From: owner-wanderer-digest@smoe.org (wanderer-digest) To: wanderer-digest@smoe.org Subject: wanderer-digest V1 #15 Reply-To: wanderer@smoe.org Sender: owner-wanderer-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-wanderer-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk wanderer-digest Wednesday, October 24 2001 Volume 01 : Number 015 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Re: staying in tune [Patti Witten ] Re: wanderer-digest V1 #12 ["Michael Paz" ] Re: staying in tune [Howard ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 07:33:52 -0400 From: Patti Witten Subject: Re: Re: staying in tune Sue wrote: >you need to bang the bass strings on that song, it sounds better when > the C is a little flat. DOES THAT SOUND CRAZY? No, that's absolutely right! - -- Patti Witten & Prairie Doll http://pattiwitten.com http://prairiedoll.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 09:26:56 -0500 From: "Michael Paz" Subject: Re: wanderer-digest V1 #12 Hi Gang- I am back and glad to see this list has taken off "so to speak". I have been enjoying the ongoing discussion, but have not had the time to post yet. Anyways, I wanted to pipe in on this one though as I bought a Baritione before my trip and I just love it. I have been pulling out some pld progressions I use to play and they sound great with this really big sounding guitar. Its really fat sounding on the bottom. Hope you all are well! Paz - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Domyancich" To: Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2001 1:16 PM Subject: Re: wanderer-digest V1 #12 > There is also a baritone guitar, which is tuned down a fifth (6th > string is tuned down to B). Sounds awesome! > > Mark > > At 7:44 AM -0400 10/21/01, Patti Witten wrote: > >Marian wrote: > > > >> They make guitars in different keys???? Never heard of that before!!! Tell > >> me more! > >> > >Sure! The tenor guitar is quite common but I'm not too sure how it's tuned. > >It's voiced like a bass and we used one on my song "Is That True" on Land Of > >Souvenirs. We also used an American guitar called a tiple (rhymes with > >tipple) that has 10 double-course strings as in a 12-string, but we only > >used the 5 strings. I think most of them come from Latin cultures where > >there are many voices and shapes of guitars-- think Mariachi band. Hawaii > >has the Ukelele and a tradition called slack key guitar which I think is > >about alternate tuning. There's probably a wealth of websites... I like the > >Google search engine. Happy hunting. > >-- > >Patti Witten & Prairie Doll > >http://pattiwitten.com http://prairiedoll.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 20:02:47 +0100 From: Howard Subject: Re: staying in tune Hi all, I agree with what's been said about capos - you will nearly *always* have to tweak the tuning again after putting the capo on (this is true for standard and altered tunings.) Usually you'll have to tune down a fraction after adding the capo. I tend to get the tuning only roughly correct before putting the capo on, then get it as good as I can after the capo's on. It depends a little on the capo, but I think most of them squeeze down harder on the strings than your finger would, so they increase the string tension a little, and that pushes the pitch up. It's sometimes hard (for me anyway!) to get the capo on without moving the strings a little away from their usual position on the neck, which again means a bit of tweaking is necessary. Susan McNamara wrote: > Bern wrote: > > > >I sometimes have a problem getting the right sound from the bass string when > >I'm in an alternate tuning with a capo. For example, if I tune the low > >string to C and capo at the 5th fret, the bass string sounds out-of-tune and > >I have to adjust the tuning of the string with the capo in place. I seem to > >have to bring it lower, almost to a B, but it still doesn't sound quite > >perfect. > > > > I agree with Patti that putting a capo on usually means you need to > fiddle with the tuning. Also, even if you are not using a capo, for > some reason the bottom string, in my case anyway, always needs to be > tuned slightly lower in comparison to the other strings. I remember > many years back being baffled by the lower C string while trying to > play "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire." I guess because of the way > you need to bang the bass strings on that song, it sounds better when > the C is a little flat. DOES THAT SOUND CRAZY? It works for me. I > remember that Howard agreed with me back then. What do you think > now, Howard? Maybe my memory is faulty. (MAYBE?) > Your memory is spot on Sue! I remember talking to you about this. It's a common problem in altered tunings, that if you tune the bottom string down you have to tune it a little flat for it to work. The bottom line is - the guitar is set up to work with standard tuning and standard string tensions. Even if you have a guitar with good intonation and fresh strings, if you use non-standard tunings you start to run into tuning and intonation problems. The further away the tuning is from "normal", the harder it is to get the tuning right. As Patti said, using different string gauges can help (heavier strings if you need to tune down, lighter ones for tuning up) but that is pretty fiddly. There's no easy answer to this, just find the best compromise you can! If you need to play a string open and at the 10th fret, you'll probably have to live with the fact that it will be a bit flat when open, and a bit sharp at the 10th fret. Howard ------------------------------ End of wanderer-digest V1 #15 *****************************