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Topic: The Alkire Tuning..What Happened? |
Roy Thomson
From:
Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada
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Posted 17 Dec 2014 11:26 am |
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http://picosong.com/4WTf
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 17 Dec 2014 11:42 am
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Wow, Roy, that is stunning! That's one of the best things I've heard from you. It really shows the amazing possibilities of this difficult diatonic tuning. I'm not surprised that the tuning didn't catch on though... it's not user friendly, and certainly not beginner friendly. As I remember, there are six adjacent stings tuned in 1/2 steps! Plenty of train wrecks waiting to happen! I've never actually tried the tuning, just analyzed it on paper. Great job, Roy.
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John Booth
From:
Columbus Ohio, USA
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Posted 17 Dec 2014 11:42 am
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You keep playing it like that and it will come back Brother
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Jb in Ohio
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GFI S10 Ultra, Telecaster, a Hound Dog, and an Annoyed Wife
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Roy Thomson
From:
Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada
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Posted 17 Dec 2014 11:46 am
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I am out to a Holiday Gig. Will give more info later.
I thank you Doug and John.
RT
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Liz Williams
From:
California, USA
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Posted 17 Dec 2014 12:44 pm
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| What John Booth said. Wonderful! |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 17 Dec 2014 12:57 pm
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Roy, you could make a Didley Bow sound terrific. Of all the E-Harp players I've heard (including Eddie) only Claude Browell didn't sound slightly stiff. It's very powerful harmonically and can give you piano/harp-like cascades but heaven and hell are adjacent in that tuning and it's just too tricky and exacting for most people. You played the heck out of it in that clip Roy but I still heard slight hesitations here and there. One has to devote hours and hours to get over that hump, I suspect.
Perhaps excellent single note playing grabs the listener more than excellent chord melody playing? Or maybe what players like Jerry Byrd could do with 6 or 7 strings impressed folks more than what Eddie did with 10? I dunno.
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Glenn Uhler
From:
Trenton, New Jersey, USA
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Posted 17 Dec 2014 4:08 pm Old Alkire Student
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I started taking lessons from Eddie Alkire himself in 1960. Starting out on a converted 6 string was pretty easy and offered a lot of different chords on 6 strings. Example: Strings 1,3,5 E major chord; 1,3,6 E minor; 1,2,4 A major; 1,2,5 A minor (I think); 2,4,6 7th chord; and several others I can't remember. When you added the four lower chromatic strings, the "fat" four note chord possibilities went up exponentially. Of course, so did the difficulty, coupled with the fact that Eharp players always used four picks. The majority of Eddies' course material after the first year would not have been playable without them.
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 17 Dec 2014 4:19 pm
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| Quote: |
| Mae Lang, anyone ever heard of her |
She was spectacular ... I heard her many times at HSGA Joliet ...
Mae played while reading sheet music ... With a marvelous vibrato that was very Dick McIntire-ish ...
Bernice Honold and Mae were always my favorites to hear ... And watch ...  |
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John Booth
From:
Columbus Ohio, USA
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Posted 17 Dec 2014 5:12 pm
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Try this on for size
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnIIWmhDMV8
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Jb in Ohio
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GFI S10 Ultra, Telecaster, a Hound Dog, and an Annoyed Wife
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Rick Barnhart
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 17 Dec 2014 7:45 pm
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Beautiful tune, Doug.
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John Booth
From:
Columbus Ohio, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2014 4:14 am
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| Doug Beaumier wrote: |
| That's me playing Old Cape Cod... thanks for posting the link, John. The guitar is an Alkire eHarp, but it's tuned to E13, not the Alkire tuning. |
It's a very sweet piece and you play it exceptionally.
