Staying in tune while playing outdoors

Les Anderson · From: The Great White North

It has been about six weeks since I got my D8 steel and have been spending a minimum of four hours a day practising. I thought I was doing pretty well until I had a chance to do my first group jam: jeez was it embarrassing.

We set up on an outdoor sundeck at about 4:00P (this is in Canada) and started in with the simple three chord stuff because it was my first time jamming with the steel. I soon found out however that as the temperature dropped, so went the tuning of my steel. I was nervous as a tom cat to begin with but when the steel wouldn’t stay in tune, I was became absolutely frustrated and had to move indoors or pack it in.

Is there anyway to keep a steel guitar in tune as the temperatures changes anywhere from 15f to 20f in the evenings?

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I am not right all of the time but I sure like to think I am!

[This message was edited by Les Anderson on 03 November 2004 at 09:50 AM.]

Gibson Hartwell · From: Missoula, Montana, USA

I find it helpful when playing in those conditions if you blame the tuning problems on everyone else in the band. Just look over at them appearing confused, tilt your head head slightly toward their amplifier, grimace and then shake your head. Much easier than moving all sixteen of those knobs around.

Les Anderson · From: The Great White North

I just got an e-mail from a forum lurker with this suggestion.

"Les, I have been through this problem a hundred times. I used to panic when this happened on an outdoor stage but now realize that the fade or raise in my steel's tuning is not as bad as I used to think. You will learn to appreciate that you , the steel player, will be much more sensitive to your own guitar's tuning than anyone else, even the other members of your band. For the most part, you could probably be three octives out tune before the audience would begin to notice

Other than that, If I play outdoors in the late fall, I just use a small heater with a fan that blows under my steel.

Has anyone else ever resorted to having a heater blowing towards you to keep your steel in tune in the cooler temps?

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I am not right all of the time but I sure like to think I am!

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

I use a small space heater sometimes. I have it so it projects the heat under my steel. If things go to far out of whack and I'm not able to compensate quickly enough I drop the chords and focus on making the single note stuff sound in tune. As my ears have gotten better having the steel be in tune has become less of an issue.

I keep the bar in my pocket so it doesn't get too cold also sometimes.

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Bob
intonation help

Steve Waltz · From: USA

Les,
I have been playing only a few months longer than you and I have found a tuning or pitch problem that I wanted to blame on something. I'm sure the temperature is and was a problem for you, but not for me in Oakland. I just thought I would mention what I found. I usually play sitting down and when I went to a friends house to play I did so standing up and I had a serious pitch problem. My view of the fret board changed when standing and i think that helped to cause me to play out of tune a bit( Ok more than a bit). I also had made the mistake of playing without an amp so not to drive my wife crazy while I practiced as much as you. Now i know this is a bad idea for me. I can't hear all of the bad stuff and the strings are too forgiving without an amp when I am listening for two or three notes to be in tune. i also learned that it is two steps forward and one back. I had to stop playing fast or complicated parts so that I could practice with a tuner to make sure that I was in the right spot. And lastly, I made sure that when not using a tuner that I was playing to something so that I could make sure that I was playing in tune to it. It is just too easy to sound great to yourself while you are practicing without a backing track or whatever. I've spent the last number of nights just playing chords and single notes in tune.

I hope it works,

Steve

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

The tuning variations with "cool", outdoor temperatures is only the opposite of the tuning variations of "hot" temperatures such as under the lights of a television or studio environment.

That's when you must depend upon your "ear training" and your "experience" in compensating for those deviations in what you expect or want to hear.

....there is no formula or program that you can "dial in" that will take the place of experience!

www.genejones.com

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

Great words Gene! How true it is.
In those TV studios, as YOU know, it's HOT as all get out until they turn the lights off and then you're hit with the AIR CONDITIONING BLAST! Whew! Makes playing difficult.

I've found, that seldom do all eight of your strings go bad.......but rather just one or two. It's been my experience as a melody type player, it's usually the second string; occasionally the third string. Once you figure out which is the most common offender, LISTEN for it, and then simply tweak it as required.

One band I was in, elected to play a "freebie" down on the water front within about 150 feet of the river. It was fall and the temperature was so cold, one could barely bend their fingers. In that kind of situation, ALL the strings went sour within minutes of taking it out of the case. In those kind of situations, you have two choices; chase the offending strings throughout the entire program or decline to play under those circumstance. Not much else one can do.

Les Anderson · From: The Great White North

Steve, thanks for the tips. I have never practised the steel without an amp. I found out within the first week of starting on the steel that amplified steel playing is vastly different than just listening to the natural sound of the strings. I always play sitting. I find it easier to manipulate the volume peddle while sitting.

I too do not practise to any extent the high speed or complicated chords or rhythms; there will be lots of time for that. What I do is start the session off with very the basic string picking and chord runs and in slow motion and at the same time do it without looking at my picking fingers. Within fifteen minutes however, I can run the neck picking all 8 strings while looking at the tab sheet only and, make only a few mistakes at picking the wrong string.

Les Anderson · From: The Great White North

I forget to mention that I have been playing chromatic harmonicas for better than forty years so I have a half decent ear for tuning and what is off the mark by only a few cents.

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I am not right all of the time but I sure like to think I am!

Bill Bosler · From: Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, USA

I've played plenty of outdoor gigs where I've a:frozen my butt or b:sweated so badly it dripped on my fretboard. The guitar does go out of tune, but after a while you'll be able to compensate for it without ever really thinking about it.

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