Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by harley on May 11, 2015 at 6:17am

Yeah, but that fourth fifth is the one that goes down smoothest, hence my quandary...

 

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Permalink Reply by TN Twang on May 11, 2015 at 7:48am

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/what-tunings-do-you-use

This thread got started about a week ago. More advice and opinions than you'll ever need.

I think I'm the only one in the discussion that plays slide.

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Permalink Reply by harley on May 11, 2015 at 8:46am

Reading through it, now. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 11, 2015 at 7:57am

Check out Keni Lee Burgess' advocacy of A-D-F#:

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/i-iv-v-chords-for-3-stri...

I use this tuning fairly often. Its utility is that if you already know movable chord shapes on a 6-string, you can use the same or similar movable chord shapes in this tuning (albeit to play different chords). It's pretty versatile.

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Permalink Reply by harley on May 11, 2015 at 8:47am

I've come across his stuff the last few days. He certainly likes to advertise his product. But, I've noticed that a lot of people seem to think that he's very good. So, I might order the DVD's.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 11, 2015 at 8:54am

Yes, he does advertise. I also bought some of his DVDs when I first joined the site. I like his teaching approach, which he will freely admit may not work for everyone. I've tried his ADF# tuning, and see why he likes it.

But I am not slavish to it, or him. It's just one approach. There are others (Patrick Curley, Mike Snowden, Shane Speal, and Knotlenny, for example). I play with banjo tunings a lot on 4-stringers, and 1-5-1 tunings on my 3-bangers. And then sometimes I change them up, just to see what I can figure out.

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Permalink Reply by TN Twang on May 11, 2015 at 7:59am

Hey. Me again.

All-fifths tuning makes perfect sense to fiddle players, mandolin players and 4-string banjo players.

Guitar pickers are not likely to go beyond 3rds and 4ths because the frets are so far apart that you'd need gorilla hands to play four notes of a major scale before moving over to the next string. Bass guitar players (with a 34" scale) have to really suffer to play a major scale on strings tuned a 4th apart.

With your 22.5 inch scale your frets may be reachable, but anything you learn tuned in fifths will only transfer to a mandolin or tenor banjo--not to a full-size guitar.

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Permalink Reply by harley on May 11, 2015 at 8:50am

I actually have no interest in full guitar. Lovely instruments, but not for me. Partly, this is because I decided to dedicate my limited time to something simpler. (Better to master something simple than to be mediocre at something complex is my thinking on the matter.) And, partly it's because I have a bit of neurological damage in my left hand, so fewer strings are an advantage.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 11, 2015 at 8:59am

Ahhh, the haiku and sonnets of guitar-like instruments! Otherwise known as, what can I musically do within the confines of 1-4 strings? Limitations? What limitations?

6-stringers get really interesting when you start looking at them as a series of 3- and 4-stringed CBG tunings all stacked together.

If you were ever interested in all fifths on a 6-stringer, try Robert Fripp's New Standard Tuning:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_standard_tuning

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Permalink Reply by harley on May 11, 2015 at 9:07am

Too many tunings.
No training to guide my choice.
Welp… I’m freakin’ boned.

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Permalink Reply by TN Twang on May 11, 2015 at 9:14am

Very good...

Now you're ready to appreciate Knotlenny's video.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/knotlennys-3string-cbg-101

Do what he says and then build slowly on that foundation.

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Permalink Reply by harley on May 11, 2015 at 9:21am

Heh. Yeah. Okay. I'm a sucker for humor. I'll give this a try and see what happens. Worse comes to worse, I can re-string it to something else later. Thanks, everybody.

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