A quality guitar tuner is a crucial tool in any guitarist's gig bag. A typical acoustic guitar has six strings, each of which is adjusted to produce a specific pitch (or musical note). While there are many varieties of guitar tunings, the strings on a standard guitar are tuned, from lowest to highest note, as follows: E-A-D-G-B-E.
Alternate guitar tunings have been used ever since the dawn of time, or at least since the invention of the guitar. These tunings coupled with the use of a capo further broadens the spectrum available to guitarists and makes the sound of a guitar accompaniment ever changing. Most guitarists will recognise the standard tuning of a six string guitar as being EADGBe (the small e denoting the thinnest or highest pitch string). Any time that any one of these strings is adjusted so the note changes then an alternative tuning will be created. As with anything, some alternative tunings are more alternative than others! In popular music there are some common alternate tunings that have been used many times. I will list some of these later. There are also some artists that have consistently used these alternate tunings to create and mould their sound. Anyone who has tried to play, songs performed by Nick Drake on a standard tuned guitar will know that it is extremely difficult to work out how he played these songs. Knowing the tuning used makes the understanding and hence the playing easier.
Some parts of playing the guitar are obvious, for example: fretting chords, picking, strumming, etc. What is not so obvious is that developing a musical ear is just as important. For a beginner to really improve his or her musical ear, it is essential to consistently play in tune.
Not surprisingly, continually playing on an instrument that is out of tune will prevent a beginner from developing his or her musical ear at a normal rate. Making matters worse, many beginners do not want to spend much on their first guitar and therefore they end up with a cheaply made guitar that goes out of tune easily. The result can be real frustration.
For tuning acoustic guitars, the quality of the tuner's microphone is very important, as this is only input source. The better the quality microphone, the more accurate reading you will receive.
Many people, including myself, are fans of the late Davy Graham who was greatly travelled and used these influences in his guitar playing and writing. He is probably best known for DADGAD tuning which he used so he could play along with musicians in Morocco, even though it is essentially a Celtic tuning (the global power of music!). This in turn ended up influencing Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin on songs such as Kashmir.
Despite the good accuracy, there were a couple problems with the Peterson strobe tuners, however. First, they were just downright expensive. Second, the quality of the product was not always high. There are a number of stories on the web where people have bought these tuners and they stopped working in relatively short order.
Alternate guitar tunings have been used ever since the dawn of time, or at least since the invention of the guitar. These tunings coupled with the use of a capo further broadens the spectrum available to guitarists and makes the sound of a guitar accompaniment ever changing. Most guitarists will recognise the standard tuning of a six string guitar as being EADGBe (the small e denoting the thinnest or highest pitch string). Any time that any one of these strings is adjusted so the note changes then an alternative tuning will be created. As with anything, some alternative tunings are more alternative than others! In popular music there are some common alternate tunings that have been used many times. I will list some of these later. There are also some artists that have consistently used these alternate tunings to create and mould their sound. Anyone who has tried to play, songs performed by Nick Drake on a standard tuned guitar will know that it is extremely difficult to work out how he played these songs. Knowing the tuning used makes the understanding and hence the playing easier.
Some parts of playing the guitar are obvious, for example: fretting chords, picking, strumming, etc. What is not so obvious is that developing a musical ear is just as important. For a beginner to really improve his or her musical ear, it is essential to consistently play in tune.
Not surprisingly, continually playing on an instrument that is out of tune will prevent a beginner from developing his or her musical ear at a normal rate. Making matters worse, many beginners do not want to spend much on their first guitar and therefore they end up with a cheaply made guitar that goes out of tune easily. The result can be real frustration.
For tuning acoustic guitars, the quality of the tuner's microphone is very important, as this is only input source. The better the quality microphone, the more accurate reading you will receive.
Many people, including myself, are fans of the late Davy Graham who was greatly travelled and used these influences in his guitar playing and writing. He is probably best known for DADGAD tuning which he used so he could play along with musicians in Morocco, even though it is essentially a Celtic tuning (the global power of music!). This in turn ended up influencing Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin on songs such as Kashmir.
Despite the good accuracy, there were a couple problems with the Peterson strobe tuners, however. First, they were just downright expensive. Second, the quality of the product was not always high. There are a number of stories on the web where people have bought these tuners and they stopped working in relatively short order.
About the Author:
The present writer is very knowledgeable about guitar tuner. Please check out at their web site to find out more.
No comments:
Post a Comment