Question Of The Week: What Alternate Tunings Do You Use?
And now it's time to add your own two cents to the Folkcraft newsletter.
When we started learning how to play, one of the first things we learned was tuning our instrument. Dulcimers, ukuleles, guitars... they all have a standard set of notes that each string should be tuned to. It's what our teachers taught us. It's what the instruction book told us to do.
But after a while, we may have deviated from the standard and begun experimenting with alternate tunings. Not just throwing a capo on to get to a different key, but actually retuning some or all of the strings. So this week we ask you, the faithful Folkcraft Newsletter reader...
What alternate tunings do you use? And why?
Folkcraft's owner Richard Ash encourages the Woodburn
Dulcimer Club to retune all the time. Sometimes even during a song!
There are absolutely no wrong answers. Maybe you tune down so it's easier to sing. Maybe you retune when you jam with other instruments. Even if you tune your instrument to the key of H, we want to hear about it!
What alternate tunings do you use? And why?
Your Answers
What alternate tunings do you use? And why?
Looks like we primarily had dulcimer players participate in this week's question. A big "thank you!" to everyone who responded. Here are your replies...
Name: Larry Griffin
Location: Decatur, AL
"I sometimes tune to CGC. I have several songs in the key of C and I like the sound. Also may be easier to sing."
Name: William M.
Location: Cullman AL
"My standard is DAA. I retune to DAd to teach songs to DAd players. I retune to AAA for Scottish and Irish folk music (very bagpipe-y), and to DAG for drone style modal/minor songs (Shady Grove, Joshua Fit de Battle, etc) when I don't feel like chording in DAA."
Name: Wayne Anderson
Location: Kingston, ON Canada
"I use D A C for I love the minor tunes and some of my favorite songs are played in this tuning."
Name: Shirley M
Location: n/a
"I like CGC tuning the best because it is easier to sing with plus when I fingerpick, the looser strings are more friendly to my finger tips."
Name: Ken A
Location: Columbia, CA
"I retune my guitar to drop D, occasionally to open D for slide work, or to EEeebe for Suite Judy Blue Eyes (it also works good for Big Yellow Taxi)."
Name: JanP.
Location: Lexington, KY
"Eb Bb eb Then, after I've raised the pitch on the strings, I play the tunes in the key of G on my dulcimer! I do this for songs that I sing in the key of G that go down to a D below middle C, like Amazing Grace. I'm a low singer, but that's a bit too much of a stretch!"
Name: Steven B.
Location: Jacksonville, TX
"I play noter/drone and the tunings I use are all for the same reason...they fit the particular tunes I play. Dad for some folk songs, Ddd (or sometimes Ccc) for some Scottish tunes, Dgd for some old-time tunes, and Dac for some Celtic and Middle Eastern music. There can be a lot of cross-over with these tunings...I follow no rules, just whichever sounds best to me."
Name: John Keane
Location: Shreveport, LA
"DAC and DGD are two of my favorite alternative tunings."
Name: Richard Ash (from Folkcraft)
Location: Woodburn, IN
"For ukulele and piano, I stick with the normal tuning. (GCEA for uke, chromatic scale for the piano - nothing "Cage-like") For my ukulele, I'm definitely a traditionalist - I like the "high G" tuning more than the "low G" tuning that some people really enjoy. It wasn't that long ago that ukes were commonly tuned to D, and I've been known to tune my uke up a full step, but I like "C" tuning more.
For dulcimer, it is a different story. I don't often use a capo, so retuning gets me easy access to a variety of key signatures. It only takes a couple of seconds to retune one string, and with just a little bit of practice, any dulcimer player can retune an instrument FASTER than the rest of a group can install a capo.
Here are some of my favorite tunings, along with a bit of "why" for each:
CGC (DAD, down one step on all 4 strings) - I like CGC for a number of reasons. It is easier to play (lower string tension), lower in pitch (better for my voice for many vocal pieces), and more mellow sounding.
CFC (DGD, down a full step) - allows easy performance of tunes in F major - the drone strings are the root and the fifth of the F chord/scale, and I have full access to an F major scale on the melody string. Lots of older tunes are "G" tunes, and I've converted them to "F" tunes for my performances. (This is a substitute for using a capo at fret 3.)
CGG (DAA, down a full step) - some tunes sound amazing in CGG, and just don't sound "right" in CGC. Since my instrument is set up for CGC, when I retune the melody strings down four full steps, they get loose and floppy. "Tom Dooley" sounds really nice with the floppy melody strings. If I was a CGG (DAA) player on a regular basis, I would probably go with heavier melody strings just to boost the volume (and lower the floppiness), but since I spend most of my time in CGC, when I retune to CGG I enjoy the change of tone quality.
CGBflat (DAC, down a full step) - this allows the drone notes to match the natural minor scale you get starting on fret 1. Think "Shady Grove", but you never have to cross over to the middle string to get the melody notes. (This is a substitute for using a capo at fret 1.)
DGC (EAD, down a full step) - This tuning allows the performance of "G" tunes, without using a capo. The drone strings are the root and fifth of the G chord/scale, and the G major scale is available starting on fret 4 of the melody string. Sometimes I prefer the sound of a capo for G/A tunes (songs like "Cluck Old Hen" really benefit from the short strings you get when using a capo at fret 4), but usually I prefer the longer vibrating string I get when NOT using a capo."