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Topic: Best tuning for Acoustic? |
John Allison
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 4 Feb 2009 8:51 am |
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I recently built my wife a uke for her birthday (it's a cute little devil and she's playing the heck out of it) and I want to play along and start exploring some actual Hawaiian stuff on an acoustic rather than my electric lap steel. I've got an old Silvertone 6 string that isn't good for much else, so I figured that I could convert it a lot quicker than building myself a nice acoustic lap guitar.
Here's my question...Which tuning will be best suited. I'm used to C6 on my 7 string electric (CEGACEG low to high). The uke is a tenor in a high-D baritone tuning(dGBE). It's easier for my wife to play in G rather than C (that pesky F chord), though she'll eventually get fluent enough in different keys...and, of course, the guitar isn't limited to the open tuning.
I'm thinking I should go to a G6/Em7 tuning. Any ideas about other tunings/keys I should consider? I could even think about adding a string to the Silvertone since I have to replace the broken bridge anyway...An acoustic 7-string might open up other possibilities.
Thanks for any info or opinions.
J A
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John Allison
Allison Stringed Instruments
Austin, Texas
www.allisonguitars.com |
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Ray Shakeshaft
From:
Kidderminster, Worcs, UK.
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Posted 4 Feb 2009 9:38 am
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You might get your wife to tune the tenor uke gCEA and then you will both be playing C6 tunings. You can get Aquilla Nylgut strings for that uke tuning (I actually sell them here in the UK). She will not have to learn new chord shapes just different names for the chords she already can finger.
(I know more about ukes than LSs) |
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John Allison
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 4 Feb 2009 10:06 am
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[quote="Ray Shakeshaft"]tune the tenor uke gCEA quote]
I've had that thought, but she's played some guitar and is used to guitar chords (and chord names). I went the dGBE tuning so she'd be in familiar territory and would be confused having to relearn or transpose. At some point, I'm sure that won't be an issue and I don't doubt that we'll have other ukes, eventually. My plan is to build myself one to match hers and it may end up with a C tuning.
Thanks for the reply...
J A
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John Allison
Allison Stringed Instruments
Austin, Texas
www.allisonguitars.com |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 4 Feb 2009 10:07 am
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One of the things I love about C6 is that I have no problem playing in any of the most popular keys. G is one of the very easiest. I see no reason to change tunings unless you have other issues.
One of the issues people have suggested you might have (and of course others claim this is total nonsense) is that the high string tension of the C6 tuning may put too much strain on the neck of that silvertone 6 string. But I'll let those who know more about this weigh in on their own. I'm a skeptic myself. And I wouldn't know what tuning to suggest.
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Amor vincit omnia |
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John Allison
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2009 9:54 am
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I went with a G6/Em7 tuning GBDEGB.
It sounds great on the guitar. I'll have to do some neck reinforcement eventually, but for now I'm playing the heck out of it.
Here's the best part...I've been wanting to play around with an old Hipshot I've had laying around, so I figured out a couple of pulls to use it for and slapped it on. Holy jeez! It's incredible!!
I put the hip lever on the 2nd string for a half-step raise and the detuning lever on the 4th string for a half step lower. The hip "pedal" raises the 3rd of the m7 part of the tuning and gives me a Dom7th (V7 2 frets down from my root - handy!) and the lever drops the 5th for a full diminished chord. By tuning string 6 up a half step (have to rig a cam on the tuner for that) and playing with both levers on, I get another 6 tuning with a 5 on top and a minor drop on the 3rd tone and a raise from the 6th to the 7th tone.
I can find a couple of nice slide/raise moves to approximate some PS sounds, but the set up doesn't seem particularly suited for it.
Anyway, I'm in fat chord heaven with this thing! Huge chords with no bar slants. I know I'm cheating, but hey...I'm a litle slow and I need all the help I can get. 
There's enough swing/jazz/Hawaiian stuff here to keep me busy for a long, long time. Woo-hoo!!
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John Allison
Allison Stringed Instruments
Austin, Texas
www.allisonguitars.com |
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Stephan Miller
From:
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2009 4:18 pm
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That setup looks like fun...don't forget the dom9 you get on strings 1-4 with the 4th string lowered by a half-step. In fact, you get a 6-string ninth chord-- talk about fat!  |
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