A question for anyone who might know; I have a 3-stringer with a 22.5" scale. After doing a LOT of research on the subject, I've narrowed the two tuning options down to Ae'b' (all fifths tuning) or Ad'f#. I'm attracted to the logic of all fifths tuning, but everything I can find on the subject is for four strings or more. Would three strings in fifths be a flexible and facile tuning for someone who focused on solo chord melody playing, or would I be better off going with Ad'f#?

   (For the record, I'm not too terribly interested in slide. The ability to do so is a bonus of open tuning, but it's a very minor one from my perspective.)

   Thanks in advance.

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Yeah, but that fourth fifth is the one that goes down smoothest, hence my quandary...
*:D big grin

 

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.

Reading through it, now. Thanks.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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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