Back to playing in standard....

[TBman]

Well sort of. How about DGCFAD? I don't sing and if I'm playing along to learn I can drop the tuning of the original in Transcribe! and/or use a capo. I have a lot of music I had passed on learning because of being in standard, but why let it go to waste. I'm back to using 12-53ish also so now my fretting hand doesn't bother me at all.

[CASD57]

I still having a hard time with "Why" why different tunings when you have a capo ?
Also isn't there going to be some relearning of chord fingerings?
Thats why I picked a baritone Uke to mess arounding with since it's tuned to a std guitar missing two strings so that most chords would work with slight changings
I need to be schooled in different tunings

[TBman]

Originally Posted by CASD57

I still having a hard time with "Why" why different tunings when you have a capo ?
Also isn't there going to be some relearning of chord fingerings?
Thats why I picked a baritone Uke to mess arounding with since it's tuned to a std guitar missing two strings so that most chords would work with slight changings
I need to be schooled in different tunings

I play fingerstyle and in the arrangements I play that are in different tunings there are generally no chord references in the notation.

[Mr. Jelly]

I could never keep track of the fingerings of different songs with different tunings. I'd have to nuddle around to re-remember qa song before I could actually play it. I'm saving different tunings for some mythical later date. Of coarse I have played around with them some time ago.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by CASD57

I still having a hard time with "Why" why different tunings when you have a capo ?
…Also isn't there going to be some relearning of chord fingerings?
…I need to be schooled in different tunings

Hi CASD57

How do I use a capo to duplicate CGCGCD or DADF#AD on a guitar tuned to standard tuning?

And when I'm playing more Irishy Sounding things, standard tuning doesn't get me there. And if I'm playing Delta Blues open tunings are good (guitar tuned to an open chord).

Sure there is some re-learning of chord shapes, but they are not finger twisters, nor hard to remember.

I do use Cut Capos (3 pads covering strings 3-4-5) and placed at the second fret they do duplicate DADGAD intervals, but the guitar is still in standard tuning.

I don't prefer capos because when I'm in alternate tunings I'm mostly not playing chords. On the other hand, open tunings are almost always tuned to open chords, and then there is a small learning curve to learn different tunings because some of the patterns swap between open tunings on a different pairing of strings.

I'll equate the changes to the difference between driving an automatic transmission versus a standard stick shift. And if you've ever had two vehicles with stick shifts manufactured by different makers, you know that you have to re-learn shifting patterns.

But humans are pretty flexible, and it's not hard to learn different fingerings for the same chords.

[mr. beaumont]

I love the sound of some alternate tunings, but nothing beats the logic and versatility of standard for me.

Plus, my brain just doesn't have enough space for me to be able to improvise in multiple tunings over complex chord changes, and that's my #1 true music love. So standard it is.

[tbeltrans]

Open tunings seem to be a fertile area to explore. Unfortunately, all too much that I hear seems to lack any real sense of structure, compositional skills. It seems almost too easy to get initially interesting sounds so that few seem to really learn to create coherent music with structure, form, forward motion, and interesting melody. In more recent times, it seems as if rhythm is key and melody takes a back seat at best. Standard tuning seems to be where we get real tunes with hummable/singable melody and structure for some reason.

Tony

[TBman]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

Open tunings seem to be a fertile area to explore. Unfortunately, all too much that I hear seems to lack any real sense of structure, compositional skills. It seems almost too easy to get initially interesting sounds so that few seem to really learn to create coherent music with structure, form, forward motion, and interesting melody. In more recent times, it seems as if rhythm is key and melody takes a back seat at best. Standard tuning seems to be where we get real tunes with hummable/singable melody and structure for some reason.

Tony

Standard tuning and alternate tunings are made up of the chromatic notes, which are just in different positions on the fretboard. Judging a tuning based on the attempts to compose by amateurs shouldn't be used as a blanket generalization that includes professionals, like Pierre Bensusan, who compose in alternate tunings exclusively.

[rick-slo]

A thread on different tunings pros, cons, and etc.. I started some time back:
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...ghlight=dadgad

[tbeltrans]

Content deleted in favor of later post.

Tony

[TBman]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

A thread on different tunings pros, cons, and etc.. I started some time back:
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...ghlight=dadgad

That's a great thread and worth a re-read.

Al Petteway is one artist that plays in DADGAD without sounding Celtic.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by TBman

Standard tuning and alternate tunings are made up of the chromatic notes, which are just in different positions on the fretboard. Judging a tuning based on the attempts to compose by amateurs shouldn't be used as a blanket generalization that includes professionals, like Pierre Bensusan, who compose in alternate tunings exclusively.

I do know music theory, the guitar fretboard, etc. We have differing opinions. You have yours and please allow me mine. My statement said nothing about those who do compose artfully.

I said "Unfortunately, all too much that I hear seems to lack any real sense of structure, compositional skills."

You chose to infer that I could be talking about those artists such as Pierre Bensusan, but I didn't say or imply that in my post. If I had stated that nobody has any real sense..., then I could see your response to my post as being appropriate. "All too much" does not include everybody.

There are a number of artists using open tunings that I enjoy listening to, which is why I chose to word my post as I did.

Tony

[TBman]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

I do know music theory, the guitar fretboard, etc. We have differing opinions. You have yours and please allow me mine. My statement said nothing about those who do compose artfully.

I said "Unfortunately, all too much that I hear seems to lack any real sense of structure, compositional skills."

You chose to infer that I could be talking about those artists such as Pierre Bensusan, but I didn't say or imply that in my post. If I had stated that nobody has any real sense..., then I could see your response to my post as being appropriate. "All too much" does not include everybody.

There are a number of artists using open tunings that I enjoy listening to, which is why I chose to word my post as I did.

Tony

Oh ok, thanks for the clarification.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

I said "Unfortunately, all too much that I hear seems to lack any real sense of structure, compositional skills."

This complaint comes up often, of course. Steve Baughman (heavy alternate tuning user himself) wrote a diatribe for Acoustic Guitar years ago on what he called the "Yellow Pages" approach to composing. For those old enough to remember, it meant "Let your fingers do the walking...". He sort of blamed alternate tunings for facilitating this approach to leading with your fingers rather than having an actual melody or song structure, tho I don't think it's truly the root cause. Bad composition is bad composition, and if anything, I think the guitar makes it easy, as we often tend to think geometrically, even in standard.

Steve did a workshop on this topic, which I attended once, and he'd play recordings of horrendously noodly guitar pieces. One I recall was by a fairly well-known guitarist who shall go unnamed, and was actually in standard tuning - play a pattern on a chord, slide the chord up two frets and repeat, slide it back down, etc. I thought it was a good proof that tunings actually had nothing to do with the problem.

To me, an alternate tuning simply makes certain chord voicings available that aren't possible (or as easy) in standard, along with in some cases certain phrasing or other effects. But the goal, ideally, is that you have a musical idea to express, and a certain tuning allows you to achieve it. it's not much different than a composer going, "hmm, I think I'll use 2 viola's, a piccolo, and a trombone for this piece" :-)

A good composition ought to sound good even on other instruments - and some guitarist/composers have done that, like creating orchestral versions of tunes they have written on guitar.

One good test is to arrange an existing tune, whether its a pop tune or a traditional tune - a melody that's been a hit, or that has stood the test of hundreds of years is probably going to be "good", so in playing it, you know you're not "letting your fingers do the walking"

[Coler]

An element of e.g. DADGAD that I Iove is the open strings ringing out, done in a discerning way. The same piece played in Standard, well, it can't be done.