Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

Okay, I was just talking about this in one of my replies, so I had to make the topic on it! What do you guys say, would you prefer having a robotic Gibson Les Paul or a switch tune controlled Fender VG Stratocaster? Personally, I would aim for the strat'. It is easier to just flick a switch than it is to wait for a creepy (And I mean creepy!) robot guitar to tune itself.

Im not familiar with either.

I generally use standard or drop D tuning.

The other night I did an audition with a cover group and we played the old Free song All Right Now. The singer said I was playing at to high a pitch. I really didnt think anything of it, but I listened to it later and realized its tuned down to like 430 instead of 440 which I guess is half a step down. I started playing a few old familiar songs and singing them and that half step made a huge difference vocally. On thinking about it a lot of 70s rock was a half step down Van Halen, Hendrix, Kiss.

I think if I was doing a lot of different tunings I would like the strat. To me a mechanical device might break down at a critical moment.

I definitely agree with the idea of a mechanical device cracking and failing on a guitarist at any time, not worth it -- talk about getting embaressed, lol.

I personally love Drop B and C# tuning. I did not ever think about it, but you are right, there are a ton of 70's bands with Half a step down tuning. I believe I messed up All Along The Watch Tower when I first tried to play it because I did not know the tuning was half a step down. Today's music is in tons of tunings. Some strange ones though came out of the 90's, Soundgarden's "Burden In My Hand" for instance.

Drop D or bust! If it sounds good, play the ever living sh*t out of it! That's my theory and I'm sticking to it Now what in the hell was the topic anyway......... Oh yea, robot schmobot! The day I give up tuning my guitar is the day I throw in the towel. Pretty soon they'll have a guitar that strings itself, tunes itself, adjusts volume & tone, straps itself on you, plugs itself in and fingers chords for you! I can wipe my "own" ass, thank you very much! Anything to make a buck. I see nothing but problems. You take the man away from the guitar and it's nothing but a hunk of crap.

Now can one of you fellers teach me how to tune my guitar? It's sort of embarrassing, since I've been playing for over 30 years! I know..... I KNOW.

Ax

guitaranatomy, Do you happen to know the tuning on Soundgardens song 4th of July? I heard it the other day and its down there in the basement.

Eb, come on that was easy.

Well I am not sure, when you search the tablature on the net for that song (4th of July) it comes up in this very odd tuning:

e
B
G
C
F
C (low E string detuned)

I have never seen that tuning before. By the way, I have never heard that song before. I will check it out later.

I do not know if Captain Scott is referring to his favorite tuning or responding to your request about 4th of July* But if it is a response, I am not sure he is right about the tuning of that song. *Shrug*

no favorite tuning.

4th of july is not in e flat, not by far.

... I just listened to part of the song 4th of July, that is the wierdest thing I have ever heard. It is almost out of tune sounding. The metal band Fear Factory plays in what I think is like some kind of A tuning (A,D,G,C,F,A,D), note Dino (ex-lead guitarist) used a seven string. It is so low that when I went to tune my guitar to that to play their song "Invisible Wounds," my strings almost came off. But that could also be because of the the light gauge I use (.009 - .042).

Guitaranatomy,

When the 7 string deal came into vogue, I used to try to play some things on a 6 string. I had some strings called Snarling Dogs 12-58. You could drop the E string to C without them getting too flabby. If your going to play in these tunings s heavier set of strings would be in order.

4th of July sounds like the strings are falling off the guitar. I never tryed to play it but for some reason I like it. When we used to use tape machines we would slow them down for some extreme lows.

Yeah man, I think thicker strings are in order, you are right. I will probably upgrade strings when I get a better guitar. Getting used to a new set of strings right now would be a bad thing since my hands have been bad from my CTS.

In regard to the song: Yeah some people like the strangest sounding pieces of music, I sometimes will listen to weird electronic dance stuff. So that goes to show it all is personal taste, lol.

If you're into strange tunings, check out David Wilcox. I saw him a few years ago, & he retuned for every frikken song...then at one point he tuned to a tuning fork all while talking to the audience. It never took him more than about 5-10 seconds and he was ready to play.

He's the all-time master of odd tunings, imho, but a bit mellow for most ppl's tastes.

Still, a fine performer & quite the songsmith.

Personally, I wouldn't waste money on either one. Novelty crap, IMO.
I'm a Gibson addict and I would sell it if I got it as a gift.
Our whole band tunes to C, if we ever write a song in another tuning it would be placed in the set where we had a moment to switch instruments.
What good is me with a robot guitar unless everyone else had one too?
Dunno - I'm old school I guess. I don't have a use for it.