Tenor Guitar: The Four-String Guitar of the Banjo Era
| Category | Other |
|---|---|
| Wikidata | Q963150 |
Overview
The tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenor_guitar). The instrument was initially developed in its acoustic form by Gibson and C.F. Martin so that players of the four-string tenor banjo could double on guitar without having to learn an entirely new instrument.
In Hornbostel-Sachs the tenor guitar is classified as 321.322-4 — a composite chordophone played by plucking, normally with a plectrum. Although it shares the body shape of the standard six-string guitar, its scale length, string count and tuning all derive from the tenor banjo and from the older Italian tenor stringed instruments such as the mandola.
Origin and history
The earliest origins of the tenor guitar are not entirely clear, but it seems unlikely that a true four-stringed guitar-shaped tenor guitar appeared before the late 1920s. As an intermediate step, Gibson built the tenor lute TL-4 in 1924, which had a lute-like pear-shaped body, four strings and a tenor banjo neck. Similar instruments were probably also made by other makers such as Lyon and Healy and the banjo specialists Bacon. In the same period banjo makers such as Paramount built transitional round, banjo-like wood-bodied instruments with four strings and tenor-banjo necks called tenor harps. From 1927 onwards the very first true wood-bodied acoustic tenor guitars appeared as production instruments made by both Gibson and C.F. Martin.
Almost all the major guitar makers — including Epiphone, Kay, Gretsch, Guild and National Reso-Phonic — have manufactured tenor (and plectrum) guitars as production instruments at various times. Budget tenor guitars by Harmony, Regal and Stella were produced in large numbers in the 1950s and 1960s. National, formed by the Dopyera Brothers, also made significant numbers of resonator tenor and plectrum guitars between the 1920s and 1940s; Dobro, another company associated with the Dopyera Brothers, produced various resonator tenor models as well.
In 1934 Gibson introduced an acoustic archtop tenor guitar, the TG-50, derived from the L-50 six-string archtop, with a production run lasting until 1958. In 1936 Gibson introduced the world’s first commercially successful electric Spanish-style guitar, the ES-150. In early 1937 Gibson also began shipping two other versions of the ES-150: a tenor guitar (the EST-150, with four strings and a 23-inch scale, renamed the ETG-150 in 1940) and a plectrum version (the EPG-150, with a 27-inch scale). The ETG-150 stayed in continuous production until 1972.
In the mid-1950s electric solid-body tenor guitar models began to appear from companies such as Gibson, Gretsch, Guild and Epiphone. These were mostly built as one-off custom instruments, but for a short period in 1955 Gretsch manufactured an electric solid-bodied tenor guitar, the Gretsch 6127 DuoJet. Renewed interest in the instrument in the early 21st century led to new solid-body electric tenor models, including a tenor version of the Fender Telecaster.
Construction
Tenor guitars are four-stringed instruments normally made in the shape of a guitar. They can be acoustic, electric, or both, and they come in flat-top wood-bodied, archtop wood-bodied, metal-bodied resonator and solid-bodied forms. Tenor guitars normally have a scale length similar to that of the tenor banjo and the octave mandolin — between 21 and 23 inches (53-58 cm), as opposed to the 24.75-25.5 inch scale of a standard six-string acoustic or electric guitar. The instrument illustrated above is a modern Gold Tone acoustic tenor guitar (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Item-tenor-guitar-503_lg.jpg).
Strings are usually steel, plain on the top two courses and wound on the bottom two; gauges and tensions are matched to the chosen tuning rather than to the standard six-string-guitar set.
Tuning
Tenor guitars are normally tuned in fifths: C3-G3-D4-A4, identical to the tuning of the tenor banjo, the mandola and the viola. This is the foundational reason for the instrument’s existence: a player who learned scales and chords on the tenor banjo could pick up a tenor guitar and play immediately, with no relearning of the fingerboard.
Two other tunings are also widely used:
- Octave or “Irish” tuning — G2-D3-A3-E4, one octave below standard violin/mandolin tuning. This is the tuning of the tenor banjo as used in Irish traditional music and of the octave mandolin, and it has become the dominant tenor-guitar tuning in Celtic folk repertoires.
- “Chicago” tuning — D3-G3-B3-E4, the same as the top four strings of a standard guitar (or of a baritone ukulele). Players of the standard six-string guitar can switch to a Chicago-tuned tenor guitar with no change in chord shapes; this is by far the easiest tuning for a guitarist to take up, and it is correspondingly popular among modern players who come to the tenor guitar from the six-string instrument.
