Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Doc Oakroot on June 6, 2009 at 2:37pm

I'm not sure why Shane calls A7 the magic jazz tuning - I would think you would want Amaj7 for a jazz tuning. Probably depends on what period of jazz you're listening to, lol.

I've played "Linus and Lucy" (the Charlie Brown theme) on a 3 string tuned DAd (AEa would work too). It's actually very easy. No reason you can't play other jazz tunes - in any tuning you like.

Brian Lemin said:

I see the "A7" referred to as the "Magic Jazz tuning".
I could be quite interested in playing Jazz on the CBG...... can anyone comment on this tuning or point me to some A7 jazz audio/video/tabs please?

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on June 22, 2009 at 6:18pm

If you want a low grindy blues sound, string the top 4 string (EADG) and tune it D-A-d-f#... and off you go.

the best,

Wichita Sam

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Permalink Reply by Tim Norman on July 1, 2009 at 4:25am

I stand corrected, just got it out of order.

Doc Oakroot said:

CDGA? Yikes - that's a strange tenor :) How about CGDA?

Tim Norman said:

Tune it as you would a tenor guitar CDGA.

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Reither on July 29, 2010 at 9:11pm

For what it's worth, I tune mine GDgd. All my demos (The Blind Gee tracks, played by Sam Vandenberg) were on this tuning. There is some merit in NOT having your guitar tuned to a triad - you can easily add the major or minor third with a finger. If you listen to my demos I'm sure you'll agree that G D g d is not a limited tuning - you can get lots of chords.

Today I came up with a very easy and flexible tuning that gives you the best of both 4 string "Spanish" and 3 string open G d g worlds.

from closest to you: HIGH Bb, low G then d g.

Open or a straight bar across gives minor. Plus one fret on the Bb string gives major. Presto! Every major and minor triad with two fingers!

Why put the HIGH Bb where the low G would normally go? Because your top 3 strings (the ones furthest away from you) are now G d g, which is standard 3 string tuning. Great for power chords and octaves and all that other 3 string stuff, and exactly the right strings to play with a slide, easily not playing the string nearest you. So in one guitar, you now have a 4 string for easy triad playing and a 3 string for classic blues slide.

Despite being like a banjo tuning (which also has the high string closest to you) it's probably not so good for pickers because the thumb is going to be on the major or minor third a lot of the time.

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Permalink Reply by Penny Nelson on March 22, 2013 at 3:17pm

only 18 months to stumble onto this gem. I know you produced the Chord Shapes for 4 string guitar but that was all closed shapes. Did you ever do up something similar for the   HIGH Bb, low G then d g?

Cause this sounds like a great option for heaps of newbies who likely don't have the strength in there last two fingers for closed chords. "Open or a straight bar across gives minor. Plus one fret on the Bb string gives major. Presto! Every major and minor triad with two fingers"

Sometimes it's easier to grasp the concept with a chart than trying to explain it with words & from what I can gather this tuning has great merit for not only newbies but for people with limited hand strength from injury or stroke etc....

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Reither on March 24, 2013 at 6:10pm

No, I haven't. But, all this time later, I think an even better tuning is GDAD. That makes minor and major triads easy on the A string, gives you a very open (add2) tuning on open strings, and a DAD open tuning on the high strings for slide. It's a great tuning and you'll find heaps of stuff on it - maybe tending toward the pretty sounds.

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Permalink Reply by Penny Nelson on March 30, 2013 at 10:42am

Thanks :). "Pretty sounds" - that will be a change from what I've been making lately. Almost finished my cookie tin (finally) so might even give it a try on that.

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Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on July 29, 2010 at 11:39pm

The point is something familiar to regular guitar players.
Bottom 4 - DGBE.
Works with the same chords as a regular guitar, minus the top 2 strings.
It gets easier. It's also the same tuning as a baritone uke ( as noted earlier). Same chords, so all they need is a baritone uke chord chart .... this is also good for noobs.


Matt

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Reither on July 30, 2010 at 12:02am

Yes, understood, but not sure that is necessarily always the point. The guitarists who play my instruments love that they find new shapes and progressions rather than being in same old guitar land. I agree it makes it easier for a guitarist keeping the low or high 4 tuning, but why is that such a good thing? Shake the tree a little I say! Find new things. Write songs in a different way to what you've done for years. The tuning I found today really suits someone who 1) prefers the open 3 string tuning (especially for slide) but wishes they could get a real triad more easily too and 2) someone who has never played guitar - 2 fingers, all major and minor chords.
Still, I prefer GDgd but then I'm not a guitarist.



