#31
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Come on down, you'll be at home with all my guitars tuned open Eb.
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Brucebubs 1972 - Takamine D-70 2014 - Alvarez ABT60 Baritone 2015 - Kittis RBJ-195 Jumbo 2012 - Dan Dubowski#61 2018 - Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglo 2020 - Gibson Custom Shop Historic 1957 SJ-200 2021 - Epiphone 'IBG' Hummingbird |
#32
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Well this IS interesting!
Back in 2013 when this thread was last active, I would have given a stern "stuff and nonsense" response as was my initial thoughts today. However, in 2017, I had life changing treatment for throat cancer (similar to John Prine's) and my "new" voice is at least one tone down. So, maybe, I should consider it, however, when circumstances permit, I play with Mado Bob, and Ian the bass and I bet they'd have issues with the idea!
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Silly Moustache, Just an old Limey acoustic guitarist, Dobrolist, mandolier and singer. I'm here to try to help and advise and I offer one to one lessons/meetings/mentoring via Zoom! |
#33
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Instead of tuning a half step lower, I can put a capo on my baritone guitar at whatever fret I want. Since I keep my baritone tuned B to B with the same intervals as standard tuning, putting the capo at the fifth fret gives me E to E, and capoing at the fourth fret puts it a half step lower, and capoing at the third fret puts it one whole step lower.
That third fret capo position is what I use most frequently. The Praise band I lead has a lot of music in the key of F, so I capo 3 and play in G formation. If the music is in Bb, I capo 3 and play in C formation. And so forth. Having that “reverse capo” effect with the baritone is really handy. Hope that makes sense. Wade Hampton Miller |
#34
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I play a lot of Green Day which is in E-flat. as someone else said, if I want to go back to standard I can just use a capo. The Beatles songs would sound fine in Eb and I think the audience probably wouldn't even notice the tuning difference.
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#35
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Quote:
But they will *all* hear how out of tune I am vocally with my guitar if I play it in standard tuning, true to the original recording.
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Santa Cruz | Huss & Dalton | Lakewood Fan (and customer) of: -Charmed Life Picks -Organic Sounds Select Guitars -Down Home Guitars |
#36
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When I did a Beatles acoustic solo act I tuned down a whole step to hit Macca's high harmonies. I used a vocal harmonizer to handle the lower notes. I still tune down a whole step with 13's. They feel like 11's in standard tuning.
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#37
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Right: putting songs in keys where they match your vocal range is really important, yet so many players will play a song in the same key as the recording, whether it fits their vocal range or not.
One song in particular, “The Tennessee Stud,” is one that everybody and his brother played when I was a young bluegrass guy, and it’s a great song. But so many of those guys put it in the same key as Doc Watson did, but without having the same lower vocal register as Doc had. So they’d get Doc’s guitar licks down, but sounded lame on the vocals. Rather than singing “The Tennessee Stud” in D, as Doc did, I put it in G where I could sing it properly. I didn’t use Doc’s guitar licks, either, but came up with my own arrangement, loosely inspired by Mike Auldridge’s version that he put on one of his solo albums. If you’re not familiar with Mike Auldridge, he was a genius Dobro player. He wasn’t a singer, and his version of the song was done as an instrumental. Anyway, he was a supremely musical guy, and so there was definitely some of his musical DNA in my vocal and guitar arrangement of the song. I did get a chance to meet and jam with Mike, which was very cool. It’s nice when you finally get to meet one of your musical heroes, and even nicer when they turn out to be kind, friendly people as well as terrific players. Short version: it’s a hundred times more important to put a song in a key where you can sing it and do it justice than it is to play it exactly the way it was on the recording. whm |
#38
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Quote:
My jam buddies and I were recently discussing that many Neal Young songs are great tunes, but not necessarily in the key where he put them. They don't work for my voice, and being a bit unkind.... they don't really work for his voice either. |
#39
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E-flat tuning?
Hopefully not totally off-topic, but I keep my 12 string guitars tuned to D# (or Eb if you prefer). While I have a great capo to use at capo 1 to bring them to standard without re-tuning (G7th compensated Newport), mostly I play them in D#. Not happening during covid-19 season, but previously I would tune a 6 string guitar down to D# to be ready to go for a expected guest to use as a quick option for one of us to play alongside a 12. (That compensated capo only came out a couple of years ago.) Tuning a 12 up a tone or two can take two or three passes to get it right. I do like the tone of the 12 tuned down to D#, but I remember when players kept their 12 stringers tuned down to D all the time. Old habits die hard. Don .
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#40
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I do this for She Talks To Angels. |
#41
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Bingo. "It's the singer, not the song." (Remember that tune?)
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LarryK. AGF Moderator |
#42
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I just went from tuning a 1/2 step down to a full step. A) It does lessen the strain on vocals a bit and B) definitely adds a richness to the resonance. It’s easy enough to capo the 1st if I feel the need to jump back to a familiar key.
I’ll comment again when (or if) I drop a full step and half. |
#43
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Love it on my 2010 Taylor 314 with 12-52 GHS. Mean and growly blues and jazz shred… thinking of sticking 13s on the 414 and going down to D Standard…
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#44
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I find it interesting as well. Very common and accepted to capo up,so isnt this just like capo ing down a fret?
I do it for the vocal matching already mentioned, and also I figure every pound of tension off my old neck joints may put off resets for some amount of time. Plus, its easy to capo up to standard.
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Dave F ************* Martins Guilds Gibsons A few others 2020 macbook pro i5 8GB Scarlett 18i20 Reaper 7 |
#45
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Quote:
https://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/tension.htm |