#31
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My Mac is in DADGAD (or some similar alternate tuning).
My PRS Hollowbody is in Standard. My Eastman is GDAE... ...I like that all 5ths tuning. Makes transposing and other figuring-things-out easier, IMO. |
#32
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Tony
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“The guitar is a wonderful thing which is understood by few.” — Franz Schubert "Alexa, where's my stuff?" - Anxiously waiting... |
#33
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You sort of end up with a few choices when arranging (for solo guitar), limiting yourself to what is geometrically possible (which will vary a bit based on hand size), trying different positions to see what may work better in a different location, or changing the tuning. All just tools to have in the toolbox. Quote:
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There's also a big element of personal taste in what constitutes noodling. I suspect our tastes are similar, and I hear a lot of the young modern players that are playing things where I can't discern any melody, and that sounds pretty noodely to me. Some of these people have degrees in music composition, tho, so I don't think they need a judgement from me. (I can decide if I like it or, tho). Lots of Bach sounds pretty noodley to my pop-influenced ears, as does Coltrane, and many others...
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Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#34
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Think of it this way - it is said that most of us have a vocabulary of less than 200 words for use in daily conversation. As we get to know a person, we begin to recognize that person's speech patterns just as we do with musicians. So maybe the "cliches" are our musical vocabulary? We all do it with spoken language too. I have your albums and you are easily recognizable because you (Doug) have a musical vocabulary that is easily recognizable. So does Pierre Bensusan, Laurence Juber, Larry Pattis, and probably everybody else. That certainly does not make any of you boring. You all have clear melody, song form, so the listener always knows where s/he is in the tune. That is not boring. Regarding blaming the tuning, I go back to what I said in a previous post. Most of what I hear people doing with standard tuning is playing their renditions of existing tunes, while I hear much more attempts at composition from folks using open tunings that sound to me as noodling rather than an organized musical statement. To make it clear to those who would take my comments out of context, I am talking about the typical amatuer/hobby guitar player posting on youtube and some of the open audio platforms and NOT the pros who have already gone through the formative stages and become quite proficient. Where I typically hear noodling in standard tuning would be in a guitar store were people are trying various guitars and are not concerned about playing tunes all the way through. For me, noodling is a bit like how some folks whistle tunelessly while focusing on something else. I don't hear a discernable melody or form. But that is what noodling is to me. Somebody else may have a different idea of noodling. It can be a case of different individuals attaching different meanings to the same word. I will openly admit that I don't "get" those fast jazz improv lines that we hear in forms such as bebop. I much prefer to hear the melody and interesting harmony under it. Earl Klugh was really good at doing this with his solo guitar pieces, as an example. Robert Conti talks about playing for your audience. On a restaurant gig, he says to stick with the melody and any improv would be done with the harmony supporting a clearly stated melody, while on a jazz gig, one can freely improvise because the audience expects it. Consider me the restaurant crowd. Edit: There is a guy over at the jazz guitar forum, Mark Kleinhaut, who does a lot of solo guitar videos. He plays parts of the head so you get a sense of the tune he is improvising on, but somehow, I always know where he is and can follow his music. I am absolutely captivated by his playing and have taken to figuring some of it out by ear because I want to absorb his musical vocabulary. He plays in standard tuning, but it is probably 90% improvised. For me, he is the exception, rather than the rule for my listening tastes. Tony
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“The guitar is a wonderful thing which is understood by few.” — Franz Schubert "Alexa, where's my stuff?" - Anxiously waiting... Last edited by tbeltrans; 06-08-2022 at 04:44 PM. |
#35
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#36
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I always liked the sound of the mandolin. It works well in a number of ensemble settings. Isn't the violin tuned in fourths too?
Tony
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“The guitar is a wonderful thing which is understood by few.” — Franz Schubert "Alexa, where's my stuff?" - Anxiously waiting... |
#37
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5ths, just like the Mandolin yes. My wife bought me mine for my 65th and it's a lot of fun.
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#38
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Please forgive the name dropping, but it seems relevant to the thread - I was talking to John Renbourn once about arranging music for fingerstyle, and he said with a big smile on his face, that if the right notes for harmonising the melody are too difficult to finger, then "Cheat!" He was laughing as he said it. Why make things difficult he said, it's the music that's important.
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#39
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Tony
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“The guitar is a wonderful thing which is understood by few.” — Franz Schubert "Alexa, where's my stuff?" - Anxiously waiting... |
#40
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This reminds me of the workshop I attended years ago with Martin Simpson. Someone asked him why he used alternate tunings. Martin (who no one can accuse of being short on technique) said that everyone, no matter how good you were, had some finite amount of technical ability, strength, agility, etc. He said he could either choose to apply his technique to playing something that was difficult to finger, or he could choose tunings that allowed him to focus his technique on playing fluidly and expressively, which he preferred.
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Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#41
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Celtic in standard
I have an old AG mag lesson from years ago written by Al Petteway where he writes that to save time retuning at gigs he re arranged all his dadgad tunes in standard and thought it worked fine as long as he chose the right key.
I wonder if he kept using those arrangements live or went back to dadgad? |
#42
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I've been interested in traditional fingerpicking styles for many years and I'd just like to say that there is no way that somebody could do justice to the Allman Bros. "Little Martha" or Richard Thompsons's "1952 Vincent Black Shadow" in standard tuning. There are many more titles no doubt but those two come to mind. Sorry but this is what I believe and I'd like to see someone prove me wrong.
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#43
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Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above |
#44
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In my DADGAD book, just for fun, I presented 10 things you can do in DADGAD that are impossible (or nearly...) in standard tuning. It was kind of a joke, not necessarily practical, but fun to come up with. I'm sure we could come up with 10 things you can do in standard that you can't do - easily, at least - in DADGAD ( or some other alternate tuning) as well.
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Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#45
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Anyway, I'm glad I'm back to playing in standard. There were a lot of great tunes I passed over learning because I wanted to stay in DADGAD, Orkney and other related tunings.
I'm assigning standard (down a step) to my Pellerin, the Furch as well, but it will be versatile, the Avalon to Orkney and related tunings and the J-45 to DADGAD and sometimes standard. I won't blow through strings on 3 of them at least, but the Furch will probably get new strings the most as it will be tuned to whatever I feel like playing.
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Barry My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}: |