The Musicians Thread

[Orbital]

sorry, i ment dont bother tuning down a tone or a semi tone as there is no point. also there isnt a great deal you can do in drop D that you cant do in standard tuning, infact theres nothing you cant do, but it makes it easier too play some stuff.

It's not about what you can and can't do in different tunings; it's about the different tones you can achieve by making subtle changes.

Surely it goes without saying that if you're a guitarist you've got to have a pretentious wank or two over tonality. But my band does use drop D occasionally, and on the one song we use it properly it just wouldn't sound right if it was in standard tuning.

you are absolutely right, too me though (and lots of oldies i know) when you use standard gauge strings you should be tuned too standard tuning as thats what the standard gauge strings are designed for. if you want a different tone, you get a lower string gauge. the lower the gauge, the warmer the tone. changing the tuning makes very little to no difference, take it from me, my 2 best friends make guitars for a living and i have been playing guitar and studying music for 8 -12 years respectively.i know my gooseberry fool mayne.

when you see guitarists like yngwie tuning to Eb, they only do it because its easier to bend strings as the there is not that much tension.

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Auto tuners are for lightweights, you gotta pick that gooseberry fool up by ear! tuning a guitar by ear is the only way to do it.

Why do something potentially less accurate? Just so you can say you can?

[Orbital]

Auto tuners are for lightweights, you gotta pick that gooseberry fool up by ear! tuning a guitar by ear is the only way to do it.

Why do something potentially less accurate? Just so you can say you can?

its a priceless skill to have when your strings go out of tune when you go on stage as the heat from the lights detune your strings, you should be able to spot any flats and fix it instantly, but then if your a bedroom shredder then an electronic tuner is fine.

[SEP]

Auto tuners are for lightweights, you gotta pick that gooseberry fool up by ear! tuning a guitar by ear is the only way to do it.

Why do something potentially less accurate? Just so you can say you can?

its a priceless skill to have when your strings go out of tune when you go on stage as the heat from the lights detune your strings, you should be able to spot any flats and fix it instantly, but then if your a bedroom shredder then an electronic tuner is fine.

Oh I can tell when I'm out of tune. I then use the built-in tuner in my amp to sort it out accurately.

[Pontius Pilate]

If my guitar goes out of tune while I'm playing, I can easily retune by ear. But I would never go on stage, jam, or record, without first tuning my guitar with a tuner. That'd just be silly.

[Orbital]

Auto tuners are for lightweights, you gotta pick that gooseberry fool up by ear! tuning a guitar by ear is the only way to do it.

Why do something potentially less accurate? Just so you can say you can?

its a priceless skill to have when your strings go out of tune when you go on stage as the heat from the lights detune your strings, you should be able to spot any flats and fix it instantly, but then if your a bedroom shredder then an electronic tuner is fine.

Oh I can tell when I'm out of tune. I then use the built-in tuner in my amp to sort it out accurately.

you cant really do this live though. but i know what you mean, i would do the same if im planning on having a 6 hour session. i only remember 1 band that decided too use an electronic tuner on stage, diamond head. it took him ages and they looked like a bunch of plonkers waiting for him too finish tuning. you should be able too just fix stuff in 1 movement on stage.

[Orbital]

If my guitar goes out of tune while I'm playing, I can easily retune by ear. But I would never go on stage, jam, or record, without first tuning my guitar with a tuner. That'd just be silly.

it doesnt matter how many times you tune perfectly backstage, once you go on stage the lights detune your strings. i said that already

[Pontius Pilate]

If my guitar goes out of tune while I'm playing, I can easily retune by ear. But I would never go on stage, jam, or record, without first tuning my guitar with a tuner. That'd just be silly.

it doesnt matter how many times you tune perfectly backstage, once you go on stage the lights detune your strings. i said that already

My guitar certainly does not. Although, I understand that some do. But I would still make sure it's in perfect tune before going on stage...even if I have to retune on stage. I don't understand your defensive reply.

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Incidentally, Floyd Rose whammies are strawberry floating awful if you want to quickly tune or restring.

[Pontius Pilate]

Incidentally, Floyd Rose whammies are ******* awful if you want to quickly tune or restring.

Floyd roses are just a pain in the strawberry floating arse! One of my guitars has one, and it's tremendous fun and the tuning stability is great. But it's not worth the hassle IMO. I'd rather just play my strat, which holds it's tune brilliantly! Unless you touch the whammy even slightly... I was thinking about buying locking tuners for my strat, but to be honest, I don't use the bar that much anyway.

[SEP]

Incidentally, Floyd Rose whammies are ******* awful if you want to quickly tune or restring.

Floyd roses are just a pain in the strawberry floating arse! One of my guitars has one, and it's tremendous fun and the tuning stability is great. But it's not worth the hassle IMO. I'd rather just play my strat, which holds it's tune brilliantly! Unless you touch the whammy even slightly... I was thinking about buying locking tuners for my strat, but to be honest, I don't use the bar that much anyway.

