Re: OT: Tuning guitar in fifths for wider orchestration options

[bill bigrig <billbigrig@yahoo.com>]

Howdy,

 I knew a guitarist that one night, while we were on the  road, had had a 
few beers and went all hyper about different tunings and started showing 
off all the ones he knew. EVERY alt. tuning he used was accompanied by the 
usual chords, slides, etc. What really impressed me though was the 
virtuosity he displayed when breaking into lead lines, runs, fingered 
chords, and just fast, melodic playing. It was highly educational. He 
proved to me that an open tuning limits you only as much as you allow it.
Rig


--- On Fri, 2/27/09, Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com> wrote:

> From: Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com>
> Subject: Re: OT: Tuning guitar in fifths for wider orchestration options
> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Date: Friday, February 27, 2009, 12:17 PM
> With a heaping helpful of due respect to all those whose
> alt-tuned playing I enjoy - and the distinct feeling that
> I'm a lone fuddy-duddy here - I'm one of those
> resisters, though I did play in nothing but altered tuning
> for a long time. For me, the advantage was the mental
> breaking of ruts, but I found it was the wrong approach -
> treating the symptoms, not the cause of the rut. I'd
> found myself always playing the same things, but came to see
> that I was simply limited in the technique and knowledge I
> had. Altered tuning threw away the experience I'd
> already gained, so I ended up even quicker in a new rut - I
> was tuned DADGCF, so suddenly I started writing everything
> in D minor. After five years, I switched back to standard,
> and practice as often as I can in it, and haven't found
> myself in a rut (by my own subjective analysis, of
> course...) since. The solution was increasing my knowledge
> of the guitar, getting closer to the goal of making seamless
> the division between self and instrument, able to play what
> I heard in mind, not putting fingers down and finding new
> sounds by chance.
> 
> I dunno...if a sax player gets in a rut, do they quickly
> switch to clarinet? Or do they practice different things,
> seek out new music to listen to, find new playing
> opportunities to challenge the rut, which is a mental
> construct anyway?
> 
> Honestly, I don't see a world of possibilities in
> switching tunings. Sure, there's a big ringing resonance
> that one can get with unisons or open octaves, but that
> already sounds played out to my ears unless the composition
> is a good one. If you go on YouTube and watch the scores of
> open-tuned solo guitar players, you'll see the easy
> temptations they fall into - basing everything on a pedal
> note on the lowest open string, sliding around the same
> chord position on the low strings with the high ones ringing
> out, hitting the 12th and 5th fret harmonics compulsively in
> every damn tune - because those tricks sound good, at an
> average and tired level of good.
> 
> Just my experience...YMMV (and probably already has,
> I'm gathering!).
> 
> Daryl Shawn
> www.swanwelder.com
> www.chinapaintingmusic.com
> 
> > I know many guitarists that resist open tunings and I
> honestly don’t know why. They really open up another world
> of possibilities and are a great way to take a break from
> standard tuning, if for no other reason than to provide
> fresh perspective and break out of playing ruts.
> > 
> > Bill
> >