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Tuning up - Should I be concerned


missedmyexit

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So its bascially DADGAD with the 5th down to G and the 6th up to E? According to the D'Addario chart a 0.053 goes from 25.5 pounds to 36.1, a 0.056 goes from 29.3 to 41.4. The rest of your strings will be going down in tension so the overall affect on the neck and action won't be bad but I do worry about that 6th string. In fact most people who play in DADGAD use mediums to bump the tension up. For one song once in a while I might consider tuning lights that way and put up with the high tension in the 6th and light on everything else, if I was going to leave a guitar in that tuning I'd put mediums on it with a 45 or so on the bottom.

 

I'm not familiar with the song - do you really need the double G's? Do you fret them differently or are they just drones? If so I would consider not playing the 6th at all - just like all those chords with the X on the string that doesn't work

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Recently started looking at Pearl Jam's song Daughter which is in GGDGAD. What should be my concern level of tuning some pricey instruments up? The E goes up 1 1/2 steps.

 

I can't speak in terms of the science of tension. When I learned many moons ago, my uncle/teacher cautioned me about tuning up. My first thought is to tune it down (GGDGAD --> EEBEF#B) and capo at the third fret.

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I can't speak in terms of the science of tension. When I learned many moons ago' date=' my uncle/teacher cautioned me about tuning up. My first thought is to tune it down (GGDGAD --> EEBEF#B) and capo at the third fret.[/quote']

Which won't address the 5th and 6th strings being at the same pitch even though they're very different gauges (or the 5th being 7 semitones flat assuming you tune down to E rather than up to E) or the 1st and 2nd strings being 5 full semitones flat. The You'd need a custom set of strings to manage it.

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