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drop d

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(@jeremyd)
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Joined: 18 years ago
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Topic starter  

is there a way to tune down to drop d without a electronic tunner?


   
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(@fretsource)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 973
 

is there a way to tune down to drop d without a electronic tunner?
Just tune down the 6th E string so that if you fret it at fret 7, it sounds the same as string 5 open.

Check it against the open D string - It will sound exactly one octave lower.


   
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(@jeremyd)
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Topic starter  

thanks that is gonna take some practice... but hey everything ive done with this damn guitar took compulsive practice


   
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(@robbie)
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Joined: 19 years ago
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I guess my first thought when I read the ? was why don't you have an electronic tuner. They are very inexpensive, easy to operate and quite accurate. I would have no idea how to start tuning my guitars from scratch if I didn't have a least a start point. Go to your local music store and buy one it will make a lot of difference in the sound of your guitar which should be tuned every time you play it and sometimes more often if it has been a long practice session. The best $20. I have spent on gear. Jumping down off my soapbox now.
Robbie


   
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(@fretsource)
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Jumping up on the soapbox recently vacated by Robbie, I have to say that I have never owned an electronic tuner in my life. (I'm not even sure if they had been invented when I started). Instead I use my trusty tuning fork for that first reference note. I have had my current one for many years. It gives a very accurate A=440, keeps my ears exercised for tuning to any tuning arrangement by relative pitch, and somehow it feels like a real musician's tool, rather than a gadget.

That's just a prejudice of course, electronic tuners are a great tool for guitarists who need to tune quickly in noisy environments as well as beginners who, being unable to use relative pitch, have to put up with an out of tune guitar until someone comes along who can tune it for them.

Tuning pipes on the other hand are the work of the Devil. They lie about the pitch they're producing.


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
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Joined: 20 years ago
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You can of course tune your guitar to a keyboard if you haven't got a tuner, and there are various on-line tuners - you could google that term. As long as the intonation on your guitar is good, you can also tune that bottom string by harmonics to get drop D....play the natural harmonic on the A string at the 12th fret, then play the harmonic on the E string at the 7th fret - then tune the E string down till you stop hearing the "beats".

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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(@jeremyd)
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Topic starter  

I have a tunner i was just curious of the ways to do so without one ;]


   
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(@robbie)
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Sorry Jeremyd I made an assumption and you know the saying! Anyway I agree fully with Fretsource and Vic but being a relative newbie I still rely heavily on my tuner rather than relative pitch. I find something like drop D easy to change to on the fly and do so when practicing David Hodges lesson on "Harvest Moon" along with others that are not in drop D.(this is a pitch for that lesson if you are looking for a tune in Drop D or maybe you have already found it) When tuning to say Open G I have a heck of a time unless I use my tuner, maybe if I used my ears more they would become more useful. Maybe this is what the other guys were insinuating. I usually keep a guitar in that tuning as I'm trying to pick up some Stones tunes. Anyway all this is in addition to my original answer and note that this morning my tuner seems to be acting up, maybe the battery is finally giving up after 4 years...Tuning forks don't have batteries to let you down!!
Robbie


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
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Tuning by ear is a useful tool to have at your disposal - you never know when your electronic tuner's going to go on the blink, or get left at home.

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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(@ricochet)
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And of course, you never know when you might not have any ears, huh, Vic? :D

"A cheerful heart is good medicine."


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
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And of course, you never know when you might not have any ears, huh, Vic? :D

Well mine haven't been seen for a while - buried under several layers of hair! Nah, I got your meaning.....I'm just saying, if you become TOTALLY dependent on electronic tuners, how are you going to cope when you haven't got one available? Like someone once said (Clint as Dirty Harry?) "Better to have a gun and not need one, than need one and not have one!"

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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(@ricochet)
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Yep!

Be careful with those hair clippers when you get a trim. :lol:

"A cheerful heart is good medicine."


   
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(@ldavis04)
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I use my electronic tuner to check my work...I'll tune the guitar then use the tuner to see how close I am. Some days I'm spot on...other days not so much. It comes with time and practice.

I may grow old, but I'll never grow up.


   
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(@jeremyd)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 131
Topic starter  

yeap i hae added that to my practice routine...tune down and check with the tunner


   
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(@bluezoldy)
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Tuning by ear is a useful tool to have at your disposal - you never know when your electronic tuner's going to go on the blink, or get left at home.

:D :D :D

Vic

That's why I have three tuners! :lol:

I'm glad I found this thread.

Speaking here as a newbie: My teenage daughter came home from her guitar lesson last night and the teacher had tuned the guitar to DADGBE because she has started on power chords.

My daughter seemed to be under the impression that the 6th string could only be tuned to D by tuning to the other string. Neither my daughter nor I can tune without the electronic tuner (yet anyway).

Now, my impression from this thread is that I can tune the 6th string to D using a tuner. Have I got it right?

I'm being lazy here and I could check the guitar but going to D is downtuning? Does that mean the string is a little slacker and buzz could be introduced on the frets?

♪♫ Ron ♪♫

http://www.myspace.com/bluemountainsblues


   
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