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

["William Walker" <billwalker@baymoon.com>]

Dude, sorry to be so emphatic. To be honest,  I just went through a long
period of minimizing my signal processing and simplifying my rig as a
conscious choice to free myself of the reliance on effects, and it helped 
me
to realize I could jettison all but the most basic effects ( for me that is
compression, overdrive, delay, and reverb) and still get my music across. 
It
was liberating, and when I finally ended my effects sabbatical, it gave me
new inspiration for using stuff I hadn't used in a long time, Like filter
effects, ring modulation and polyrhythmic delay. And I've been through
periods where I got sick of DADGAD, where I felt played out in the tuning,
but recently I have been using the approach where I'll pick a mode I like
and see how well I can voice that mode in a given tuning, and that will 
open
a compositional thread. For a long time I couldn't break out of the
Blackmountainsidedaveygrahamceltic6/8reelyjiggydronytriplety vibe that
DADGAD is known for. But try voicing D or A harmonic minor in that same
tuning and it becomes a different thing altogether. I think it is perfectly
valid to use as many or as few tools as one needs to find there musical
bliss. Per was originally asking about tunings to increase his range on the
instrument, and of course we all mutated away from that :)  I don't think I
belong to any kind of cool club by using alternate tunings, but I got to
agree with Bob Brozman on this one, what we call standard tuning, for all 
we
know, was an arbitrary decision. Viva La difference!!!!
 Bill


PS the chord was a result of trying to play close piano voicing's in
standard tuning, a result of a couple of lessons I took from pianist Art
Lande many many years ago, I think he thought I was nuts:) I alternate the
low E, and the C#, B, and A on the A string as an alternating bass notes
under the upper extensions of the chord, which is an E major add 9 add 11.
Then I do massage therapy on my hands for several hours :)  

-----Original Message-----
From: Daryl Shawn [mailto:highhorse@mhorse.com] 
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 7:14 PM
To: billwalker@baymoon.com; Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: OT: Tuning guitar in fifths for wider orchestration options

Well, I can't disagree with you at all here, Bill. If someone asked me 
to play slide, I'd probably whip my E's down to D before I picked up the 
bottleneck. I had to pick up the guitar to try your big chord, too - 
nice sound, big-ass stretch! Not something I would stumble upon and try 
to hang onto for a full verse.

Since I seem to gravitate toward minimal sound options in general 
anyway, it may just be part of my personality that makes me prefer the 
small box of crayons.

I don't think any of my points remain...maybe I should just retract my 
whole post (where's that life Undo button??).

cheers,

Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com
www.chinapaintingmusic.com


> Alternate tunings are like another group
> of crayons in the crayon box. I don't know about you, but I'm happy to 
>get
> my hands on as many crayons as possible.