I hate that you practically need a strawberry floating toolkit if you want to change the gauge of your strings, as not only do you have to undo the locking nut, you need to adjust the spring tension so your trem sits level.

[Orbital]

Incidentally, Floyd Rose whammies are strawberry floating awful if you want to quickly tune or restring.

you can say that again, but the fine tuners allow yuo too go +- a semi tone so its all good. although they are good at locking any way.

If my guitar goes out of tune while I'm playing, I can easily retune by ear. But I would never go on stage, jam, or record, without first tuning my guitar with a tuner. That'd just be silly.

it doesnt matter how many times you tune perfectly backstage, once you go on stage the lights detune your strings. i said that already

My guitar certainly does not. Although, I understand that some do. But I would still make sure it's in perfect tune before going on stage...even if I have to retune on stage. I don't understand your defensive reply.

you seem to have missed my point entirely, you should always tune to an absolute precision before you go on stage, but if your going a proper gig with real lighting then those lights will expand the metal subsequently detuning your guitar. you probably never noticed or it just hasnt happened or you still haven't been on a proper stage, but im saying you should really be able to fix any flats on the spot other wise you look like a tit.

of course none of this matters if you have amazing engineers that tune your guitars wrongly any way (see dragonforce at graspop).


edit: i dont mean to look hostile or anything, im just trying to share knowledge mayne. also, if im sounding like a banana split is because i got 2 electronics exams in 1 horu that im going to fail

double edit: floyd rose are really not that bad once you learn how to treat them, it was about a year until i learnt how make love to mine and after that im a happy one.

[Pontius Pilate]

you seem to have missed my point entirely, you should always tune to an absolute precision before you go on stage, but if your going a proper gig with real lighting then those lights will expand the metal subsequently detuning your guitar. you probably never noticed or it just hasnt happened or you still haven't been on a proper stage, but im saying you should really be able to fix any flats on the spot other wise you look like a tit.

.

No, I did get your point...I wasn't arguing against it. In fact, I even stated

If my guitar goes out of tune while I'm playing, I can easily retune by ear.

All I was saying was that before going on stage, I tune to precision...Just as you also stated.

you should always tune to an absolute precision before you go on stage

And I have played on a couple of relatively big stages. I always tune my guitar with a tuner before going out, and then quickly fix the tuning before the band begins. Other than that, my guitar stays in tune like a champ!

EDIT - I would NOT like to be an engineer for dragonforce btw. They must have a heck of a job.

[Mr Thropwimp]

If my guitar goes out of tune while I'm playing, I can easily retune by ear. But I would never go on stage, jam, or record, without first tuning my guitar with a tuner. That'd just be silly.

it doesnt matter how many times you tune perfectly backstage, once you go on stage the lights detune your strings. i said that already

Depends on how you wind them. Get enough wraps on the tuning heads and it'll take a lot more for them to go out, at the expense of tone.

You and I aren't going to agree on alternative tunings though. I do think it's utterly ridiculous to say that going down a semitone or tuning down (or up) has little to no effect on the sound though, and throwing about qualifications and associations with luthiers doesn't give your argument any more credence.

[Orbital]

and throwing about qualifications and associations with luthiers doesn't give your argument any more credence.

you're right, i just felt like being a knob end (im not joking). if you havent already, do give gauge 12-13 a go if you like a warm tone, if its too hard to bend you can even detune too loosen the tension (completely contradicting my self). talk more after my ghey exam.

dragonforce engineer

[frogg]

*Cough*

Also MCN, any chance you have the vocal melody tabbed for Just Like Heaven by the Cure??

I can't find it anywhere and can't be arsed tabbing it myself.

[SEP]

*Cough*

Also MCN, any chance you have the vocal melody tabbed for Just Like Heaven by the Cure??

I can't find it anywhere and can't be arsed tabbing it myself.

I've just checked, and none of the tabs I have for that song feature a vocal track, I'm afraid.

[LewisD]

I used to love divebombing on a floyd rose. The Kahler on my Vigier was just as stable, but the size of a house

I've got sperzel locking tuners on my Les Paul and they are solid.
Even after a crazy bend session it's still in tune, love them.

[frogg]

*Cough*

Also MCN, any chance you have the vocal melody tabbed for Just Like Heaven by the Cure??

I can't find it anywhere and can't be arsed tabbing it myself.

I've just checked, and none of the tabs I have for that song feature a vocal track, I'm afraid.

Ah no worries man, cheers for looking anyway!!

[Ario]

Has anyone got one of those bridges you can tune from for guitars with a locking nut? A couple of guitars I've looked at have locking nuts which is an issue because I change tuning (standard, drop D/C/B) ALOT.

EDIT: dont laugh at me, but im going to see this guy on my birthday in augast in brighton:
grcadians should consider coming.

o/
Batio is amazing