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Almost Perfect Pitch...


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I was wondering if this happens to you...

 

if I have to change strings without some sort of tuner or reference point, I will tighten the strings until they sound right, which means that the vibrations on the bottom E will slow down almost completely.

 

Got that? It's hard for me to explain, but it's like when you tune two strings together, they go something like "Dang-Dang-ang-ang-ang-ang-ang" and then, when they're in tune the sine curve gets a lot longer and they go "Dang-Daaaaang"

 

Does that make any sense?

 

Well, anyway, the point is my idea of things being in tune is pretty accurate, but I'm always a whole tone below perfect pitch (well... ballpark, I'm not trying to be The Amazing StroboMan or anything).

 

And that happens to me all the time. All my guitars are tuned a whole step down. And I notice that with the trumpet, I'm always a whole tone below pitch too.

 

Do any of you guys have this sort of interval lapse or whatever it's called? Do any of you "hear" things (say) a minor third below the concert pitch of the note you are going for?

 

Does anyone understand what I'm going on about? :confused: I've never heard about this happening, and I've never thought of asking either, so I'm sort of fishing for words.

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Originally posted by Justus A. Picker:

When I'm restringing an acoustic I can get the G string within a couple flat cents of being in tune.

The other strings, not so close!

Just the G? That's interesting.

 

My tuning is wrong because my perception of E is all wrong (I think it's E, but it's D, really). I should see what happens if I start with the other strings.

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I tune using my voice.

 

There is one song we always played, regardless of member changes or the club we were playing in. "Cinnamon Girl". The first few bars were done acapella with three part harmony. For seven years, I sung the high harmony part. The first note was an "A". I sung it so often that my throat muscles remember how tight they are supposed to feel.

 

I can get that note by singing it and then tune my guitar accordingly.

 

Not really perfect pitch, but it works well for me.

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Originally posted by Kramer Ferrington III.:

Originally posted by Justus A. Picker:

When I'm restringing an acoustic I can get the G string within a couple flat cents of being in tune.

The other strings, not so close!

Just the G? That's interesting.

 

My tuning is wrong because my perception of E is all wrong (I think it's E, but it's D, really). I should see what happens if I start with the other strings.

Yeah, I wonder what would happen if you started with the D string? Different guitars have different "body resonances", where the body will resonate the most strongly at a specific frequency. I wonder if that plays into it at all?
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I tune using the first two notes of Rush's Spirit Of The Radio. No kidding.

 

It was one of the first songs I learned all the way through on electric guitar. The repetitive guitar figure at the beginning and during the choruses begins with F# on the first string (2nd fret) pulled off to the open high E. It's an easy way for me to get a reference tone and I'm almost always near dead on.

 

I have pretty darn good relative pitch.

 

One of my favorite museum displays ever was in Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry. In their auditory and telephony exhibit they had (have?) a station in which you press a button and a randomly chosen sine wave plays for a few seconds. Then, after a moment of silence, the tone changes and the user can adjust it's frequency up or down using a dial. After a few seconds it locks and displays the actual frequency alongside the user-chosen frequency. Regardless of the pitch, I was always no more than 2-3Hz off the original pitch. Dead on or 1Hz off below 500Hz.

 

I love watching other players' eyes when I retune a guitar from EADGBE to DADGAD or DAEEAA or CGDDGG in a matter of seconds. Changing tunings has made this relatively quick and easy for me.

 

On the other hand, everything from barometric pressure to your health can affect your ability to hear well. Every once in a while I'll have real difficulty tempering my tuning so all chords sound relatively in tune on a guitar I've tuned for years, and with strings I've tuned fine the day (or even hours) before. :mad:

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When I restring, I tune as close to A440 as my ears can tell and put the guitar away for a few hours. I used to stretch the strings myself but now I let them stretch by themselves.

 

After bringing it out again, I'll use the tuner.

 

Now, when I use my ears to tune the strings a few cents here and there, I'll often check my tuning by playing the open E, C, D, and sometimes A chords. Those chords are just burned in my brain.

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Originally posted by A String:

I tune using my voice.

 

There is one song we always played, regardless of member changes or the club we were playing in. "Cinnamon Girl". The first few bars were done acapella with three part harmony. For seven years, I sung the high harmony part. The first note was an "A". I sung it so often that my throat muscles remember how tight they are supposed to feel.

 

I can get that note by singing it and then tune my guitar accordingly.

 

Not really perfect pitch, but it works well for me.

Now how cool is that.
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Originally posted by Justus A. Picker:

Yeah, I wonder what would happen if you started with the D string? Different guitars have different "body resonances", where the body will resonate the most strongly at a specific frequency. I wonder if that plays into it at all?

Yeah, or whether one's head shape or something like that plays into which frequencies one hears not "best" but "most".
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I guess I should mention, when I said I use Spirit for tuning, I'm humming those notes to myself or "hearing" them in my head, not playing the CD. ;)

 

I meant to suggest, Vince, that you tune the low or high string to D (Since you naturally do that anyway. ;) ), then tune it up a whole step and then retune the other strings. Instant fix for your tendency to tune to D instead of E. :D

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

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I 'hear' songs in my head that I tune to. Usually it's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" which our band has played in G for about 14 years. I hear that song in my head, and tune my guitar by ear, and its half step down (Eb, Ab, etc) because we tune down half step. I'm usually very very close when checked with a tuner. Normally I can listen to a song on a CD or the Radio and tell what key its in. But if you told me "Sing a D" I can't do it.

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Originally posted by fantasticsound:

I meant to suggest, Vince, that you tune the low or high string to D (Since you naturally do that anyway. ;) ), then tune it up a whole step and then retune the other strings. Instant fix for your tendency to tune to D instead of E. :D

Yeah, I've thought about that. It's a workaround.

 

But I was wondering about whether it's a bigger thing... I wonder why I'm always flat? Whatever instrument I play, if I have anything to do with its tuning, it always comes out below what it should be. :P

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It's just your natural tendency to be flat. Some people have the natural tendency towards sharp. Either way, if you're a singer you must learn to recognize your tendency and compensate. I'm not sure you can teach yourself to hit the note without thinking, "one whole step up from my instinct".

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Originally posted by fantasticsound:

What are your favorite songs to play on guitar?

I can see where you're going but I wouldn't know.

 

I'm one of these guys that tends to just noodle for days on end. :( I don't know that I've played a song the whole way through in the past couple of years.

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Originally posted by fantasticsound:

I tune using the first two notes of Rush's Spirit Of The Radio. No kidding....

I've got the guitar riff from Day Tripper pretty much burned into my brain. It makes it pretty easy to tune the E, A & D strings from memory. I just tune the rest from there. I'm usually pretty close to dead-on.

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Originally posted by Mudcat:

Originally posted by fantasticsound:

I tune using the first two notes of Rush's Spirit Of The Radio. No kidding....

I've got the guitar riff from Day Tripper pretty much burned into my brain. It makes it pretty easy to tune the E, A & D strings from memory. I just tune the rest from there. I'm usually pretty close to dead-on.
That's a good one, too. :thu: Don't forget you can use the third note, up an octave to find G. ;) (Although by then I'm sure you tune off any one of the lower strings. ;) )

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

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Interesting thread Kramer. Me, I can generally get within a couple cents on the low E and then tune the rest from there. Surprisingly, I can get the other five to tune exactly off the low E. I don't know, I guess I know what a low E sounds like just from having played so much blues in E.

 

Another technique is that I'll finger a standard 4 fingered G chord and tune from there. I can always get the fine tuning done from that technique after using the first one. And you are right, to me it sounds like the sine wave flattens out when you hit the right notes on each string.

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