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Tuning down half a step?


dhanners623

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Umm...still, as always, use the grommet laden Dunlop Advanced Toggle Action capo. Works great if you compensate just as you lock in for slight pulling of the 6th off center. I've been using these for so long I have that move down automatically.

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Nope.

 

In the 70's it was to "help" the singer. In the late 80's it was for "heavyosity". Sheeyayah. No.

 

Do a couple songs in odd keys, Walk Away Joe Walsh we do in G# because I won't tune down. Waste of time. If we can't sing it without re-tuning we don't to it. Guitar playing is a full contact sport, so suck it up buck.

 

rct

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What are you ? The music police ? 😂

 

What difference does it make what anyone does ?

What are you ? The forum police ? 😂

 

What difference does it make what anyone does ? 😂

 

It is ok. It is just that sometimes nothing but a windmilled E major using all 6 strings has the desired effect

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I leave my old (1948-'50) J-45 tuned down a half step, since I have another slope-J (1943 SJ re-issue) that I leave in standard tuning.

 

Tuning down really changes the character of the guitar--more soulful and resonant, almost haunting, even playing in major keys. It's also good for some 60's rock ballads that were originally recorded down a half step, like Marty Balin's "Coming Back to Me" from Surrealistic Pillow. (If you don't know what Surrealistic Pillow is, you're clearly too young.)

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My Gibson is always tuned down half a step. I too find it makes the vocal stretches more "doable". Plus there is less tension on the top, which is a useful side effect. If you really want to play something in standard, just slap a capo on 1. My nylon string I keep in standard because I often watch youtube vids of classical pieces I might be learning and they are always in standard.

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Or transpose and play a different voicing as stated in the article linked above.

What are you ? The music police ? 😂

 

What difference does it make what anyone does ?

 

 

Ask the original poster “what difference it makes what anyone does”. He’s clearly open to new/differing ideas as he asked for people's experience with doing so. Internet forums are a place for discussion and learning. Sorry if I hurt your feelings with my thoughts, but judging by your post count, you're no stranger to expressing your own. :rolleyes:

 

Luckily for musicians and music lovers alike, the majority of groups with more than one guitar player transpose and/or play different voicings to add depth to their sound. Would be a very different world if CSNY all played their guitars in standard E tuning and all used the same cowboy chords. No thanks.

 

 

What are you ? The music police ? 😂

 

What difference does it make what anyone does ?

 

What are you ? The forum police ? 😂

 

What difference does it make what anyone does ? 😂

 

It is ok. It is just that sometimes nothing but a windmilled E major using all 6 strings has the desired effect

 

 

[lol]

 

Part of the reason people leave any discussion forum is that they're treated like apostates for daring to stray from the accepted ideology. There is (in my opinion) a group here who tend to drive the agenda and denigrate any divergent viewpoint.Some of us in the "newbie" camp might appreciate less condescension.

 

=D>

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Regarding singing, tuning down really only influences the high and low note in the register. But that's worth considering too.

Trying to cover the Nash's harmony in Helplessly Hoping fx or peeking in the outro of America - "all come to look" - becomes easier.

But I also find the guitars get groovier to play - everything simply relaxes.

 

(If you don't know what Surrealistic Pillow is, you're clearly too young.)

 

Are you kiddin', , , I wake up on it every morning.

Btw. that fine song to these ears anticipates the Crosby tune Guinnevere, not in melody, but in mood and right hand feel.

He must have tripped on it before writing.

Why not hear the thing.

 

1967 ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NdvMT32skw

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Ask the original poster “what difference it makes what anyone does”. He’s clearly open to new/differing ideas as he asked for people's experience with doing so. Internet forums are a place for discussion and learning. Sorry if I hurt your feelings with my thoughts, but judging by your post count, you're no stranger to expressing your own. :rolleyes:

 

Luckily for musicians and music lovers alike, the majority of groups with more than one guitar player transpose and/or play different voicings to add depth to their sound. Would be a very different world if CSNY all played their guitars in standard E tuning and all used the same cowboy chords. No thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

[lol]

 

 

 

=D>

 

 

I’m still not getting the condescension

 

Not the E chord windmill thing either

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Regarding singing, tuning down really only influences the high and low note in the register. But that's worth considering too.

Trying to cover the Nash's harmony in Helplessly Hoping fx or peeking in the outro of America - "all come to look" - becomes easier.

