Re: OT: Tuning guitar in fifths/ my rant defending alt. tunings :-)

[bill bigrig <billbigrig@yahoo.com>]

Howdy,

 Does anyone know if bruce Cockburn used an open tuning on "Dust and 
Diesel"?  Can anyone give me the chords or lead me to the tablature? Thanx
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/ my rant defending alt. tunings 
>:-)
> To: agentlesoul2004@yahoo.com, Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Date: Friday, February 27, 2009, 6:54 PM
> Whoa, I certainly wasn't claiming I'm more creative
> or talented than anyone else - yikes!! Hell no! No offense
> taken, but I wasn't putting myself above anyone who does
> use different tunings. That's a nice list. (Not that
> Keith Richards is exactly known for his solo work...). I
> should have placed more effort in indicating that, for ME,
> for what I'm interested in, I don't see a whole lot
> of possibilities that can't be gotten at otherwise. BUT
> I'm a nylon-string player. I might feel different if I
> had a dreadnaught Taylor, or if I was inspired by the
> English folk/American roots path that the soloists among the
> people you mention generally spring from. (Mitchell's
> Ellington fixation aside). I'm more inspired by jazz,
> classical and flamenco players, where playing in alternate
> tunings isn't part of a tradition, and moreover, would
> be a real limitation in the case of improvising.
> 
> I invoked YouTube not to refer to these people, but the
> current crop of folks who mainly take a few tricks from
> Michael Hedges (another alt-tuner who I have tremendous
> respect for) and go a-tapping and a-slapping all day long. I
> don't wish to directly put down artists so I won't
> name names, but if you search for Hedges videos, a few links
> away you'll find the people I'm talking about.
> 
> cheers,
> 
> Daryl Shawn
> www.swanwelder.com
> www.chinapaintingmusic.com
> 
> > my friend, with all due respect to your post, why in
> God's holy name would you use youtube as your evidence
> of boring amateur alt. tuning solo guitarist's?  I
> assume you are NOT referring to John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Nick
> Drake, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Richard Thompson, Jimmy
> Page,John Renbourn, John Martyn, Chet Atkins, Sonic Youth,
> Swervedriver, THE GREAT KEITH RICHARDS WHO WROTE MORE 3
> CHORD ROCK SONGS IN HISTORY IN OPEN G THAN ANYBODY HAS A
> RIGHT TO--how in the world can THAT be limiting??   Pierre
> Bensusan, Martin Carthy, Bruce Cockburn, Ry Cooder, David
> Crosby? Hell even boring ass Eric Clapton and even more
> boring Peter Frampton use alt. tunings!!!  Are you more
> creative than all these guitarist's both as a guitarist
> and more importantly a composer in altered tunings? I
> DON'T mean to be rude at all or disrespectful to you
> sir, but I propose there are only limited minds, NOT limited
> tunings!!   :-)    If you doubt my word on the above using
> them they are all documented in Mark Hanson's excellent
> book "The Complete Book of Alterate Tunings"  
> peace my friend   marc
> > 
> > /Marc Marshall/
> > //  /"I am human, I am large, I contradict
> myself"/
> > // /.....and then some  /
> > 
> > 
> > --- 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, 3:17 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
> >     > 
> > 
> >               
> >