The Rentals

The counting of the strings on the banjo is similar to that of an electric guitar  or an acoustic guitar. This simply means that the counting starts from the bottom, with the thinnest string the first and the thickest the last. Like the alternate guitar tuning, the banjo too has a variety of tunings. And musicians can choose any type of tuning they want according to their preferences. However, as a beginner in knowing how to play the banjo, it is better if you practice first on the common tunings and then move on to more specific one's later.

If you have a banjo with four strings, the standard tuning pattern would be C-G-D-A, with 'C' for the lowest last string and 'A' for the highest first string. In case of a five-stringed instrument, the typical format will be the open 'G' pattern such as G-D-G-B-D, with 'G' being the last string and 'D' being the first string. There are many other patterns, which you can experiment with after advancing in the basics of playing the banjo.