Matt Towe said:

The point is something familiar to regular guitar players.
Bottom 4 - DGBE.
Works with the same chords as a regular guitar, minus the top 2 strings.
It gets easier. It's also the same tuning as a baritone uke ( as noted earlier). Same chords, so all they need is a baritone uke chord chart .... this is also good for noobs.


Matt

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Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on July 30, 2010 at 1:08am

Glenn Reither said:

Yes, understood, but not sure that is necessarily always the point. The guitarists who play my instruments love that they find new shapes and progressions rather than being in same old guitar land. I agree it makes it easier for a guitarist keeping the low or high 4 tuning, but why is that such a good thing? Shake the tree a little I say! Find new things. Write songs in a different way to what you've done for years. The tuning I found today really suits someone who 1) prefers the open 3 string tuning (especially for slide) but wishes they could get a real triad more easily too and 2) someone who has never played guitar - 2 fingers, all major and minor chords.
Still, I prefer GDgd but then I'm not guitarist

What Iggy said ...
I had a few folks that expressed an interest in buying a CBG from me, but it appears they were intimidated by the 3 string versions, and felt that a 4 string version would be more familiar to them. No amount of explaining would suffice, so I built a couple of 4 stringers.,

Going back to the original post, that does seem to be the point. I would be he's talking to people with some sort of musical background or knowledge.
Now with pure noobs, it wouldn't really make a difference ... they gotta learn from scratch anyway.
But I go back to the chords .... the best thing is to get people, even noobs, playing quick to keep from loosing interest.
Best thing , easy to play and learn. The baritone uke chords are a breeze to find online ..... what about all the other tunings?


Matt

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Reither on July 30, 2010 at 1:31am

You're right.

Matt Towe said:

Glenn Reither said:

Yes, understood, but not sure that is necessarily always the point. The guitarists who play my instruments love that they find new shapes and progressions rather than being in same old guitar land. I agree it makes it easier for a guitarist keeping the low or high 4 tuning, but why is that such a good thing? Shake the tree a little I say! Find new things. Write songs in a different way to what you've done for years. The tuning I found today really suits someone who 1) prefers the open 3 string tuning (especially for slide) but wishes they could get a real triad more easily too and 2) someone who has never played guitar - 2 fingers, all major and minor chords.
Still, I prefer GDgd but then I'm not guitarist

What Iggy said ...
I had a few folks that expressed an interest in buying a CBG from me, but it appears they were intimidated by the 3 string versions, and felt that a 4 string version would be more familiar to them. No amount of explaining would suffice, so I built a couple of 4 stringers.,

Going back to the original post, that does seem to be the point. I would be he's talking to people with some sort of musical background or knowledge.
Now with pure noobs, it wouldn't really make a difference ... they gotta learn from scratch anyway.
But I go back to the chords .... the best thing is to get people, even noobs, playing quick to keep from loosing interest.
Best thing , easy to play and learn. The baritone uke chords are a breeze to find online ..... what about all the other tunings?


Matt

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Reither on July 30, 2010 at 2:18am

But either low 4 or high 4 isn't a get out of jail free card for a guitarist except for playing lead. For example, uke is the same intervals as high 4 guitar, but a C Major on uke is not the same shape as C Major on guitar. Nor is G, F or anything else. So even with high 4 tuning, you have to learn all new shapes anyway. Same for low 4 because critical notes in the guitar shape will often be on the 2 strings you don't have. Then you have to ask yourself what tuning will give you the most flexibility, or will give you good droney colours? Or just be simple plain fun.

My buddy Sam Vandenberg, who is on this network, played all my demo's for me. He had a 3 string and a 4 string for 2 days before he put down the demos for Blind Gee 3 and 4. GDg and GDgd tuning. Even now, he might not play that tuning for weeks, but can pick one of my new gats up and play something great, as evidenced in the demo's. He finds it harder to play lead on those tunings and if it was high 4 guitar tuning he would obviously find lead a no-brainer.
But that's just for lead.

If a uke player wanted something they didn't have to learn new shapes on, I'd use a high 4 tuning. But for a guitarist, they're going to have to learn new shapes anyway, whether it be from a book or through the joy of discovery. The easiest way to turn a blinkered guitarist onto treating these things as a different instrument rather than just a guitar with 2 broken strings is to play something for them, show them a couple of shapes, and let them tinker with it for 20 minutes. It's a CBG - you shouldn't need a book. Just pick the damn thing up and play it, then write your own book and sell it to the scaredy-cats :)

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