Rewriting songs in different tuning

[YouAreAwesome]

Hey guys,

While slowly grasping theory behind music and playing guitar, I stumbled upon this issue which I hope you can help me with.

Due to not having enough guitars for every tuning of songs I want to play, I lately try to rewrite songs to make them "fit" the tuning I use on my guitar (at that time, I tend to try different tunings). Just to be clear: I don't learn songs by ear because I'm nowhere near qualified to do so, I look up tabs.

For example: a dropped A tuning on my 7-string almost fits a AEADF#B tuning for a 6-string. Instead of lowering the G to F#, in would play notes on that string up a step (as long as it would be physically possible with the fretting hand).

In general: is this a good idea? I tend to think so, especially since it helps me grasp the fretboard and all that's going on there (instead of just learning positions adn fingerings). Or is there a reason music should be played in it's original tuning?

Further: the only problem I encounter is not going up a step (as in the example above) but when the tuning is (much) lower then I have and I should go down a step or several. Sometimes this problem can be solved by going up a string (or down? I mean a lower sounding/bass string anyway) but there are issues I can't solve with especially metal rhythm parts (chugachuga on the lowest string) which force me to tune lower but then mess up other music I play to the point that I cannot rewrite it in a logical en playable sense (as an example consider the dropped A tuning while trying to play a song in G tuning).

Help me out guys. Does it make any sense what I'm doing? Or am I missing a point here and should I just buy more guitars (of course in general yes, but related to this subject of couse)? Is rewriting music as I do ok or somehow a real nono considering musical concepts and theory?

Thanks!

 

[Winspear]

Yes this is a good idea. Sometimes you may find a part that isn't really possible outside of the original tuning, though. For example super fast dropped D tuned chord changes in D standard might be a challenge.
I entirely think what you are doing is the right thing. Whatever works for the player, but personally I find the whole different guitar for different tunings thing a little silly. All the notes are on the fretboard and if the tuning of the open strings really is that important for the part (which indeed it sometimes is) then we have capos.

 

[Aion]

What you're doing is totally fine. On acoustic instruments you might have more problems since there is less modification of tone and sometimes the timbre of playing a specific string is important, but this is usually only the case in classical music.

In terms of when things are tuned much lower there isn't really a good solution for that. I find open notes to be much more distinctive than fretted notes so any differences in timbre become much more pronounced. However, depending on your view, this also isn't necessarily a problem. You just need to accept it is different and know that it's okay.

There is one exception to the question of tuning and that is when you're not dealing with an equal temperament system. But you're almost definitely not dealing with that. Basically the idea is let's say you have a note that vibrates at a speed of 400 hz. An octave above that is 800 hz. Now divide the octave so you have all 12 notes evenly divided. This allows for you to play something in one key and then in another and it still sounds the same (relatively). If you were dealing with a non equal temperament system you would have to make sure that you used a reference note that was the same interval up/down that your different key was. So if the song was in D with a reference note of C and you wanted to play it in A, you would need everything tuned around a reference note G.

 

[YouAreAwesome]

Thanks a lot guys!