dan tranh/zither tuning

[pastelseraph]

hi! i found my mom's dan tranh while shuffling through her closet yesterday and was a little interested in playing it. i'm 16 and pretty experienced in music already (western instruments however, like piano flute and violin :/) so i sort of figured out how to tune it.. but i'm not sure which notes go on each string?

my understanding is that it should be tuned to notes depending on the key you would be playing in... since pressing on the strings don't change the pitch like a violin would, and it has more of a vibrato effect... i'm not sure if this is correct, i could be completely wrong, haha. thanks!

[davidmdahl]

Welcome to the Forum, Pastelseraph. How many strings does your dan tranh have? Assuming that you have a dan tranh with 17 strings, the strings are tuned in groups of 5, hence “pentatonic”. An older dan tranh may have 16 strings, and newer models may have 21 or more strings.

Usually, or at least frequently, the dan tranh is tuned, from the bottom (lowest note): G A C D E G A C D E G A C D E G A. I prefer thinking of the groups of 5 starting with the first C string, third from the bottom, which makes:
G A C D E G A C D E G A C D E G A. In reality, there is no standard way to tune a dan tranh. It will depend on the tune to be played. I usually tune low, so my G is a third or fourth lower than an actual G. Of course, in an ensemble you have to match the pitch and key.

Standard technique is to press a string on the left side of the bridge to raise its pitch. There are also ornaments that are done with the left hand, such as vibrato (rung). There are lots of videos on Youtube that should provide clues.

It is common to break strings, so if you are starting up a dan tranh that has old strings, be sure to have some spares. It is not that difficult to change a string, so don't panic. It may be challenging at first though if you don't have someone to show you how. Not much about playing a dan tranh is intuitive, so I suggest looking for a teacher.

Best wishes,

David