Quote:
Originally Posted by AHill
Those are all good arguments for why a single player would want to use the method. What I was really after was if only one player used the method in a band and the other guitarists didn't. Do the guitars clash when played together or does the one guitar with the compensated tuning enhance the others. Conventional wisdom would say that unless the one with the JT tuning is the lead guitar, they would clash. But I have no experience to justify my theory.
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Ok... I can answer your question about that too. I've had occasion to used sweetened tuning on a Friday night gig while everyone else was in standard tuning. No, it did not clash. Remember, at most we're talking 13/100ths of a half step at most on the low E, which will be less distant than that after being struck. FWIW I was using my Taylor 614ce and the result was more or less that it opened up the sound. When I say "opened the sound" it's like the difference between the sound of a major 3rd and a minor 6th playing the same notes, but the different intervals produce a more open sound (a bit of a stretch I know, but I can't think of a better simile).
I find it intriguing, because my Taylor sounds pretty good in either tuning, but "tighter" with standard tuning and feels like it breathes more with JT tuning; both good with that "open transparency" I'd mentioned. My Marin D-35 opens up too, but the overall gestalt of the instrument changes more radically. I can hear many more resultant harmonics, almost taking it aurally in Taylor territory (with Sunbeam 12 strings, btw). It's a little too freaky to hear my Martin sounding like that. I've got a few Friday night gigs coming up in the next month, so I'll have to try messing with the different tunings.