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

[bill bigrig <billbigrig@yahoo.com>]

Howdy,

 When I wanted to learn mandolin so that I could make muzik ala Nash the 
Slash, and FM, I tuned the mandolin to the middle 4 strings of a guitar. 
Obviously, I couldn't use the note values of  the guitar so I just 
transposed them down, (or up, i don't remember), to the most practical 
open notes of the mandolin. You have to get used to the open chords being 
in a different key, but it worked great for me. Fast forward to now, 
recently bought an acoustic/electric mandolin and i'm going to be right in 
the middle of FM country. Ben Mink and Nash the Slash are becoming quite 
acheivable now.
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: billwalker@baymoon.com, Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Date: Friday, February 27, 2009, 10:19 PM
> No sweat, I was putting myself pretty far out there and
> didn't have a very thick branch to hang from. It's
> always interesting to hear about the paths that serious
> players take. I used to looove effects boxes, and may go
> there again someday, who knows.
> 
> That is a really, really pianistic voicing - pretty cool no
> matter how you pull it off! Now I'm thinking about
> voicing harmonic minor in different keys and seeing where
> that takes me...
> 
> best,
> 
> Daryl Shawn
> www.swanwelder.com
> www.chinapaintingmusic.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 :)