EEDABF#

Having just received back my Telecaster with a new Parsons-White stringbender, I thought I should give the bender a try in another “cross-country” tuning.

Short but sweet…

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EA#DFAE

For the next few days, we’re going offroad.

If you’ve noticed, all tunings so far used unaltered notes, no sharps or flats. These tuning I’ll be using for the next few days were devised by me several years ago for a solo CD that never saw the light of day. I can’t remember any songs that were written with these tunings but I had filed them away and found the document recently.

This snippet here really tests my dexterity because I don’t really have any kind of classical technique which would be required for its contrapuntal nature. I could master it but it would take me longer than I care to practice although this is the kind of contrapuntal music I like (think Bartok, Prokofiev or Koechlin).

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

EADGCF

Another tuning from Acoustic Guitar magazine.

This tuning stumped me for a little while but then I realized that the chords I was experimenting with had something to say.

There is something I have come to realize over the years: when you jump in the world of alternate tunings, you tend to explore things that reflect your musical tastes instead of working on abstract finger patterns and chord shapes.

In this case, something new was at work: I was not finding chords to my liking at first. I stopped, listened to what I had found so far and decided to make them work for me instead of trying hard to find chords that reflects my taste. I hope you’ll agree the result is musical nonetheless…

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

Open G or DGBGBD

Always up for a challenge, I am taking up the slide on this one. Let’s see how it comes out…

This is quite energetic! It’s a shame that my iSight camera can’t pick up the subtleties of the vibrato.

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

CGDGAD

A few years back, I bought the March 1999 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine (issue #75) because of an article on… alternate tunings. There are a few good ones described therein and this one, according to the magazine, is a favorite of Dave Evans and El McMeen, whoever they may be.

Well, as for the music in the vidcast, it lends itself very well to a clean electric guitar. It could be a useful rhythm guitar for a jazzy instrumental.

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

ABDGEF

Here’s the third tuning in the “wallet” series of tunings…

I had to get the ole strat clone because the Yamaha SLG-100N wouldn’t keep in tune more than a few seconds. The nylon strings don’t like to be messed with.

The tension is high on some of the strings, especially what is usually the small B string which is now tuned to E, almost to the breaking point. NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART…

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

DGABED

Would you believe that I write down untried tunings and that I carry them in my wallet for future references? EBAGAD (see post 15th of March), this and the next tunings were on an old piece of paper in my wallet. I can now clean it up and keep the tunings here instead…

(…)

Well, I’m stumped…

(…)

I’ve worked some more on it and, having come up with something, I must admit it’s not a defining moment in the annals of music history. Check out for yourself:

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

CGDAEG

The infamous “Guitar Craft” tuning (or “new standard tuning”) as devised by Robert Fripp.

This is actually the first time ever I try out this tuning.

(…)

And it is actually a friendly tuning! Watch for yourself…

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

DBCACF

The challenge of the day is to use a tuning that has not been documented so far. After checking on Google, DBCACF fits the bill nicely.

(…)

Wow! Blues shades in the chord higher up the neck framed by an ominous staccato riff in the lower chords. This is one of the best snippets so far.

Remember, the purpose of this blog is to find something musical in a short time, each evening. I come home from work, I eat, I tune up and then I find something quick to record.

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

FGBADE

I realized today, when I read back my post of yesterday in which I wrote that my girlfriend “FORBADE” that I bring a guitar… Well, there is a tuning in that word “FORBADE”: F-or-B-A-D-E.

What note do I assign to the word “or”? Well, “or” in french means “gold”, so there you have it: G for gold and the tuning becomes FGBADE.

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

EABABE

This tuning, to me at least (and it’s been used by others as well; check out Google), is inspired by Robert Plant’s lyrics: “Hey babe, hey babe”. Do you get it: EABABE!

Even though this tuning is almost the same as EAEABE (see post on March 16th, 2006), it’s a bit sweeter to the ear and, consequently, lends itself easily to exploration. The chord structure was built in approximately five minutes.

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

DADGAD

In order to get some hits on this blog, I figured I should write something in DADGAD as it is one of the most popular tunings used.

As usual, coming up with a chord structure is not that difficult and takes about 15 to 20 minutes. It takes a bit longer to smoothe out the fingering and the transitions between the chords. The arpeggiation is done with a pick, not fingerstyle.

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

Lack of videos for this past week-end

My apologies to everyone and especially Denis, I was away for the week-end and my girlfriend FORBADE that I bring a guitar on our little getaway…

EAEABE

I am cheating a bit here. This is a tuning I just rediscovered and in which I wrote this last year.

I found a scrap of paper today with the tuning description, tried it and found that this is a tuning I played a lot in a few months back. I thought I had lost it for good…

Anyway, this song was written in about half an hour at the time.

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

EBAGAD

This tuning stumped me for a little while and I’m not completely satisfied, from a musical point of view, with what I came up with. It sounds a bit generic to me. Also, the big stretches were something to play! Sorry for the sloppy playing…

Nonetheless, I leave it as it stands for you to listen to.

The tuning, from low to high, is EBAGAD

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.

EEGAGB

Hello everyone, this is the first installment of my web experiment. Enjoy!

From tuning up to recording, composing this took about half an hour of my time.

The tuning employed here is, from low to high:
EEGAGB

Cette création par Jimmy St-Germain est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Paternité-Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale-Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.5 Canada.