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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on December 7, 2012 at 8:41am

Ya mean something like "G'day, cobber; howsabloke download that Pee Dee Eff, then?"

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Permalink Reply by BenBob on December 7, 2012 at 10:30am

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Permalink Reply by Angela Separovic on January 27, 2014 at 1:48pm

Hey, I'm a bit late getting on to this thread, but did anything eventuate with the 3 string book for beginners? I'm struggling to convert songs to 3 strings, not being a muso and not reading music or anything like that. I can nut out the basics but it is hit and miss. I'm grappling with Ain't No Telling (John Hurt). I love the melody and the lyrics make me smile. Would also like to do Passenger's 'Patient Love'. 

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on December 7, 2012 at 5:48pm

this might  speed things along for you tab writers  ..

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/music0_tab.html

 

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Permalink Reply by BenBob on December 7, 2012 at 7:50pm

Weird, my post went blank.

If you want a challenge for 3-string slide this Christmas, here's one. Tab link is in the description. http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/how-to-wooden-soldiers 

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Permalink Reply by Rob (Uker) Porras on December 10, 2012 at 3:08am

Hey Ben,

I was just checkin out your videos. The Wooden Soldier video is exactly what I've been looking for. Although I really loved Papa Loves Mama.

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Curley on January 29, 2014 at 1:07am

I've long held a theory that 3 string instruments are useless for playing chords and this thread hasn't convinced me otherwise.

Different tunings can be interesting but I certainly don't want to be retuning every time I do a new song and so for it to be a viable option there has to be some standard tuning and 151 appears to be it. Even if you did want to retune there are plenty of other problems to be dealt with.

There are two main problems in arranging for solo instrument.

• The Bass Line. Bass lines need to support the harmony (play the root note, or at least the 5), they should ideally connect with adjacent chords and they should be playable. You have to be able to reach the melody note as well.
• Voice leading. If you're going to have more than one note at a time then the various 'voices' have to resemble some sort of melody, they can't just be notes jumping around all over the place.

There's just not the scope to do this well with 3 strings. I've just done a very simple arrangement of Amazing Grace for 3 strings and I think it proves my point. It sounds average at best and it jumps around all over the neck.

You've got barely more than an octave on the top and middle strings so if your melody has any depth to it at all you have no option but to be jumping around all over the place. And that's before you've adresses the two problems above.

Maybe someone else can manage it, maybe a simpler arrangement would be acceptable, maybe other tunes are more suitable. I doubt it though.

I love the 3 string because it's so good at doing what it does best (it's a riffin' machine). I've given up trying to make it something it's not.

Attachments:

• amazing-grace.pdf, 26 KB

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Permalink Reply by robert jones on January 29, 2014 at 3:12am

Hey, you should pop over to any mountain dulcimer forum and post your erudite theory on the unsuitability of the three string instrument in IVI tuning for producing melodic music in solo. Yep, those folks really need to be better informed as they operate under the additional handicap of using diatonic 3 stringed instruments in IVI tuning.

I'm quite certain the enlightenment you could provide would be inexpressibly appreciated garnering you the influx of many new found friends.

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Curley on January 29, 2014 at 10:38am

It's not that I think they can't produce melodic music in solo, quite the opposite. That's what they do best, the problem is the harmony.

But I'll check out some dulcimer arrangements to see how they overcome these problems.

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Curley on January 29, 2014 at 11:02am

I've checked out some dulcimer players on youtube, there's not a lot of them around here.

Traditional dulcimer music seems to use a lot of drones, they sound great and work for simple harmonies but make chord changes tricky.

One young lady though is a fine player and played a piece with some complex harmonic changes. She did this by spanning her thumb and fingers a very long way, something that couldn't be done with a guitar played in the usual position. The dulcimer also had a shorter scale which helped.

I'm coming from a guitar players background and could be blinkered by that so I'll check out the dulcimer some more. The problems I stated earlier won't go away though and need to be overcome.

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Permalink Reply by robert jones on January 29, 2014 at 12:12pm

LOL...if you really are interested then check out everything dulcimer.com for a large quantity of tabs. For example there are 4 arrangements of Amazing Grace with variations of the arrangement. The one by Steve Smith is chord based, as are most of his postings.

Many of the tabs on the site can be adjusted for use in guitar style playing though many do have what would be impossible stretches on a guitar.

As far as tuning a three string you could try the 513 mentioned by Ron earlier in the thread or a 135 tuning, you wouldn't need to retune for each song any more than you would for the 151 (158) tuning. Yet another possibility is the 183 tuning that Seasick Steve uses frequently. These three alternate tunings give you several different options when arranging.

There are also more than one or two 3 stringed instruments in world culture so it might be of worth to do a little research to see how arrangements are handled. Insight applicable to the CBG will likely occur.

The real limitations of the 3 string format are part of it's appeal. It is more about what ya do with what ya got than anything else.

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Permalink Reply by turtlehead on January 29, 2014 at 3:30pm

I agree. The limitations are what it's all about.  I play mostly in 513, and the chord shapes are similar to both guitar and banjo.  Sure, sometimes the root is not in the right place, or you are playing a fragment, but usually it's close enough, especially if you are playing accompaniment.  Single note lines are also familiar in this tuning without ridiculous stretches. 

With this tuning and a capo, I feel like I can play in just about any key.  Some songs might work better than others, but it'll do. 

Interesting discussion.  On the one hand, CBGs have freed me from the world of 6 strings, but on the other hand, it has made me take a harder look at the theory behind it all.

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