| Author |
Topic: Casstte tuning note e vs E on my guitar |
Jan Dunn
From:
Union, NJ USA
|
Posted 12 Jan 2008 4:01 pm |
|
| I have a very basic question. Assuming a guitar tuned with the E's sharp a al Jeff Newman, what do you do with the tuning note give on a tape cassette or Cd of instructional material or rhythm tracks? My cassette recorder has a speed control so I can make the E note anything I want. question is, should the cassette e note be adjusted to 440 or should it be adjusted to 442.5? |
|
|
 |
Gary Cosden
From:
Florida, USA
|
Posted 12 Jan 2008 4:13 pm
|
|
| First of all A is 440, not E, but I know what you mean. I would think you would set your recorder to 440 since with the Newman tuning you are choosing to tune your E's sharp IN RELATION to the equal tempered scale. If you set your recorder sharp your E's would be back to where they would be tuned if you were using "straight" equal temperment yourself in the first place and not Jeff Newman's method of tuning. Does that make sense? It's really not that basic a question..... |
|
|
|
David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
|
Posted 12 Jan 2008 5:25 pm
|
|
| I agree with Gary. The Newman and other pedal steel tuning charts that slightly sharp the E reference pitch are meant to deal with cabinet drop and other issues unique to pedal steel. They are meant to be used with a band or track using the standard A=440 reference pitch, so keep your program material device tuned to the A=440 standard. |
|
|
|
Jan Dunn
From:
Union, NJ USA
|
Posted 12 Jan 2008 5:48 pm thanks
|
|
| You're answers make sense...I mispoke about the e being 440--I was thinking of the needle on an electronic tuner. But you saw through my error and I thank you again very much. |
|
|
|
b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
|
Posted 12 Jan 2008 10:13 pm
|
|
| However you tune your E, you should adjust your recorder so that Jeff's open E sounds at the same pitch. |
|
|
|
David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
|
Posted 12 Jan 2008 11:29 pm
|
|
| Um, b0b, that's the opposite of what Gary and I just said. I don't know if Jeff Newman ever explained why he changed the reference pitch in his chart to 441. My best guess is he did it for the same reason I do it, to split the difference of the cabinet drop. Say you tune the Es to a ref. of 441 with no pedals. And say you have about a 2 Hz (8 cents) cabinet drop with the pedals down. The Es will go to 439 with the pedals down. So the Es are within +/- 1 Hz (4 cents) of the reference pitch (A=440) whether the pedals are up or down. This passes the +/- 5 cents rule-of-thumb either way, when playing with a band or track tuned to A=440 reference. But if you tweak the track up to a 441 reference to match the open Es, they will be spot on, but with the pedals down they will be 8 cents flat, which is noticeable. If you tweak the track to match the open Es, you end up chasing your tail and defeating the purpose of tuning the open Es slightly sharp. |
|
|
|
Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
|
Posted 13 Jan 2008 3:25 am
|
|
I tune my E's 2 cents sharp of "440", not the Jeff Newman "442.5".
But, the E reference on a tape can be off too. I've got several of Jeff's tapes and they all are at different refrence points. I brought that up to Jeff and he refused to believe his tapes were off, but it was the same on several different tape decks I had and commercial tapes were right on so it was Jeff's tapes, not my tape decks. |
|
|
|
