I'd never really delved into mapping the fretboard of a Charango, so before leaving home, I printed out many pages of the Charango fretboard I had created which showed every note on every string as well as some blank fretboard templates.
It is tuned G - C - E - A - E (low to high) with pairs of unison strings, except for the middle pair or E strings which are an octave apart.
On the long 7 - 9 hour flights I'd sit there studying those sheets and marking out various chord voicings/fingerings as well the some fingerings for different major scales, pentatonic scales, major/minor 6ths intervals, etc.
I made significant progress in understanding this instrument and now hope to record with it soon.
My son took this photo of me in the Naples, Italy airport where I had found a secluded area to actually play what I had mapped out on paper.
The Charango has such a unique and great sound and is surprisingly loud for its small size.
