Downtuning an acoustic: a fool's errand?

[Idunno]

If you're real careful with the tuning and don't hit the dumpster wall with it on the way in, it might stay in tune. Seriously, spend a penny and lose the source of the problem. Remove the strings, give it a real good coat of epoxy resin inside and out, a month to fully out-gas, drill a couple drain holes adjacent to the tail block and nail it to a tree to give a bird a home. Or, if it has some kind of sentimental value loosen the strings and make it a wall hanging. Otherwise, there's a Yamaha out there just waiting for you to play.

[EarlyJ45]

i play in "F" a lot, and just capo on 3, with a D configuration being my F, which is what Deep End suggested. works great, and not as trebley as capoing on the 5th

 

[t_e_l_e]

you have several options

first downtuning to D should work, maybe guitar needs a setup afterwards and/or heavier strings, if not, a better guitar should be able

 

you can try to avoid the F without barret with capo on several places

e.g 3rd fret, play a D

5th fret play a C

1st fret play a E

depending where you put the capo you might have other difficult chords to play

[Delmont]

And, of course, there's the rich man's downtuning alternative: get a baritone!

[guitarcapo]

Capo at the first fret and play an E chord. Problem solved.

[Grant Harding]

BTW - Most of the acoustic folk I know play the "cowboy F" with their thumb over the top. It also leaves the pinky open to add sus notes.

 

For some reason that doesn't work for me, but I think it might be appropriate for the Dylan song you mentioned.

[Grant Harding]

Apparently it's a Hendrix thing as well:

 

 

 

[catscurlyear]

not realy cause if the song had a C chord in it, that now becomes Cb..... only testing a B and if a G was in there that now becomes a Gb etc . you could actualy play the F then go for a lie down for 5 mins then come back and continue .

[DeepEnd]

BTW - Most of the acoustic folk I know play the "cowboy F" with their thumb over the top. It also leaves the pinky open to add sus notes.

 

For some reason that doesn't work for me, but I think it might be appropriate for the Dylan song you mentioned.

I dunno. I'm primarily an acoustic guy and I play a full barre F most of the time unless the previous/next chord is easier to transition to/from a "cowboy F." In that case I normally play it as F/C like this:

 

1

1

2

3

3

X

 

And use my thumb to mute the 6th string unless I need an A in the bass, in which case I play the 5th string open as F/A.

 

As we've seen, the problem comes when you start transposing to make things "easier." Sure, you can capo at 1 and play an E but than makes a C a B and you're back to barre chords. Or capo at 32 and play a D but now an Am becomes an F#m, which is another barre chord. The praise band at church used to have a second guitarist who couldn't play barre chords. I'd transpose songs so he could play them with as few barre chords as possible, sometimes capoed clear up to the 5th fret.

[Grant Harding]

The only time I personally use my thumb to fret is for the old Pink Floyd D/F#.

[LeFunk! Wedding Band]

Also try grating some pencil lead over the nut grooves (you'll have to detension the strings enough to move them out of the grooves). It may help the guitar settle in to to a constant tuning a bit faster. I was once convinced that the new strings I was trying out on my strat (balanced tension) were garbage cos they wouldn't stay in tune. I mentioned it to our bassist and he told me to try the graphite thing. They were fine - never had a tuning problem again. Sooner you can get a decent guitar the better though.

[DeepEnd]

I've seen guys play a G with just the thumb wrapped around the neck and one finger on the 1st string. Used to drive me nuts. But I wasn't talking about fretting, I was referring to using my thumb to mute the 6th string. I did pick up a bad habit when I was in college though. I wrap my thumb around and fret the 5th and 6th strings to play a B7:

 

2

0

2

1

2

2

 

I've been playing it like that since the 70's and I can't shake it completely.

[garthman]

I think it is best to just practise until you can do it. When I started playing the guitar I was learning a lot of Leonard Cohen songs - who uses a lot of barre chords: F, F#m, Bb, Bm, C#m, G#m, etc, etc - so you just have to learn them. And playing songs is the best way to learn the guitar.

 

[DeepEnd]

I think it is best to just practise until you can do it. When I started playing the guitar I was learning a lot of Leonard Cohen songs - who uses a lot of barre chords: F' date=' F#m, Bb, Bm, C#m, G#m, etc, etc - so you just have to learn them. And playing songs is the best way to learn the guitar.[/quote']

To be sure but we're not talking about barre chords in general, we're talking about a F on an acoustic guitar, which is more difficult than other barre chords like F#m, Bm, C#m, G#m, etc., etc., due to the gauge of the strings and the height of the nut, even on a well set up instrument.

[garthman]

Well, perhaps it is slightly more difficult - but only very, very slightly.

[epi56ebony]

Tune it back up to standard tuning, so it sound good or ok

Put a capo on the 5th fret and the F will be like a C chord.

 

Might work. IDK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capos are great! I use a capo on the 5th fret to play "Go Your Own Way" and the chord shapes are easier to do the suspension chords.

 

C shape = F

G shape is C

F shape is Bb

 

so much easier to play these chords this way

 

also capos give a different sound when put on frets up the neck

 

it's also easier to play chords up the neck with a capo

 

GO CAPO!