#tunings

(via Mary McCaslin, Folk Singer Who Lamented the Lost Old West, Dies at 75 - The New York Times)

Ms. McCaslin, who also played banjo and ukulele, was self-taught, and her open tuning — tuning the strings to sound like a specific chord, as Joni Mitchell did — distinguished her guitar playing.

“While Joni’s tunings were more jazz-inflected,” said Mitch Greenhill, president of Folklore Productions/Fli Artists, who managed Ms. McCaslin and her first husband, the folk singer Jim Ringer, starting in the mid-70s, “Mary’s went the opposite way. They were more angular, more Celtic sounding. And she always put the tunings on her albums, which aspiring musicians always appreciated.”

Tunings are a never-ending hole of possibility. especially if you don’t limit it to western 12-tone standards.

Alright, here’s the first post of what I’m hoping to be a series. You see, as I’ve probably mentioned before, I use a lot of seemingly incomprehensible and inane tunings I invented myself. In fact, I usually end up designing a specialized tuning for every instrument I own, each focused and carefully designed for what I mainly use that instrument for.

Of all my instruments I only have one currently in any form of standard tuning and that’s because I use that one to give lessons.

The secret is, there is a method behind my madness, it just usually takes a lot of explaining on my part.

So to start this off we’ll be looking at one of my most recent tunings, one that involved considerably more trial and error and evolution than most. It’s designed specifically to work with my electric sitar but can be easily applied to a standard 6 or 12 string guitar.

From the moment I had decided to get an electric sitar, I knew I wanted to give it a very unique tuning, and so I started designing one before I had even got it.

I drew my first inspiration from a tuning I can unfortunately no longer remember that Kaki King uses on one of her songs (maybe “Playing With Pink Noise”? I can’t remember), but with a few modifications to create the first iteration.

Khaki Tuning: D-A-C-G-A#-F

Now let me explain the logic behind that. It follows a very simple pattern of alternating perfect 5ths and perfect 3rds. So ostensibly you have three sets of perfect 5ths each separated by a perfect 3rd. A perfect 3rd can easily be converted into a perfect 4th, making playing your typical major and minor powerchords easy.

However, due to a specialized custom bridge system for my electric sitar, I noticed that the first string, the high F, just didn’t resonate right anymore. It was just too taut. Thus came the second iteration.

Dropskip Tuning: D-A-C-G-A-E

The name for this tuning is derived from the idea of drop tunings (such as Drop D) where the 6th string is dropped two semitones to make it a perfect 5th in conjunction with the 5th string. However, every other string is dropped from standard. So it skips a string. Also it’s a pun on “dropkick”.

Well this solved the solution of the 1st string not resonating right, but now the 2nd and 3rd strings were only two semitones apart which created some ergonomic issues in playing chords, so I quickly found a solution.

Dropskip Standard Tuning: D-A-C-G-B-E

Now you’ll notice that this is very close to E Standard (E-A-D-G-B-E). Now the only differences are the 4th and 6th strings have both been dropped. What this hybrid of sorts allows for is the use of many standard chords on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings, while maintaining a lot of the ease of use of “True” Dropskip on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th strings.

I realize this may still seem confusing for some, so if anyone needs clarification, feel free to shoot me an ask and I’ll do my best to explain whatever you need explained.

Now for the next part, I’ll let you guys pick the next tuning.

Swagman (Standard 6/12-string Guitar)

Chandjo (Standard 6/12-string Guitar)

Guttersnipe A (Baritone 6-string Guitar)

Clacktiv (Standard Ukulele)

Saskatune (Standard Mandolin)

Your vote?

THE HANG-9 KALIMBA

The Hang-9 was given this name because it has 9 notes which are based on the tunings of the Hang drum and other handpan drums. People love these kalimbas!

"Thank you for my new Hang 9 kalimba that arrived safely a day ago. I am loving her! I appreciate your adjusting the tuning to a modified Ysha Savita!!!

"This is just what I was feeling and hoping for.

"I am not a musician and have only been playing around with kalimba for two years since a friend left one behind. I was fortunate enough to acquire a handpan which took me to heaven and back but unfortunately due to some permanent bodily changes from major surgery due to a spinal aneurism I was unable to comfortably play the pan. A lot of tears because I was searching for some sounds my kalimbas could not produce that the handpan could.

"This Hang 9 is taking me to some of the places where I want to go and is a satisfying substitute. I can't express in words how grateful I am.

"Meanwhile recently a stranger came into my garden with a friend, he'd just returned from Thailand, Nepal and India where he purchased a camel for a man who'd taught him how to make the very violin he had traveled to India to learn to play. A long and beautiful story... Anyway I gifted my handpan to this young traveler who was is now on his way to Peru with the pan!

"His friend called me hours after they left to tell me the gift meant more than I knew as this young man besides saving for his travels was saving for a handpan unbeknownst to me. The wait lists as you may know are long.

"Not sure why I am rambling to you about this other than the handpan I hungered for found a happy home with someone who will play the music it was meant play. And that my heart ache at not being able to physically release the music I could feel inside has been soothed by the sounds of this simple little, utterly beautiful Hang 9.

"Thank you, thank you. - Robin" - 2016