But I also find the guitars get groovier to play - everything simply relaxes.

 

 

 

Are you kiddin', , , I wake up on it every morning.

Btw. that fine song to these ears anticipates the Crosby tune Guinnevere, not in melody, but in mood and right hand feel.

He must have tripped on it before writing.

Why not hear the thing.

 

1967 ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NdvMT32skw

 

I agree on the similarity in mood with Guinnevere, but they're two different animals when it comes to playing them. The great thing about the Airplane tune is that you can make it as simple or complex as you want, mixing and matching the instrumental lines from the original recording, and playing off them a bit as well. I used to fingerpick it, but now flat-pick it, tuned down a half like the original version.

 

I saw Crosby do Guinnevere last year. He still does it brilliantly, using the Martin 12. It's a funky tuning he uses, and mixed time signatures. Definitely one of my favorite CSN songs, along with Helplessly Hoping, of course.

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I leave my old (1948-'50) J-45 tuned down a half step, since I have another slope-J (1943 SJ re-issue) that I leave in standard tuning.

 

Tuning down really changes the character of the guitar--more soulful and resonant, almost haunting, even playing in major keys. It's also good for some 60's rock ballads that were originally recorded down a half step, like Marty Balin's "Coming Back to Me" from Surrealistic Pillow. (If you don't know what Surrealistic Pillow is, you're clearly too young.)

My original vinyl copy is still with me - well played, but great as ever!

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My original vinyl copy is still with me - well played, but great as ever!

Hep, , , not many things more poetic than records (or books) that went along all the way.

Especially when bought way back when they were released and stood in zenith above the times.

I presume the pillow is a keeper, OC. .

 

In other words - stay (slightly) surreal

 

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Hep, , , not many things more poetic than records (or books) that went along all the way.

Especially when bought way back when they were released and stood in zenith above the times.

I presume the pillow is a keeper, OC. .

 

In other words - stay (slightly) surreal

 

Surrealistic Pillow and the first Grateful Dead album came out the same year. Those were the first two psychedelic rock albums I owned. I still listen to Surrealistic Pillow. And Jorma is still a great guitarist, whose Fur Peace Ranch has become a major force in guitar camps.

 

What goes around, comes around.

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Hep, , , not many things more poetic than records (or books) that went along all the way.

Especially when bought way back when they were released and stood in zenith above the times.

I presume the pillow is a keeper, OC. .

 

In other words - stay (slightly) surreal

Oh yes! Purchased new hot off the press and enjoyed enjoyed through many states of relative personal surrealism😇

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Surrealistic Pillow and the first Grateful Dead album came out the same year. Those were the first two psychedelic rock albums I owned. I still listen to Surrealistic Pillow. And Jorma is still a great guitarist, whose Fur Peace Ranch has become a major force in guitar camps.

 

What goes around, comes around.

I own the first Dead album, too - hold it in highest esteem. Again, an excellent 'original' purchase from an era of (heh, heh) surrealistic impulsivity😒

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I own the first Dead album, too - hold it in highest esteem. Again, an excellent 'original' purchase from an era of (heh, heh) surrealistic impulsivity😒

 

That surrealistic impulsivity is one of the things that led to the unusual fretboard and headstock inlays on my old J-45. Sort of like that tattoo you got on an impulse that you now wish would just disappear...

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That surrealistic impulsivity is one of the things that led to the unusual fretboard and headstock inlays on my old J-45. Sort of like that tattoo you got on an impulse that you now wish would just disappear...

Um, yeah, THAT tattoo. The one with the Globe, Anchor, and Eagle above the inscription reading "Heaven won't take us

And Hell is afraid we'll take over" (?)

At least everything's spelled correctly😨

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Um, yeah, THAT tattoo.

At least everything's spelled correctly😨

 

Everything spelled right is a good start for an old jarhead. (Just kidding: both my father and father-in-law were Old Corps Marines who enlisted in the late 1920's and had come up the hawsepipe by the outbreak of WW2. We know just a bit about Marines in our family.)

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Everything spelled right is a good start for an old jarhead. (Just kidding: both my father and father-in-law were Old Corps Marines who enlisted in the late 1920's and had come up the hawsepipe by the outbreak of WW2. We know just a bit about Marines in our family.)

Nick, I haven't laughed so hard in days - that remark about spelling hit me just right😂

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