Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Maddog on March 30, 2014 at 7:41am

Great discussion!!! Helps a LOT! 

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Permalink Reply by RTZGUITARS on March 31, 2014 at 3:51am

Making 3 string chords sound full in the whole issue. I have be thinking about doing a vid on killing the 1-5-1 tuning and the 1-4-5 progression.

Making chords in 1-5-1 is so limited, if your tune to 3 note in the open position you have a much better chance to make  7- m7- M7 and other chords that add feeling to the sound.

 EAD tuning on the bass string is a no brainer for power chord. on the treble side GBE is great for movable chord position and relative to all guitar playing, and my favorite GBD which is open G on the treble strings.

It's no crime to play a 3 string like a regular guitar, we don't want to all sound the same do we?

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Permalink Reply by TN Twang on March 31, 2014 at 5:58am

I'll be happy to put a "like" on your video on killing 1-5-1. It works great in expert hands, but it's killing CBG's by leading beginners down the "Bad to the Smoke on the Water" path with no good place to go after that. I like to hear a sweet little major third in my chords every once in a while--even if I do bend into it for a blues lick.

Just curious, what do you play when tuned EAD? You must have frets. I tuned EAD on a 3-string slider; played bass lines for a while (in the wrong octave for bass guitar) and got mad and tuned it down to DAD so I could do power chords or play an F# on the top string to fill out my D chord.

"There's no wrong way to do it!"

TN

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Permalink Reply by RTZGUITARS on April 2, 2014 at 5:37am

Twang the vid would be about fretted instruments, more and more we see people making fretted guitars. The best of both world is to play slide and fretted note together.!

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Permalink Reply by TN Twang on April 2, 2014 at 6:07am

Up to now I've set the action a half inch above a fretboard drawn with a Sharpie pen. Everything is pure slide. Sort of a 3-string Diddley Bow. In fact, my wife insists on playing them lap style instead of like a guitar.

Plans are for the next two builds to be a fretless 3-string and a fretless bass with woodburned fretboards that are only 3/16 inch below the strings. I want to try fingering without the benefit of actual frets. Limited research indicates that this was the approach used "way up in the mountains." Some of the Scotch-Irish guys may not have used bottle necks at all--just well-calloused fingertips.

I've also read about guys that make major chords minor by barring with the slide on a major tuning and then depressing one string so it no longer touches the slide. (I gotta' try it and see.)

I've got 3 attempts at fencewire frets stuck back because I wasn't happy with the improvised frets. "Oily" Sprague and "The Anonymous Pick" just told me about bobby pins for frets, so I've got a LOT of whittling to do.

I don't remember if I commented here or elsewhere, but Sears & Roebuck catalogs from around 1912 show packs of "18 German Silver frets" for sale. At least the builders out on the Midwestern plains could have been buying frets to put on their creations at a pretty early date.

Thanks for the feedback,

TN

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 31, 2014 at 6:59am

A-D-F# works well, too. You can get majors, minors, sevenths...and still play slide figures.

BTW, the basic chords for both Frankenstein and Iron Man are pretty easy to figure out on a GDG 3-banger.

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Permalink Reply by TN Twang on March 31, 2014 at 8:30am

I'm assuming (!!) that you're tuning A-D-F# using the 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings out of a 6 pack and tuning the 3rd string down to F# instead of G.

I need to try that. Man, I've gotta' go make another half dozen guitars just for me...

As per your advice a few weeks ago, I found D-G-b to be a nice sounding tuning just because it's pitched lower than I had been playing. Inside my head, I'd still be thinking D-G-b, but the sound would be a 4th lower because I was tuned A-D-F#. (All of that sounds irrational when you say it out loud, but I believe it'd work if you just didn't think about it too hard.)

Thanks for all feedback,

TN

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Permalink Reply by Scruggy on March 31, 2014 at 9:08am

So is there a consencous on the optimal tuning for rock music? So many to choose which is best starting point?
Also would it be different optimal tuning if it's slide are are they both the same?

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Curley on March 31, 2014 at 3:18pm

If ayone can demonstrate another tuning that works across a lot of songs then let's have a go but you're absolutely right in that you want to find one that works and settle on it.

On a 6 string I play regularly in standard, vestapol and spanish and believe me that's plenty (and both the open tunings have at their core the 151 relationship).

For slide you can't go past 151

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 31, 2014 at 3:28pm

TN,

Your assumption about the strings used for A-D-F# is correct: the 5, 4 and 3 strings from a standard Medium set of strings, with the G string tuned down to F#. Glad you tried the D-G-B as well. There's also some interesting games to be played with reentrant tunings, especially if you have a 4-stringer. I'm just starting to explore these, using ukelele and 4-string banjo tunings. These can be helpful in getting those lower bass notes, by using odd string mixtures. Speaking of rock songs, and what you can do on a 3-stringer with them in G-D-G, try this original song vid of mine:

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/oily-s-guitar-lounge-6-take-an-...

I haven't tabbed this out yet, as nobody knows it but me. ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Scruggy on March 31, 2014 at 3:46pm

Awesome vid!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 31, 2014 at 3:59pm

Thanx! Also, here is a little gem of a chart that can help your understanding of keys, scales and chords:

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/13-keys?context=user&xgi=&a...

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