Alternate Tunings!

[StudioShutIn]

UPDATE;

acoustic tuning du jour:
C# Standard (standard down 1.5 steps, but you already knew that )

[bubstance]

.

[StudioShutIn]

Oh man, I love alternate tunings.

I've got my "shoegazey tuning", which is EAC#G#BE.

I was using a tuning similar to that a few months ago..

It was EABF#G#D, I think..

[smile_man]

EAC#G#BC# - calestandard
GBDGBE
EFCGFC
FAGFAG
DADFAG
BADDAD
FAGDAD
FAGBAG
FAGGAG
GAGFAG

JOANFRC TUNINGS ARE BEST.

[theavondon]

EAC#G#BC# - calestandard
GBDGBE
EFCGFC
FAGFAG
DADFAG
BADDAD
FAGDAD
FAGBAG
FAGGAG
GAGFAG

JOANFRC TUNINGS ARE BEST.

I have a friend who just booked them a show in Fayetteville, actually.

[snipelfritz]

I've never understood why songs will be in "drop D" when they're just tuning the 6th string down, and maybe the song doesn't even touch the 6th string, or doesn't use the open 6th string to get that low D. Explain?

cause it sounds so heavy, bro. /parody

Laziness. Why fret power chords when you can just barre them?

I believe it came from blues musicians who were playing slide/bottleneck guitar. Incidentally, it was popularized in a rock/metal context by original Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi after he lost a couple of fingertips in an industrial accident and needed to decrease the tension of that fatty low E string. Now people often rely it to sound heavy as a superficial way to compensate for a lack of originality.

I've been playing in EBBGCE lately. I like to let the bottom 2/3 strings drone while I'm playing some kind of arpeggio riff or chord progression on the higher strings. You can also bust out some barred jugga-jigga-wugga riffs if you like(hey, it works in the right context).

I respectfully disagree. If you want to sound heavy sans originality nowadays, you have to go to at least Drop B.
But on the reals, saying that tuning "drop" is lazy, to me, is kind of jank. It has it's advantages and disadvantages just like any other tuning.

Well then consider yourself 'd.

Problem?

[foomanfat]

I've never understood why songs will be in "drop D" when they're just tuning the 6th string down, and maybe the song doesn't even touch the 6th string, or doesn't use the open 6th string to get that low D. Explain?

cause it sounds so heavy, bro. /parody

Laziness. Why fret power chords when you can just barre them?

I believe it came from blues musicians who were playing slide/bottleneck guitar. Incidentally, it was popularized in a rock/metal context by original Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi after he lost a couple of fingertips in an industrial accident and needed to decrease the tension of that fatty low E string. Now people often rely it to sound heavy as a superficial way to compensate for a lack of originality.

I've been playing in EBBGCE lately. I like to let the bottom 2/3 strings drone while I'm playing some kind of arpeggio riff or chord progression on the higher strings. You can also bust out some barred jugga-jigga-wugga riffs if you like(hey, it works in the right context).

I respectfully disagree. If you want to sound heavy sans originality nowadays, you have to go to at least Drop B.
But on the reals, saying that tuning "drop" is lazy, to me, is kind of jank. It has it's advantages and disadvantages just like any other tuning.

Well then consider yourself 'd.

Problem?

I'll just say, it's convenient. Lazy is kind of harsh.
And, I gots no problem. Opinions is opinions. We're all friends here.

[snipelfritz]

I noes, I wuz just messin' witcha. I just likes me to rile up that hardcore/metal crowd for teh shits and teh lulzorz. Sometimes it's just too easy.

So is there any kind of theory to alternate tunings or is it just do whatever the fudge you want? I've been thinking it was the second one, but I'm just trying to contribute. It's far too early for a thread like this to derail.

Also, post your favorite songs in alternate tunings!

[mathias]

I'm thinking as long as you know how many steps off from standard tuning (assuming you know standard tuning best) you're able to find notes well on the fretboard. Like, I can find all the roots in a given key / note all over the fretboard, and then go up or down quickly mentally from the closest root and know what note I'm on. This is something I've been working on learning as part of studying this book: http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard- ... 634049011/

If you've learned the theory behind intervals and scales, you could compose a scale based on that and knowing the interval distance between strings.

My problem is that my fingers learn the scales with muscle memory; I don't learn it by pure theory alone. I'd feel like I just had to work out the scale positions/shapes in that alternate tuning and re-learn them in that tuning. Luckily, practicing gives you plenty of time to figure that stuff out.. then you just work on figuring out a solo or melody or whatever based on what you memorized, memorize that.. and you're 2 steps from theory by the time you're playing in a song? Dunno if anyone does this differently?

[dubkitty]

I guess i have to think of different tunings separately but use the parts of regular tuning that stay the same, if that makes sense. e.g. if i'm playing in DADGAD i have to think of the top three strings as an altered tuning set because the top two strings are lowered; but if i'm playing on the 3/4/5 strings i'm playing the same notes on the same frets as i normally would. similarly, in open G i'm playing normally on the 2/3/4 strings, but have to approach the 1/2 and 4/5/6 as altered sets. i don't generally try to learn stuff in standard tuning and then rearrange it for altered tunings, but occasionally do; more commonly i'll learn a song in the tuning it came with, or an odd tuning will burp up a song during the compositional process. this makes it somewhat easier to "figure out" stuff since there's only the one stage. does that make any sense at all?

[mathias]

That helps a lot, actually.

[smile_man]

Also, post your favorite songs in alternate tunings!

see: Joan of Arc

[StudioShutIn]

see: Joan of Arc

Are they particularly known for using alot of weird tunings?

[mutmoo]

At the moment I'm using:
drop D
Mi Composé (D is tuned an octave up)
ostrich tuning (all strings tuned to D)

[unownunown]

So is there any kind of theory to alternate tunings or is it just do whatever the fudge you want? I've been thinking it was the second one, but I'm just trying to contribute. It's far too early for a thread like this to derail.

both, lol. some tunings like new standard have a lot of theory behind them, while others are just kinda like just 'wtf' but they still sound great.

like mathias said, the hardest part about alternate tunings is the muscle memory. it just takes so much longer to think about what a scale would look like in a new tuning, especially if you have them memorized in shapes like most people do. the best way to get accustomed to alternate tunings is to just play with them a lot. play songs you know, try to learn a scale or two, etc. it's always helped me to draw out the fretboard with the notes on it, lol.

oh yeah and i think i've posted this in every tuning conversation on ilf, but posting it again can't hurt
sonic youth tuning tutorialz

it's probably a bad idea to learn stuff in standard then try to transcribe it to alternate tunings. i mean, not necessarily bad, but like dubkitty said, why make more work for yourself than you have to?