The plectrum guitar (a related four-string instrument)
The plectrum guitar is a closely related four-stringed guitar with a longer scale length of 26 to 27 inches (66-69 cm) and tunings usually based on the plectrum banjo: C3-G3-B3-D4 or D3-G3-B3-D4. They are also sometimes tuned like a mandocello, C2-G2-D3-A3, one octave below the tenor guitar — much the same relationship as that between viola and cello. Plectrum guitars have not been made in nearly the same numbers as tenor guitars and are correspondingly rare. One of the best-known plectrum guitarists from the Jazz Age was Eddie Condon, who started out on banjo in the 1920s and then switched to a Gibson L-7 plectrum guitar in the 1930s.
Playing technique
Because the tenor guitar is normally tuned in fifths (or in the related “Irish” octave-fifths tuning), its fingerboard layout is identical to the mandola, the upper four courses of a violin, and a viola. Single-line melody playing therefore transfers directly to and from those instruments. Chord voicings on a fifths-tuned tenor guitar are wider and more open than on a standard guitar — the larger interval between adjacent strings means that two-string chords cover a sixth or a tenth rather than a fourth or a fifth — and the resulting voicings are characteristic of the instrument’s sound in jazz rhythm playing.
The tenor guitar is most commonly played with a flatpick (plectrum), particularly in jazz and country contexts; fingerstyle is also used, especially in Celtic music and contemporary singer-songwriter repertoire.
Cultural context
Tenor guitars first came to commercial prominence in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as tenor banjos were slowly displaced by six-string guitars in jazz bands and dance orchestras. Tenor banjo players could double on tenor guitars to get a guitar sound without having to learn the six-string guitar — a useful piece of professional flexibility during a period when band-leaders increasingly expected guitar accompaniment rather than the more strident banjo. By the late 1940s the six-string acoustic and electric guitars had largely supplanted both the tenor banjo and the tenor guitar in mainstream popular music, and the tenor guitar settled into a long second career as a specialist instrument for jazz rhythm, Irish traditional music, and singer-songwriter folk.
A 21st-century revival, supported by tenor models from Eastman, Gold Tone, Blueridge, Fender and others, has brought the tenor guitar back into the hands of a new generation — particularly players coming to it from the mandolin, the tenor banjo, the standard guitar (via Chicago tuning), and the Irish octave-mandolin tradition.
Comparison with related instruments
| Instrument | Strings | Scale | Standard tuning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenor guitar | 4 single | 21-23 in (53-58 cm) | C3-G3-D4-A4 (fifths) |
| Plectrum guitar | 4 single | 26-27 in (66-69 cm) | C3-G3-B3-D4 |
| Tenor banjo | 4 single | ~22 in | C3-G3-D4-A4 |
| Mandola | 4 courses (8 strings) | ~16-17 in | C3-G3-D4-A4 |
| Octave mandolin | 4 courses (8 strings) | ~21 in | G2-D3-A3-E4 |
| Mandolin | 4 courses (8 strings) | ~14 in | G3-D4-A4-E5 |
| Guitar (six-string) | 6 single | 24.75-25.5 in | E2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4 |
| Baritone guitar | 6 single | 27-30 in | B1-E2-A2-D3-F#3-B3 |
Compared with the standard six-string guitar, the tenor guitar has fewer strings, a shorter scale and a fifths-based tuning that aligns it with the violin/mandola family rather than the guitar family. Compared with the tenor banjo and mandolin, it has the body of a guitar — single strings rather than paired courses, and a wooden soundbox rather than a drumhead — but the same fingerboard.
FAQ
Why is it called a “tenor” guitar?
The name derives from the tenor banjo: both instruments are tuned identically (C3-G3-D4-A4 in fifths), and the tenor guitar was originally developed so that tenor banjo players could double on a guitar-like instrument without learning a new fingerboard.
How is a tenor guitar tuned?
The standard tuning is C3-G3-D4-A4 in fifths, identical to the tenor banjo, mandola and viola. Common alternate tunings include “Irish” octave tuning G2-D3-A3-E4 (one octave below the mandolin/violin) and “Chicago” tuning D3-G3-B3-E4 (the same as the top four strings of a standard guitar).
Who invented the tenor guitar?
The first true wood-bodied acoustic tenor guitars were produced as catalogue instruments by Gibson and C.F. Martin from 1927 onwards. Earlier transitional designs included Gibson’s pear-bodied tenor lute TL-4 (1924) and the “tenor harp” instruments built by banjo makers such as Paramount.
What is the difference between a tenor guitar and a plectrum guitar?
Both are four-string members of the guitar family. The tenor guitar has a short 21-23-inch scale and is tuned C3-G3-D4-A4 like a tenor banjo. The plectrum guitar has a longer 26-27-inch scale and is tuned C3-G3-B3-D4 like a plectrum banjo. Plectrum guitars are much rarer than tenor guitars.
Is the tenor guitar still made today?
Yes. After a long period of low production through the second half of the 20th century, the tenor guitar has been revived in the 21st century by makers including Gold Tone, Eastman, Blueridge, Martin and Fender, as well as a number of independent luthiers.
