Flea Flicker
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I'll apologize right from the outset on the length of this post, because its difficult to articulate this question in a few short words, and I'm not even sure if this is the proper section of the forum to post it, but here goes . . .
I've been playing guitar and uke now for years, so you'd think I'd be able to answer this question myself, but I don't have any formal training or education in music theory, so I really can't answer it, and consequently, I'm gonna give it a shot here on the Uke Underground.
As we all know, there are numerous ways to tune a guitar or uke - the two most common methods being what I'll call simply "External" vs. "Internal":
1) EXTERNAL (Independent Reference Source): Tune each of the non-fretted (open) strings, independent of one another, to a reference note from an external source like an electronic or other such tuner.
2) INTERNAL (String-to-String): Tuning each non-fretted (open) string to a reference note on the same instrument, generated from fretting its immediate neighbor string, typically at frets #4-5.
Seems simple enough, right?
However, as most of us also know, these two methods can produce two somewhat different tuning profiles that can sound widely different from one another when certain chords are strummed or when comparing single notes up the scale across all strings.
For obvious reasons, the 'Internal' or string-to-string method produces a much more natural or consonant sounding scale when playing melody or lead (i.e., individual notes across multiple strings), but it can sound somewhat dissonant or sour at times when strumming full chords. This is because when we fret or depress each string in the string-to-string method, we're stretching the string length slightly, so the tuned notes keep getting sharper and sharper as we progress from bass to treble strings. This phenomenon seems particularly true with steel strings (i.e., guitar, banjo or mandolin), even when the intonation is adjusted perfectly using 12th fret harmonics.
So, my question for everyone is this . . . in purely technical terms (i.e., from the standpoint of a music instructor or music theorist), which of these two methods is considered to be the most proper, and which do most recording artists and stringed instrument professionals prefer?
Thanks for listening, and thanks ahead-of-time for any and all responses.
I've been playing guitar and uke now for years, so you'd think I'd be able to answer this question myself, but I don't have any formal training or education in music theory, so I really can't answer it, and consequently, I'm gonna give it a shot here on the Uke Underground.
As we all know, there are numerous ways to tune a guitar or uke - the two most common methods being what I'll call simply "External" vs. "Internal":
1) EXTERNAL (Independent Reference Source): Tune each of the non-fretted (open) strings, independent of one another, to a reference note from an external source like an electronic or other such tuner.
2) INTERNAL (String-to-String): Tuning each non-fretted (open) string to a reference note on the same instrument, generated from fretting its immediate neighbor string, typically at frets #4-5.
Seems simple enough, right?
However, as most of us also know, these two methods can produce two somewhat different tuning profiles that can sound widely different from one another when certain chords are strummed or when comparing single notes up the scale across all strings.
For obvious reasons, the 'Internal' or string-to-string method produces a much more natural or consonant sounding scale when playing melody or lead (i.e., individual notes across multiple strings), but it can sound somewhat dissonant or sour at times when strumming full chords. This is because when we fret or depress each string in the string-to-string method, we're stretching the string length slightly, so the tuned notes keep getting sharper and sharper as we progress from bass to treble strings. This phenomenon seems particularly true with steel strings (i.e., guitar, banjo or mandolin), even when the intonation is adjusted perfectly using 12th fret harmonics.
So, my question for everyone is this . . . in purely technical terms (i.e., from the standpoint of a music instructor or music theorist), which of these two methods is considered to be the most proper, and which do most recording artists and stringed instrument professionals prefer?
Thanks for listening, and thanks ahead-of-time for any and all responses.
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