Members privatejoe Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Do you have to relearn guitar to play half step down? I mean how do guitarists play standard and half step down back and forth? YES I'm a noob. Can someone enlighten me on this topic? I mean isn't it confusing the fact whole fretboard changes when you play down tuning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bumhucker Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 E A D G B E becomes Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb... simple as that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bumhucker Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 E A D G B E becomes Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb... simple as that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members privatejoe Posted January 5, 2013 Author Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by Bumhucker E A D G B E becomes Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb... simple as that but if you change tuning... How do you play with other people? It's half step flatten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members privatejoe Posted January 5, 2013 Author Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by Bumhucker E A D G B E becomes Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb... simple as that but if you change tuning... How do you play with other people? It's half step flatten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by privatejoe Do you have to relearn guitar to play half step down? I mean how do guitarists play standard and half step down back and forth? YES I'm a noob. Can someone enlighten me on this topic? I mean isn't it confusing the fact whole fretboard changes when you play down tuning? I think I get what you're saying. Take a player like myself for example. I'm a "fair at best" IMHO guitar player, with little musical theory background. I don't sight read music notation (although I have worked on it before) but manly rely on tab. So for me, it's about the position not the note. If someone were a sight reader that mentally translated the musical notation to the actual notes, then I could see where that could be a bit of a conundrum and all notes would have to be played one step higher on the neck. I think for a lot of drop tuning players, they simply play the guitar. I occasionally will grab a baritone and try out a few songs (usually surf style) doing the same thing. Just using the same positions and then the tone is 5 steps down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by privatejoe Do you have to relearn guitar to play half step down? I mean how do guitarists play standard and half step down back and forth? YES I'm a noob. Can someone enlighten me on this topic? I mean isn't it confusing the fact whole fretboard changes when you play down tuning? I think I get what you're saying. Take a player like myself for example. I'm a "fair at best" IMHO guitar player, with little musical theory background. I don't sight read music notation (although I have worked on it before) but manly rely on tab. So for me, it's about the position not the note. If someone were a sight reader that mentally translated the musical notation to the actual notes, then I could see where that could be a bit of a conundrum and all notes would have to be played one step higher on the neck. I think for a lot of drop tuning players, they simply play the guitar. I occasionally will grab a baritone and try out a few songs (usually surf style) doing the same thing. Just using the same positions and then the tone is 5 steps down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FlyingV Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by privatejoe but if you change tuning... How do you play with other people? It's half step flatten. Most of the time the entire band / all the people jamming tune the same, so you don't really think about it. You just play as if tuned normally, it just sounds half a step lower. It's often done to accommodate the singer, lower tunings than a half-note are mostly used for a "heavier" sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FlyingV Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by privatejoe but if you change tuning... How do you play with other people? It's half step flatten. Most of the time the entire band / all the people jamming tune the same, so you don't really think about it. You just play as if tuned normally, it just sounds half a step lower. It's often done to accommodate the singer, lower tunings than a half-note are mostly used for a "heavier" sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by privatejoe but if you change tuning... How do you play with other people? It's half step flatten. Think of it as the opposite of putting on a capo. I'd just translate the key for those accompanying my playing. (for example, if you had a keyboard player) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by privatejoe but if you change tuning... How do you play with other people? It's half step flatten. Think of it as the opposite of putting on a capo. I'd just translate the key for those accompanying my playing. (for example, if you had a keyboard player) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Burgess Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Don't think about notes. Think more about fingering patterns and positions. If you're in the right key and you know the fingering pattern for the scale you want then you don't really care about what the notes are, unless of course you're tying to read a chart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Burgess Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Don't think about notes. Think more about fingering patterns and positions. If you're in the right key and you know the fingering pattern for the scale you want then you don't really care about what the notes are, unless of course you're tying to read a chart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by FlyingV .... so you don't really think about it. You just play as if tuned normally, it just sounds half a step lower. That's essentially what I was trying to say in my fist post as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by FlyingV .... so you don't really think about it. You just play as if tuned normally, it just sounds half a step lower. That's essentially what I was trying to say in my fist post as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members docjeffrey Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 That's why you buy a second guitar. I keep one of my Les Pauls tuned to E flat--several of the songs that our band plays are intended for that tuning setup. I can always slap a capo on the 1st fret for standard tuning, but with big frets, the strings will sound sharp. That's where having a second guitar comes in handy. By the way, the Spider Capo lets you adjust the downward force on each string individually, so you can retain accurate intonation when using a capo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members docjeffrey Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 That's why you buy a second guitar. I keep one of my Les Pauls tuned to E flat--several of the songs that our band plays are intended for that tuning setup. I can always slap a capo on the 1st fret for standard tuning, but with big frets, the strings will sound sharp. That's where having a second guitar comes in handy. By the way, the Spider Capo lets you adjust the downward force on each string individually, so you can retain accurate intonation when using a capo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dparr Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by Bumhucker E A D G B E becomes Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb... simple as that Capo first fret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dparr Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by Bumhucker E A D G B E becomes Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb... simple as that Capo first fret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chad Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Whether tuning up or down, using a capo, or changing keys with whatever method, it's a matter of transposing for a different key. I play in a praise and worship context and it's exciting when you learn a complicated rhythm or lead part that relies on open strings, then somebody changes the key at the last minute rendering the time expended on getting the part into muscle memory.....useless. But adapting to those situations is all part of growing as a guitar player. But to allow musicians to do their best, IMO it should be left only for emergency situations (example: last minute vocalist change with a different singing range or something similar). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chad Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Whether tuning up or down, using a capo, or changing keys with whatever method, it's a matter of transposing for a different key. I play in a praise and worship context and it's exciting when you learn a complicated rhythm or lead part that relies on open strings, then somebody changes the key at the last minute rendering the time expended on getting the part into muscle memory.....useless. But adapting to those situations is all part of growing as a guitar player. But to allow musicians to do their best, IMO it should be left only for emergency situations (example: last minute vocalist change with a different singing range or something similar). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by privatejoe but if you change tuning... How do you play with other people? It's half step flatten. either have them tune down a 1/2 step or simply play one fret higher than the standard tuned players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by privatejoe but if you change tuning... How do you play with other people? It's half step flatten. either have them tune down a 1/2 step or simply play one fret higher than the standard tuned players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by privatejoe but if you change tuning... How do you play with other people? It's half step flatten. play one fret higher i had booked a guitarist fill in for me for a couple of weeks so he brought his guitar to one of our gigs - he was a big hendrix fan and always tuned his guitar 1/2 step down - if the song was in A he would simply play it in Bb on his guitar and there were no issues at all - once you learn the instrument it's easy to play in any key Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Originally Posted by privatejoe but if you change tuning... How do you play with other people? It's half step flatten. play one fret higher i had booked a guitarist fill in for me for a couple of weeks so he brought his guitar to one of our gigs - he was a big hendrix fan and always tuned his guitar 1/2 step down - if the song was in A he would simply play it in Bb on his guitar and there were no issues at all - once you learn the instrument it's easy to play in any key Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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