Ok, stop laughing, I bought a (Deering) banjo for my son's birthday whose descent into the netherworld of Americana seems to be unstoppable, and now my stupid question is: How do you tune the darn (and heavy!, I had no idea they weighed a ton) thing? I know the standard tuning of these things is G D G B D top-down, but what octaves are we talking about?
The upper string (G), which (unlike all other strings) only starts at the fifth fret, where would that be on a guitar? Empty G string of a guitar?
And the second string (D) is obviously lower than the G on top of it, but where would that D be on a guitar? The empty D string of a guitar?
The G string in the middle, is that the same octave as the upper G-string?
Likewise, the B string is that the same octave as on a guitar?
And finally the D string (same gauge as the upper G string, but with five frets of a lower extension), that would - if fretted in the fifth fret - then have the same note as the upper G string, i.e. an octave higher than the Banjo lower D string (= upper E string of a guitar tuned two half-steps down?)?
This is all very embarrassing to ask, be gentle with me. And I thought I knew a lot about stringed instruments ...
Uwe