I don't know anything about the eharp, but how does it sound like a clarinet sometimes? Perfect for that style of song. It seems to sound like more than one instrument
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Jb in Ohio
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GFI S10 Ultra, Telecaster, a Hound Dog, and an Annoyed Wife
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Mel Taylor
From:
Alabama, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2014 7:51 am
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| Thanks Roy for posting this topic on the Alkire tuning and by the way I'm from Alabama. Another outstanding player of this tuning is Duane Solley in Texas. I have often wondered why this tuning has nearly disappeared since it was so popular when I was taking lessons back in the early 1950's. My instructor was Luke Morris at the Rutz Music store in Mobile and Rutz had a weekly TV program and there would be 30 to 40 students on the show each week from beginners to intermediates and advanced players showcasing their playing abilities and Luke would have at least one player from each category doing a solo and he would play a solo also. I don't know how many students he had over the years but I do know it was a huge following. Where did all these people go? Are any of them besides myself still playing this tuning here in the Mobile area? It should be noted here that even though we were taught to use four picks Mae Lang only uses three. She seems to feel that four picks could have been one of the reasons for the decline in interest of this tuning. |
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Roy Thomson
From:
Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada
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Posted 18 Dec 2014 8:18 am
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Hi Mel. Nice to hear from you again!
I just use the 3 picks for this tuning. Could never
get used to that extra piece of metal. I brush
strings with the thumb and pic with two fingers.
You can get 4 note chords that way. And when the string
placement is not easy I will "stagger" the chord by playing
3 strings together and adding a fourth note while they are
sustaining.
Mae did not play many chords but her vibrato was very
haunting and beautiful. Way back she sent me cassette tapes of her and Art on guitar. She played Hawaiian and Pop/Jazz standards very well. I do not know whether she still plays or not?
Compliments of the Season to you.
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Custom Tabs Various Tunings
Courses Lap Steel, Pedal Steel |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Roy Thomson
From:
Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada
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Posted 18 Dec 2014 9:43 am
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Here's a pic of Claude. He used a long scale so he could extend the bass clef. He was a nice man, sent me a cassette tape of his playing before he passed on.
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Custom Tabs Various Tunings
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2014 3:02 pm
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| wonderful playing as always roy!! when i added a lot of strings to the leavitt tuning, i looked at the alkire tuning and saw the intervals and added some of them and a couple of chromatics. back in the day, the players would have been better versed in songs that were harmonically such that all the wonderful chords were used. different day now. |
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John Booth
From:
Columbus Ohio, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2014 3:44 pm
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Seriously Doug, I'm getting hooked on your videos Brother.
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Jb in Ohio
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GFI S10 Ultra, Telecaster, a Hound Dog, and an Annoyed Wife
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Brian McGaughey
From:
Orcas Island, WA USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2014 6:14 pm
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Roy, I check out most of the music you record and post here on the SGF and I enjoyed the Alkire tuning clip far and above the others you've done.
You've prompted me to look into exactly what this tuning is. |
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Roy Thomson
From:
Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada
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Posted 18 Dec 2014 6:39 pm
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Hey Bill Hatcher..Compliments of the Season to you and yours. All the best for 2015.
Thank you Brian! If you do a search there is a lot of information in the Forum Archives. Good Luck and let me know if I can be of any help.
RT
_________________
Custom Tabs Various Tunings
Courses Lap Steel, Pedal Steel |
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Chris Templeton
From:
The Green Mountain State
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Peter Funk
From:
Germany
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Posted 19 Dec 2014 2:41 pm
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Roy, what a wonderful sound! How did you do it? This is exactly what I'm searching for. Can you tell me about your setup?
Greetings from Germany  |
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Andy Eder
From:
North Florida, USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2014 3:45 pm Claude Brownell
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I had the pleasure of working some dates with Claude Brownell and his wife in Homestead Florida in the mid '70's. He played a 14 string guitar that he told me he built and he played standing up, There were no pedals. I had
just
started playing pedals. He got the
biggest, fattest voicings I've
ever heard and was amazing.
He was living in Ft. Meyers, Fl.
at the time. |
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