That makes sense. How would you tune the Plucky then?
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banjo brad Super Moderator
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Looking again at the Plucky, it looks like it would be tuned like a standard G-tuning, only 5 half-steps (frets) higher i.e., cGCEG for C, or one whole step more for D tuning. These both would use the standard G-tuning chord shapes, but would be pitched higher. This is due to the shortened scale length of the Plucky - I think it would give it a very banjo-uke sound with, of course, the 5th string added. Keep on pickin'Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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Ukulele Approved
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Ok Thanks Very much for the info!
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GingerStirFry Approved
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This Forum has been so helpful, thank you. I too have a GT Plucky, I love it! The only thing is I crave continuity with everyone else. What tuning will enable me to accomplish this? I don't care if I have to transpose all my chords. Someone told me to tune the last four like a violin (gdae) and play everything on the 2nd, 4th and 5th frets, does that make sense? And what to do with the 5th string? I'm so confused... Apparently not the banjo to start with. Thanks! -Julia
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banjo brad Super Moderator
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Julia- If you are going to be playing fiddle tune melodies, the fiddle tuning might be an interesting concept to work with. A couple of questions first, to help clarify what you are asking: 1. What are you playing on the Plucky now? What do you have it tuned to? 2. How familiar are you with transposing and different tunings? 3. Do you play other stringed/fretted instruments? 4. Are you going to be playing with other people? What type of music,i.e. Old Time, Bluegrass, Jazz, etc.? That should give me a little better idea of what you want to do with the instrument. Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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GingerStirFry Approved
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Brad, I just bought the plucky (needed something travel savvy),this is my first shot at the banjo. Love bluegrass but would like to explore the banjo's sound with diverse music styles. I'll probably be jamming with a violin, guitar, harmonica, washboard etc. I've been experimenting with the tuning and but havn't pinned anything down. I've always played guitar and have a patchy knowldge of music theory (I'd love the chance to brush up, having to transpose evrything). You're amazing, bequeathing all of this musical knowledge to us. Thanks for passing it on! -Julia
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banjo brad Super Moderator
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Julia- Ok, so the Plucky is a very short scale banjo, normally tuned to the key of C ( cGCEg - 5th string to 1st string). This is the same basic tuning as a normal scale banjo tuned to G, just 5 half-steps (frets) higher. If you take this tuning and put the standard key of G chords to it, they would transpose as: G -> C C -> F D -> G - so you could play along to any song in the key of C with these chords. To play in G, you would use the 'normal' G tuning chord shapes for the key of C, etc. To examine some of this, check out Richard's Bluegrass and Clawhammer tutorials here. The 5th string is normally used as a drone on the 5-string banjo, and you can see how that works. The short scale of the Plucky seems to limit its use in a group setting, I think. I would probably use such an instrument as a hiking/camping banjo to use as single accompaniment around a campfire. What a non-traditional music player might do with the instrument is something that I will probably never know. Good luck, and come back if you don't understand what I've tried to say, or if you have any other questions. Post something as soon as you start to understand the instrument. Brad Last edited on Sun Jun 10th, 2007 02:51 am by banjo brad ____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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rskelley Approved
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If you tuned it like a uke, GCEA -- up one tone on the first string, and add a C for the 5th string (or maybe remove it), you can swap back and forth between a uke and a Plucky w/o having to learn other fingerings. The Plucky might have more banjo sound than a normal banjo uke -- don't know, but seems possible. And a lot cheaper than most banjo ukes too. Use light strings and there should not be any problem with the finger tips and metal strings, At least I had no fingertip problems with light strings on my plectrum banjo (which I have tuned Chicago Style, like my baritone uke).
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| ezFolk Forums > Banjo > Beginner Questions - Banjo > The Gold Tone Plucky | |
