Discovering the Tenor Guitar: A Love Story on Four Strings
When A Joyful Little Band was just coming together, I was mostly playing ukulele. Ukuleles are fun, portable, and easy on the hands — but they can be a bit limited in tone quality and sound projection, especially in a band setting.
Everything changed on our first trip to New Orleans.
We were enjoying an unforgettable brunch at Broussard’s, famous for its “Jazz Brunch”. One of the musicians was playing a four-string instrument that looked like a guitar — but wasn’t. We had to ask. That’s when we were formally introduced to the tenor guitar.
I fell in love immediately, and my curiosity was certainly piqued.
After that brunch in New Orleans, I couldn’t stop thinking about the sound of that instrument. Within a few months, John and I reached out to Andrew Madsen, a skilled local luthier, and asked him to build a custom archtop tenor guitar for me. I had a clear vision of what I wanted: something with the tonal richness of a vintage jazz box, but in a more compact, four-string format.
Andrew brought it to life beautifully. His craftsmanship and care with custom projects are second to none.
*Check out Madsen Guitars here: https://www.madsenguitars.com/
So, what is a tenor guitar?
The tenor guitar is a four-string instrument that emerged in the 1920s and '30s, created to help tenor banjo players transition more easily to guitar as jazz and popular music styles were evolving. Built in both flat-top and archtop styles, tenor guitars were designed to deliver a similar chordal punch as the banjo — but with the warmth and resonance of a guitar.
They found a home in early jazz, swing, and folk music, and were especially useful in small ensembles where clarity and rhythmic drive were key. In traditional New Orleans jazz, the tenor guitar often sat right in the rhythmic engine room, helping keep time and add harmonic structure without overpowering the other instruments.
Though they fell out of widespread use over time, tenor guitars have always had a niche following — and today, they’re enjoying something of a quiet revival among players looking for something unique and expressive.
Here are a few website links for further reading:
https://creekdontrise.com/acoustic/tenor_guitar/what_is_tenor_guitar.htm
A Conversation Starter
One of the most common questions I get during or after we play a show is: “What is that instrument you’re playing?” People are intrigued by the look and sound of the tenor guitar — especially since it’s not something you see every day.
I play an archtop tenor guitar, which gives it that classic jazz-era punch and resonance. Mine is tuned in what’s often called "Chicago tuning" — DGBE — the same as the top four strings of a standard six-string guitar. This tuning made for a relatively simple shift from my years playing ukuleles. A ukulele is usually tuned GCEA, exactly a fourth higher than the “Chicago tuning”-DGBE. This allowed me to continue using all the jazzy chord shapes I had learned, and after a bit of frustration during the transition from ukulele to tenor guitar, I found the perfect method to process all the “new chords”: Any chord on a ukulele would be exactly transferred to the tenor guitar IF I barre them on the fifth fret! This realization was a game changer.
Even though I have so much more to learn, I feel a real sense of motivation in my practicing, and excited by the challenge of the new tenor guitar theory. I know it is opening musical doors that are exactly where I want to go. I love chatting with people about this special instrument, and would highly encourage ukulele players to consider a tenor guitar as a wonderful evolution to their ukulele playing.