Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 02:05:11 -0700 (MST) From: Chris Heckman <ET04263 at elephant-talk dot com> Subject: Re: new standard tuning
Gary Ormond <ET04527 at elephant-talk dot com> wrote:
> I am curious as to the point behind "new standard tuning"
This is discussed in Eric Tamm's book about Fripp (_Robert Fripp: From King Crimson to Crafty Master_), in the section where Tamm takes part in a Guitar Craft course. (Fripp has called this the most realistic part of the book.) The idea was to introduce a new tuning that would "equalize" the players, so that people who had played EADGBE all their life wouldn't have an advantage over someone who had only played a few years.
In fact, the new standard tuning (you got it right, btw: CGDAEG; if you want to try it, you should use a light-gauge string for the high G) was a closely-guarded secret in Guitar Craft for a long time, and Fripp kicked out someone who had figured out what the chord shapes looked like in the new standard tuning and had distributed copies to people in Guitar Craft. Tamm has a website which includes the full text of his book, in case you want to read more about one of the first inside looks at Guitar Craft; it's at http://www.erictamm.com/tammfripp.html .
New tunings help if you want to get out of the rut of using EADGBE or its close variants. This helps until you figure out what's going on, at least according to Peter Buck.
> Now, if I have this tuning right, I am totally baffled as to the point of > using it. The guitar WORKS in fourths it does NOT work in fifths! > Consider; diatonic scales and modes work perfectly
Which is actually the point. KC used scales other than the diatonic, and with a new tuning, it's easier to discover these new scales. There must be some value in the new standard tuning, since Fripp has used it for 25 years, at least.
A natural question to ask, considering that "the guitar works in fourths", is whether you've worked with quartal harmony (music theory based on fourths not thirds)? Check out FZ's "Inca Roads" and ELP's "Eruption" (from "Tarkus"), to name two examples in the "rock" genre.
-- Christopher "HeKcman"
P.S.
> I have been playing guitar for almost 20 years and have always used the > traditional 4ths tuning with only two notable exceptions; 1, drop bass D > and 2, F# on string 3.
The second one is the standard tuning for a lute, if I'm not mistaken.