Re: new standard tuning

[Michael Peters <100041.247@CompuServe.COM>]

about Fripp's "New Standard Tuning":
 
yes, the bending possibilities are limited, but on the electric guitar you
can always use a whammy bar to bend notes. This is not the same as bending 
a
string with your finger but as Dave said - maybe the restriction forces you
to leave the territory you're used to, and find something new.
 
I had this musical crisis years ago when I was simply fed up with what I
played. I really couldn't help but notice that my playing repeated itself,
that I used other guitarists' phrases and chords, and I got bored to the
point of almost giving up the guitar altogether.
 
In my first Guitar Craft course in 1988, Fripp presented this different
tuning he had found and switched to, abandoning the old tuning altogether
for himself. I recognized that here was a chance for me to throw away all
the learned stuff that bored me, and jump into unknown territory.
 
Being a lazy person who doesn't practice a lot, it took me years to learn
the new tuning, but I took the chance. I tuned my guitars to the new 
tuning,
and never went back. It was a painful process at times because in the
beginning I couldn't play *anything* meaningful - when in a session someone
asked me to play a specific chord, I couldn't, or it took quite a while to
figure it out, and I felt like a fool. For a long time, I was unable to 
play
a solo because I hit wrong notes very often.
 
Eventually I got familiar with the NST, and I'm happy with it. The whole
playing and feeling of the guitar is different. There are undeniable
limitations: No more bending; playing scales is more difficult because
you have to stretch the fingers more; and some kinds of chords are 
impossible
to play. On the other hand, the tuning gives you the chance to learn a new,
fascinating, and equally expressive language, with a different way of
phrasing, playing scales, and new kinds of chords.
 
I'm not saying that the NST is a *better* tuning. Of course the traditional
tuning is just as limitless as the NST. For guitarists who feel happy with
the traditional tuning, and with their playing, there is no need to learn
a new tuning, but for guitarists who feel stuck, the NST is a possible way
out.
 
-Michael P