Frets Strings

The Tenor Banjo is used extensively in both Irish traditional music, and Traditional Jazz. It has a shorter scale than the G Banjo, and 4 strings tuned CGDA, but it is common for Irish musicians to retune down to GDAE using thicker strings. Used in jazz and popular music earlier this century, the tenor banjo has 4 strings and is usually tuned CGDA.

A Tenor Guitar has 4 strings tuned as a tenor banjo CGDA, sometimes tuned down to GDAE for celtic music using thicker strings. It usually has the same scale length as a 19 ftret tenor banjo.

The Oud or Ud is the premier instrument of the Arab world, still played widely and is the ancestor of the Lute and hence many modern Western instruments. It is a fretless Lute with a bowl back and angled peg head. The word Ud means wood. The name of several instruments come from the Ud too. Al Ud = A Lute, also the Laud from Spain.

The Ukulele is used for traditional and popular music in Hawaii. The tuning is related to the guitar and chord shapes are the same as the top 4 of a guitar. Note that on the soprano uke the 4th string is tuned an octave above what you'd expect. This re-entrant tuning is not traditional to all sizes of ukuleles, but it is commonly used on all of them except the baritone.

The Vihuela is a fretted instrument popular in Mexico, usually used for simple rhytmic accompaniment. It has only four frets usually and an arched back like the guitarron. It is around the size of a half size classical and has 5 strings tuned ADGBE usually in re-entrant tuning with the bottom string one octave higher.