Anyone here tune in fifths? (OR anything else really wierd/different)

[Sponge]

Hey can anyone give some thought on the following tuning ideas?

For 8 string I'm set on going to a low E. on the 7s I'm at GCGCGCE right now and enjoy this tuning more than open tuning for writing.

So these were tuning ideas toyed with, any feedback much appreciated!

EAEADGBE - dropped on 2 lower strings
EAEACEAE - closest to the opening tuning idea for GCGCGCE?
EBEADGBE - just drop on the F#

I really like the GCGCGCE but don't think a low C would be reasonable at all for CGCGCGCE. Maybe EGCGCGCE? THanks again, any ideas appreciated!

 

[GiantBaba]

I use Fripp's New Standard Tuning pretty much exclusively. Trying it out was like a epiphany or revelation so I've stuck with it.

 

[Jongpil Yun]

I tried the NST for a while and I despise the m3 on top.

I tried 5ths for a while and couldn't get used to the stretches.

I tried 4ths, and found that in general it made everything but a simple major scale more difficult to finger.

I actually think that standard tuning is all around the best.

 

[Durero]

I tried 4ths, and found that in general it made everything but a simple major scale more difficult to finger.

Did you try it for more that a few days?

Your conclusion here just doesn't make sense to me. How could you find a tuning scheme (4ths) which is so similar to standard, yet simpler & completely symmetrical, to be more difficult to finger?

 

[Apophis]

Did you try it for more that a few days?

Your conclusion here just doesn't make sense to me. How could you find a tuning scheme (4ths) which is so similar to standard, yet simpler & completely symmetrical, to be more difficult to finger?

Maybe he's using some extended chords, bacause it's realy hard to (lack of) play full six string major and minor chords. But it's easy to play five and four string chords.
Maybe he didn't noticed that all scales and chords can be play verbatim and they are easy to transpose onto the upper or lower two strings.

 

[Kotex]

How would I tune my 7 to 4ths?

 

[Apophis]

If your tuning is EBGDAEB in fourths it will be FCGDAEB. Tuning in forths you can do using two ways:
1. tune up 2 highest strings half step
or
2. tune down half step without 2 highest strings

 

[FortePenance]

Yeah, tuning in 4ths is basically just using the 5th fret/open without changing to 4th fret/open on the G>B string.

I think I'm going to try modal tuning on my 6er. Not really weird and different but cool anyway. With the new EMGs i'm getting from Eric, I'm gonna downtune it to maybe A or A# dorian(?) AEADEA. If I like that, I might go modal tuning for everything. DADGAD for the band (play in drop D anyway) and AEAEDEA when I get a 7. But most likely it'll end up:

RG: AEADEA (or A standard)
SZ: DADGBE
Acoustic: F standard (up 1 hstep)

Yeah, not really weird, most tunings but whatever eh. D:

 

[loneguitarist]

My fretless guitar is tuned to Augmented 4ths.

High to low:
E (normal high E of guitar)
A#
E
A#
E (normal low E of guitar)
A# (below B of 7 string)

It's lush for fretless as it makes chording easier with less barring necessary which is great for a fretless guitar

 

[Apophis]

Nice tuning Post some vid playing your fretless with that tuning

 

[Durero]

My fretless guitar is tuned to Augmented 4ths.

High to low:
E (normal high E of guitar)
A#
E
A#
E (normal low E of guitar)
A# (below B of 7 string)

It's lush for fretless as it makes chording easier with less barring necessary which is great for a fretless guitar

Very cool - a symmetrical tritone tuning
only two strings to learn.

I've been wanting to try this for years but have never taken the time. I'd also love to hear clips or see vids of you playing in this tuning

 

[Wolfv11]

Ive been experimenting with tuning in 5ths for quite some time now.
Ive tried tuning low to high GDAEBF#
the only recording ive ever done with this was the rythm track to a song of mine called "amber" MySpace.com - Project Pulse (Eric Jackson) - Queens, New York - Experimental / Progressive / Rock - www.myspace.com/projectpulse
The lowest i go down to in the song is an A towards the end. The rest of the song is very drop D "ish".
The problem has always been the learning curve, and with college kicking my ass, i really dont have the time to learn the instrument all over again. I do plan on taking one of my instruments and fully converting it to 5ths, it really allows for some radical new ideas. If I have the time in the near future I will do some more stuff with it. I think it might work very well on my fretless guitars.

 

[Jongpil Yun]

Did you try it for more that a few days?

Your conclusion here just doesn't make sense to me. How could you find a tuning scheme (4ths) which is so similar to standard, yet simpler & completely symmetrical, to be more difficult to finger?

Well, maybe I should try it again, but pentatonics, melodic minor, some other scales seemed harder to finger to me because you have to shift towards the lower frets when ascending, which I hate. Same thing with a lot of arpeggios.

 

[Durero]

Well, maybe I should try it again, but pentatonics, melodic minor, some other scales seemed harder to finger to me because you have to shift towards the lower frets when ascending, which I hate. Same thing with a lot of arpeggios.

I agree that shifting lower can be more awkward than shifting higher. But it's really only one pentatonic pattern that avoids shifting lower in standard tuning (that one that everyone learns first where you can lead straight across all the strings with your first finger) - all the other 4 pentatonic patterns have a lower shift in them - and so do the other scales & arpeggios you mentioned (standard tuning is almost completely 4ths after all )

 

[jab_dan]

I started to tune my guitar in 3 and 4 semitones so it gives (me from highest tone) #F #D H #G E #C A #F D H G E (bass). Any experiences? I am just relearning it

 

[Jongpil Yun]

I agree that shifting lower can be more awkward than shifting higher. But it's really only one pentatonic pattern that avoids shifting lower in standard tuning (that one that everyone learns first where you can lead straight across all the strings with your first finger) - all the other 4 pentatonic patterns have a lower shift in them - and so do the other scales & arpeggios you mentioned (standard tuning is almost completely 4ths after all )

Well, also compare the standard major/minor arpeggio shapes. In all 4ths they just seem nasty to me. Also, no more easy string skipped inverted major arps.