Can someone help me? (stringed instrument)

[Artyem]

I've been playing a variety of stringed instruments for the last eight years or so now, and just this last Christmas I received a Spanish Bandurria.  I thought it was pretty neat, and supposedly it's the only one in my state, but I've got no fucking clue how to play it or how to tune it.

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So, if someone can direct me somewhere or give some tips, it'd be appreciated.  I've been trying to figure it out on and off since December, but with no results.

And that's the best example of someone actually playing a Spanish Bandurria, which is seemingly rare compared to the Philippine version.

[pepejul]

nice.. looks like Mandolin.... 

[Anal Bleeding]

The modern bandurria has 12 strings (6 pairs). The strings are tuned in unison pairs, going up in fourths from the low G#. The lowest four strings are a major-third above those of a standard guitar and the highest two strings are a fourth above a standard guitar, i.e. G♯, c♯, f♯, b, e and a.[2]

manodolin is tuned in fifths.

[isatis]

Well, to tune it should be rather simple, , just use a piano (or a keyboard if you do not have a 5000$ pianoforte like everyone!!). I mean it won't be THE right note, but it should be rather close

To play it, well, I hope you have a good music ear!

Try to get in contact with some old guitar maker

Or you can go on spanish website, I think it should have more information!!

http://www.mundoplectro.com/

[Teeth]

A quick wikipedia told me that its basically like a 12 string guitar, with the different sets of strings going up in fourths starting on G#. Each pair of strings should be tuned to the same note.

G♯, c♯, f♯, b, e and a

Which is similar to a regular guitar which also goes up in fourths, except that from the 4th and 5th string (thickest to thinnest) it goes up a major 3rd.

E, A, D, G, B and e

Which means that everything you can play on guitar, can be played on the Bandurria if you transpose everything up 4 semi tones/frets and move what you would play on the guitar on the thinnest two strings, one semi tone/fret back. Which basically means that you need to relearn all your chord grips, but if you are willing to put some work in this, it should be doable.

For some quick fun, you can play power chords all over the neck on the Bandurria.

Alternatively, as far as I know you could simply tune the last two strings on the Bandurria back one semi tone, which will make it very similar to a guitar. This allows you to use everything you can play on guitar, it's just 4 semitones higher. This is not the official tuning though.

This would be:
G♯, c♯, f♯, b, d♯ and g♯

I hope your theoretical knowledge is sufficient to get what I mean, otherwise I could draw it out or something, let me know if this helps.

[Artyem]

A quick wikipedia told me that its basically like a 12 string guitar, with the different sets of strings going up in fourths starting on G#. Each pair of strings should be tuned to the same note.

G♯, c♯, f♯, b, e and a

Which is similar to a regular guitar which also goes up in fourths, except that from the 4th and 5th string (thickest to thinnest) it goes up a major 3rd.

E, A, D, G, B and e

Which means that everything you can play on guitar, can be played on the Bandurria if you transpose everything up 4 semi tones/frets and move what you would play on the guitar on the thinnest two strings, one semi tone/fret back. Which basically means that you need to relearn all your chord grips, but if you are willing to put some work in this, it should be doable.

For some quick fun, you can play power chords all over the neck on the Bandurria.

Alternatively, as far as I know you could simply tune the last two strings on the Bandurria back one semi tone, which will make it very similar to a guitar. This allows you to use everything you can play on guitar, it's just 4 semitones higher. This is not the official tuning though.

This would be:
G♯, c♯, f♯, b, d♯ and g♯

I hope your theoretical knowledge is sufficient to get what I mean, otherwise I could draw it out or something, let me know if this helps.

That actually helps a lot, I'm pretty sure I had it down pretty close before, but it just never seemed right.

And yeah, actually the first thing I did was translate The Unforgiven by Metallica, as per request of my friends 

I read the same article some time ago, but it's been difficult to get into the right tuning since it was missing some pieces (now restored), but I'll give it a go again and see if your helpful advice is now applicable.  Thanks!

EDIT:


Should I be tuning this from thinnest (highest) to thickest (lowest) or the other way around?

[Teeth]

I listed all the tunings from thickest to thinnest.

[Artyem]

Alright, that's what I figured.

I'm now under the impression that the previous owner didn't string what would be the 7th string properly, which means I'm probably going to have to go find some strings for it somewhere.  From what I understand, he used it mostly as a wall prop and had to change a few strings once or twice, but I think I've got some laying around.

Yeah, this should be fun.

[Sniger]