The Out of Tune Syndrome

Bob Smith · From: Allentown, New Jersey, USA

The recent threads of the most famous "out of tune player" stirred me to post this thread. Cant we take just about any recording of anyone and find flaws in it,if we scrutinize long enough? Gee, Im sure everyone has heard" live" Hendrix tunes right? So who would be the" in tune" player these days? Im curious. Thanks ,I just let off a little steam. Bob

Barry Blackwood · Posted 27 Apr 2005 3:51 pm

Guess I haven't been paying too close attention lately, (normal) but who is the famous 'out of tune' player we're talking about?

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

I don't know..

EJL

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Bob, one of the things that makes a song a real treasure to me is listening to it over and over, and finally deciding that it's about "perfect", and there's nothing I could change that would make it sound better.

Hendrix? I really preferred Lonnie Mack's worst stuff over Jimi's best stuff.

Sorry.

Tracy Sheehan · From: Fort Worth, Texas, USA

As i said in an e mail i sent to someone,the recorded music and singers who are put on perfect pitch by computers etc sound phoney to me.So maybe some of the older singers were a little off key at times ,so what?At least they didn't have to take half their clothes off and have a bunch of so called dancers dressed like hookers to sell them selves.They had talent.

Arn't i getting crabby in my old age.

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Bruce Bouton · From: Nash. Tn USA

Years ago, when i first started with Ricky Skaggs I cut my first record. That's when he tuning questions started popping up.I tried all kinds of compromises to try to make tuning an easier issue to deal with. When I went from just temperment to equal temperment just before the Highways and Heartaches album I almost got fired over my tuning. Fortunately for me I went back to just intonation.
It was at that point that I began taking Weldon Myricks advice to "tune your guitar then learn to play it intune" Twenty five years later I'm still learning but I'm much more confident about my ability to play in tune.
There are always situations when tuning goes out the window.
For instance. if the bass player is sharp I'll be chasing tuning for the whole session. Headphone mixes can mess with the ability to play in tune.
Probably the best thing that ever happened to me in regards to tuning on a recording, was some advice from Paul Franklin.He suggested tuning my E's to 442. That changed everything for me.
I also remember ,twenty five years ago ,hearing a bunch of records out of Houston texas , featuring Robbie Springfield and Randy Corner. The steel playing was always incredible.
BB

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Bruce... A player like yourself almost fired??? Something smells wrong there!!!.. IMHO even thgough Ricky's band was great at the time, they were LUCKY to score a man of your ability AND humility.. bob

Jody Sanders · From: Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.

Hi Bruce, Robby is doing some of the steel guitar shows now, and he and Randy performed together on the Dallas Show this year. Great pickin'. Jody.

Rick Schmidt · From: Prescott AZ, USA

Hey Donny...This is must be some kinda forum record. This is the first time I've ever disagreed with any of your posts. (i.e. the Jimi part) It had to happen sometime I guess.

[This message was edited by Rick Schmidt on 28 April 2005 at 12:48 AM.]

Bob Smith · From: Allentown, New Jersey, USA

Well, From some of the posts here, i see it can be possible, for anyone to be troubled by this out of tune thing. {thankyou Bruce) Donny, I just used Jimi as an example of another well loved man, that might have played a few notes that some of us didnt care for.I guess I missed the Lonnie Mack era, Im probably a few years younger than you.

[This message was edited by Bob Smith on 28 April 2005 at 03:24 AM.]

Mark Metdker · From: North Central Texas, USA

Granted, we all should be playing in tune, but we are playing a multi-stringed instrument with levers and pedals that retune the strings constantly, which means we are dependent on a machine to work perfectly every time, and if that is not hard enough, we are depending on perfect bar location for perfect tuning, then we must always have perfect string selection while playing, and on top of that we must allow ourselves no brain farts!

Maybe I'm weird but most of the time I try to hear what the "mood" of the song is, or the "feeling" a player is trying to convey over the technical things he is playing. Remember we are artists, not robots.

Although some of our amazing forum members could almost be construed as such!

And I mean that as a compliment. Some of our members (Bruce B. you would be one of them) can convey personality and sensitivity along with technical perfection. I think that is all of our goals here, but I also think most of you will agree it is a very dificult task.

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Zum U-12 w/True Tone pickup thru a Nashville 112

Strats thru a tweed Bassman

Band Pics
http://community.webshots.com/album/176544894AuXSmi

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

Maybe the steel player is the easiest one to point to....

We were listening to Bruce Springsteen on 'Songwriters' (I think) last Saturday night; my mother remarked how he was always 'almost sharp' on his high notes, and I'd just been thinking 'Boy, I wish I could do that!'

It's all relative.
Charlie the Tuner

Robby Springfield · From: Viola, AR, USA

Hello Bruce. I so love the simple advice that you received from Weldon because regardless of how someone tunes their guitar, it always comes back to that one task…learning to play in tune. What a great journey it is and I’m not sure there is any end to it…but I guess that’s part of what keeps it interesting and fresh.

I have admired your work for a long time and I remember many nights of trying to copy your solos…not that I ever got it as well as you played it, but it was fun trying.

Thanks so much for the compliment and your input.

Robby

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

The fellas I was jammin' with last nite said I was lucky 'cause I can just move to where I'm in tune. They're stuck with fret bars...

Joe Miraglia · From: Jamestown N.Y.

Being sweet is better than being a perfect pitch. I said Pitch

. Being able to play in tune is very important,but the sweet sounds heard from the steel guitar are done by that extra things, feelings soul,or what every you want to call it its just there. Some have more than others.Bruce Bouton you are one of then that can play them sweet sounds,and fast. Joe

Stephen Gambrell · From: Over there

Bob Carlucci, you don't know a lot about Ricky Skaggs, do you?? Not trying to start anything, but ask around...

Pat Dawson · From: Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, USA

Even if it's the guitar or bass that's out of tune, it seems like the steel player gets blamed. So after they tune and before they hit the whiskey, we can talk about my tuning. I use "Paul's Tuning Chart" (tempered). I admit, intonation may be another issue (parallax error, etc.)

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1970 Emmons D10
Nashville 1000

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

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