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Larry Goldstein
Lokahi
267 Posts |
 Posted - 01/18/2006 : 08:11:22 AM
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I would guess the masters composed their music in the tuning that helped create the emotion of the song. In some cases this objective could even carry over to a choice between playing on nylon versus steel strings. For example, the harmonics in C Wahine tuning resonate much better, at least to my ear, on a classical guitar.
But as they say in bluegrass circles, just keep on pickin'.
Larry
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Pua Kai
Ha`aha`a
USA
1007 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2006 : 09:20:07 AM
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| OK - but here's a question: Before the current masters: each family had their "own" tunings and they hid them from others. Doesn't that intimate that in the early days, they each only worked with a tuning or two? Just a thought... |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2165 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2006 : 11:21:24 AM
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| Another thing to try is to play a song in "G" taropatch, but in a different key such as "C" or "D". After years of playing Kaneohe in "G", I tried it in "C", and it worked even better. I didn't even drop the low string down from D to C. It was easy to play, and the vamp has a D in the bass for the II-V-I vamp. F is no problem, just use the D for the bottom of the F-chord, and F6 or Dmin7. Jphn is right, no sin to tinker, but I know from watching others learn, basics are a good thing to get under one's belt as they can help jumping off to something new later. |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2006 : 5:13:21 PM
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For the record - I did not tell anyone what to do in terms of sticking to a tuning or moving around. I shared what works for me and why I think it works. I don't know what will work for anyone else. I barely know what works for me. But I do have the courage of my own confusions.
There are many learning styles and each different approach will open some doors and close others. That's life. You have to decide what you want to sacrifice in view of what you want to gain.
Hell, you don't even have to learn, you can just mess around all you want.
For me, it is important to develop enough technical proficiency to be able to play what I hear "in my imagination" as best as I can with as little hassle as possible. For me that also means I have to stay very focused. It's the way I learn best. I've messed around a bit in some of the other tunings, but I know what it takes for me to learn, and I don't have the time or energy to spend on more than one tuning. (And, yes, some songs don't sound as good in G, or F, so I end up not playing them. Not a big thing for me, given the fact that there are more songs that I want to play than there is time for me to play them.) |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2006 : 11:18:04 AM
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I like that, Raymond; "the courage of my own confusions". We all cdome to the table with a different set of cufusions based on how we each percieve reality. I'm sure mine are real, and i a m willing to bet that yours are, too. How about everybody else? :)
OK, back to practicing, on whichever guitar in whatever tuning it might be in. They all sound ogod ot me. |
Karl
Frozen North |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2006 : 11:23:40 AM
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Just for fun I retuned to C Maunaloa (CGEGAE) and tried to play some turnarounds. It was good fun and I could now play "Hi'ilawe" Pahinui style. But my picking thumb has the hardest transition to make. It seems to only know the Taropatch bass notes.
I think moving the notes around is a good way to keep you on your toes and play more consciously.
Jesse Tinsley |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2165 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2006 : 07:20:43 AM
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| The great Bluegrass banjo / fiddle player, John Hartford remarked, "Style is based on limitation." |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2006 : 09:48:16 AM
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| That's a good one, thunbs. I have watched a lot of performers and there is a surprising number who play in only one or two chord sets. Wht i mean is they might use the firts position G form or first position D form for their whole repertoire. They capo up or down to be in different keys, but their "signature" sound comes largely fron the picking patterns they use with those limited chord formations. Bill Staines is the most obious to come to my ming...almost all his songs are played in that first position G form (it looks more complicated because he plays a regularly strung guitar upside down and backwards, lefty) He sure has an identifiable style, though:) |
Karl
Frozen North |
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Kapila Kane
Ha`aha`a
USA
1051 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2006 : 10:35:14 PM
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Here's my 2 bits--sorry, I don't do haircuts...anymore.
Ya gotta have a home (or two) that's yer anchors...
taropatch, standard, double secret C...hey, it's your universe.
I'm glad to have some anchors in standard, and taropatch, Keola's C..(a standard high strings, with bass notes--or a ukulele with C and G bass!)...
But I love to try different tunes and tunings...gotta explore.
What's the Big Idea #1? ... is
Distance between strings ( the intervals),...
is usually 4ths, 5ths or 3rds between any two adjacent strings...
Then for pairs two strings apart...tuningsusually creates 6ths. 5ths, 7ths, octaves...(really common in slack key world) or maybe a 10th (octave and a third of separation!)
But nevertheless, PATTERNS REPEAT, TIME AND TIME AGAIN...so the shapes are gonna transfer if ya explore and evaluate, it's transferable somewhere around your guitar's fret universe.
Octaves mean if you've learned the names of notes on a string tuned to say G" ....if it's three notes in common, even less work.
What's the Big Idea #3?
Well, the normal limitations of the human hand dictate that we're gonna use the same or similar SHAPES...OVER AND OVER AND OVER again my friend. Can't you see, we're on the eve of creation?
The strings we execute our patterns may move over a string or two (or three)...but there is boodles of transfer.
What's the Big Idea # 2?
One of fun things about tunings is trying your shapes in a new combination of strings...sometimes a closed pattern, or often with some open mystery exploration...
Most of us do this I suppose....
AND there's a difference between "Mastery" for being a perfect executor of notes...and writing, creating patterns and progressions with occassional color tones from outa nowhere.
Perhaps that's why my repertoire is a little limited...]
As Jana says, "I'm not lost, I'm exploring".
I decided long ago that symphony violinists (great as they can be) often spend most of their lives as slaves...executing notes for the will of others.
Of course, being a fiddler is a pretty weird way to build a life too!
Still, it's been, and continues to be a Magical Mystery Tour.
Often I find myself in a stellar (or was it Stella) situation...and wonderin' ..
How did I get into this wonderous beautiful experience...
When you first go off to a music school, the first thing they train you to do is "know your intervals!"
Sounds like a Letterman feature.
When I get muddled on a melody or line or harmony..I still may revert to basic interval ID...I'm now a lot faster than when I was 18...but slightly deafer, and the memory chip is pre-CBS, and not in mint condition. Which means I still get Rain Man wages...about a hundred dollars.
But always remember, Distance equals Time x Speed...
but Time flys, and is still Money...unless you're a FIddler!
Kapila, the transfer student... signing off.
Besides, everything I ever really needed to know I learned in "The
Sound of Music""...
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2165 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2006 : 07:11:05 AM
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| My Dad was a professional musician since age 15, playing Scandihoovian dances in the Skagit valley. He told me ot play clean and acurate and that music at best is to be enjoyed with your friends. Everything else is window dressing. |
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