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why EADGBE?

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(@thedonutman)
Eminent Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 22
Topic starter  

Ive been playing bass for almost 2 years now, and ive finally decided to buy a guitar.

however one thing i dont get is,

why on earth do you tune to EADGBE? since the top 4 strings are 4ths apart and then there is a 3rd and then another 4th! why?

So doesnt this make you have to change your power chords and scale patterns and everything?

I might be missing something vital here, but i just really cant figure it out. can someone please help me


   
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(@manitou)
Estimable Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 121
 

Im sure Note Boat will come along and show me up, but I beleive it is the circle of fifts concept which takes you back to E, and this gives you 2 octaves in first position and 6 over all 24 frets.
Also, I remember reading somewhere that the configuration on a standard tuned guitar gives you the easiest possible chording of all the major patterns but I dont know enough about chord theory to tell you why this is.

SHUT UP ABOUT IRON MAIDEN SOLOS AND GO PRACTICE!
-Manitou


   
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(@thedonutman)
Eminent Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 22
Topic starter  

So basically, the standard tuning will make it easier to play full chords, whereas the 4ths tuning will make it easier to play power chords?


   
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(@oktay)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 345
 

Aren't power chords usually played on strings 6,5,4 and 5,4,3 ? Those are easy enough. The shape is the same. I do know there's a different shape for the higher strings which account for the seeming discrepency in the way the guitar is tuned but I doubt those power chords (with mostly the treble strings) are used much.

oktay


   
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(@jasonrunguitar)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 273
 

I wondered the same thing when I started playing too. I think that the answer lies in the open chord fingerings. Try playing something as simple as an G, A, or C with the guitar tuned all to 4th (remember, you'll have to tune the high E-string up a semitone as well). The fingerings are pretty akward. So I think the reason it's tuned this way is to facilitate open chords. Interesting you should ask too, I was just reading this article about Kevin Cadogan, the guitarist from Third Eye Blind:

http://www.guitarplayer.com/story.asp?sectioncode=7&storycode=8711

Appearently he uses a bunch of alternative tunings, and his first example is one tuned all in fourths, just like you were suggesting. So it's not that it's not doable...just not standard.

-Jason
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To those about to rock, we salute you!
http://www.soundclick.com/jasonwittenbach


   
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(@noteboat)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 4921
 

There are a few factors that led to EADGBE as standard...

String instruments are usually tuned in fifths - violins are tuned to G-D-A-E, violas and cellos to C-G-D-A. The only classical string in fourths is the double-bass, because tuning in fifths means you wouldn't be able to stretch to reach all the notes in any one position... so basses are E-A-D-G, just like the lowest four strings of a guitar. You'd think that guitars, with a string length very similar to cellos (a standard cello is 27"), would also be tuned in fifths...

But guitars aren't played like orchestral strings. Strings play one note at a time most of the time, and two notes on adjacent strings at times. Guitars play notes on non-adjacent strings - think counterpoint on a classical guitar. So the physical constraint isn't getting from one note to the next - it's being able to play any two notes at the same time. For that, fourths are easier.

But tuning in all fourths gives you EADGCF. That would be fine for melody and counterpoint, but not great for chords - you couldn't do a full barre unless you were playing something with a b9 against the 6th string root. The obvious solution is to lower the first string.

But doing just the first string gives EADGCE. Since E-rooted chords (or their barre forms) will have a B note for the fifth, it makes sense to lower that one too.

Looking at the other strings, it makes sense to keep D as it is - since that's the b7 of the 6th string, and dominant chords are common. If we raised the third string to G# it would make simple major chords, but make minor forms more difficult - we'd need to be stretching back. Making the 3rd string G# would also mean a stretch for most scale fingerings.

So we settled on EADGBE.

Some guitarists, especially in fusion, like all fourths though.

Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL


   
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(@oktay)
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Joined: 19 years ago
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Besides it's easy to remember Even After Dinner Giant Boys Eat :P

oktay


   
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(@hawkfoggy)
Estimable Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 161
 

Hey I was wondering if you could tell me the strings for bass and also do you play chords on bass.
I know i sound like an idiot but... uh...i'm not...GIT SNAKE BIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I'm as free as a bird now. And this bird you can not change" Free Bird, By: Lynyrd Skynyrd
GIT SNAKE BIT!!!
stay safe


   
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(@redneckrocker)
Estimable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 174
 

or going the other way....

Every Bunny Gets Drunk After Easter

~Mike the Redneck Rocker.

"The only two things in life that make it worth living are guitars that tune good and firm feeling women" - Waylon


   
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(@pvtele)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 477
 

Hey I was wondering if you could tell me the strings for bass and also do you play chords on bass.

EADG on a 4-string.

On a 5-string the top string can be a high C: EADGC (uncommon nowadays, but often used in the 60s); or (much more common these days) you can start with a low B: BEADG.

6-string - various tunings, BEADGB, EADGBE, etc. but IMHO a beginner ought to stick to a 4-string unless & until he or she finds it limiting.

No, you don't usually play chords, though you can. Arpeggios are a different matter - often used. These are when you play out the notes of a chord, but separately, as single notes.

Really excellent series of articles, amounting to a course if you work through them in order, on Fender Players' Club.

Also some good stuff on Guitar Noise, but IMHO less well-organised.


   
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(@alangreen)
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Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 5342
 

I've got one guitar with the 3rd tuned to F#, meaning that the top set of 3 strings are tuned a 4th apart, the bottom set of 3 are tuned a 4th apart, and there's a major 3rd between the two sets of three.

Apparently this replicates the tuning of the Renaissance lute, and I've got the guitar tuned this way because I'm working on a John Dowland piece from the late 16th century (Queen Elizabeth's Galliard) and it's easier to work with that tuning.

Best,

A :-)

"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk


   
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 Oric
(@oric)
Estimable Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 87
 

I play bass chords a lot. (not in jazz band, my director would kill me, this is in home practice) They sound best above or around the twelfth fret, and they only require four fingers at the most (on a four-string, anyway). They sound very cool, a little bigger and deeper than on a guitar. Especially cool when you can get an open string to play the root on, with the other three playing higher chord tones. Now, with the size, it's sometimes hard to stretch your fingers for a chord, so maybe two-hand tapping a chord helps.

Then we get into the world of ERBs (extended range basses, which can go from five to twelve strings [in a row, not divided into courses]), which can handle chords easily.

*has just realized he has given a bunch of advice to someone who probably doesn't even play bass, but hey, anyone who wants to know, here you are*


   
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(@thedonutman)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 22
Topic starter  

actually i do play bass, i actually started bass before guitar.

I want one of those chapman stick 10 string basses to tap on :D


   
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(@ginger)
Reputable Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 393
 

all I want to add about EADGBe is that I think a person should learn in that tuning first because then drop tunings will make more sense to you and easier to play and find chords.

Plus it's easy to remember that Every Apple Does Go Bad eventually


   
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(@mr_bungalow)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 37
 

IT's easy to remember
Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie


   
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