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RWD
`Olu`olu
USA
850 Posts |
 Posted - 04/25/2007 : 06:22:41 AM
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When I was a kid in Haleiwa('55-'68) my mom was taking Ukulele lessons. One day when I tried to play it she passed on this phrase to me so I could remember the strings by ear. She must have learned it from a teacher (my guess). It obviously doe not acronym out to anything, but I can always remember the string pitches by recalling this phrase.
If you play the strings while singing this phrase and you will never forget the tuning.
Has anyone else heard of "My Dog Has Fleas"? Is it common?
Bob
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Bob |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 10:37:49 AM
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Very common. Not particularly useful, but very common. 
Seriously, I have heard people some amazingly varied pitches to those four little words.
I learned it when I was maybe 5 from my mom, who couldn't sing a note, bless her.
FYI: Jim Beloff calls his `ukulele biz Fleamarket Music in honor of both the tuning mnemonic and the `uku. Of course, maybe no one would bother if he called it "Louse Music."
What I have always wondered is why those particular words were used to denote the pitches of the uke's open strings. Was there a popular song at some time that used them in the chorus???
Mark |
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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 1:32:13 PM
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It's a mnemonic ("assisting or INTENDED TO ASSIST the memory"), as Mark said. It's everywhere on internet sites that provide tuning and that sell ukuleles.
I suppose if you sang that phrase while playing the G-C-E-A notes that correspond to each word often enough on a properly tuned instrument, you might be more inclined to associate the proper tones with the words. I've never been able to use it. To get the strings to sound right when strummed together, I have to sit in front of a keyboard and tune away until the plucked note disappears into the sound of the key I'm striking. The keys above and below give me an indicator of whether I'm still too low or getting too high in pitch.
"My dog has fleas" probably relates to a time when affected households may have had a ukulele and nothing else to use for reference tuning. If you were fortunate enough to learn the phrase with a teacher, who had a properly tuned instrument, and if you had a decent sense of pitch, you were in better shape relative to tuning than if you had no way to begin to remember which string should be tuned higher or lower than the others when you were on your own. Of course, one may find it hard to imagine a time when G-C-E-A tuning pipes were not relatively cheap, though they may have been hard to come by.
The use of strange word sequences is fairly common as a mnemonic devices. The stranger, and in some instances, even the more disturbing, the more effective they can be. Maybe it's shock value. I don't know. I won't tell you the one I was assured (by a Ph. D.) the U.S. Navy used to help techies remember the resistance values of resistors based upon their color bar codes. It borders on the obscene. Of course, he only told it to me once, and I've never forgotten it; so it worked. |
Thank you. |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 1:56:09 PM
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| Absolute, you are a "bad boy..." |
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 3:36:36 PM
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the uke player in our band is named gerry, and so he uses the mnemonic "gerry can eat anything". it's pretty much true, too...
aloha,
keith
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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 3:59:00 PM
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| Not in the sense of the mnemonic, Retro... |
Thank you. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 11:28:21 PM
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...when I was taking a class in DoD high reliability soldering, I learned the resistor thing.... I wouldn't say it when the teacher asked...disgustingly demeaning toward women. I'm no radical feminist or anything like that, but I did not think that was appropriate in a professional environment.
The mnemonic
Bad Boys Ravish Only Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
Edited by - wcerto on 04/25/2007 11:43:30 PM |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 10:44:18 AM
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Three more words at the end: "Get Some Now" (representing Gold, Silver, Neutral.) Absolute did warn.
I learned it in a college electronics course, of all places - but not from the instructor. |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 12:13:29 PM
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I seem to recall the my dog phrase having something to do with Arthur Godfrey. The phrase was sung to a tune which corresponded to the notes to tune the strings. I may be remembering incorrectly; I was pretty young in those days. Any Godfrey fans here?
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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Pua Kai
Ha`aha`a
USA
1007 Posts |
Posted - 05/02/2007 : 07:27:01 AM
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| Not only was that the way to remember, but we tuned A D F# B... I didn't come across GCEA until long after I no longer had/played the uke. |
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