Jacob Collier custom Taylor 5 string guitar with unique tuning.

[Strays Dave]

His tuning uses a low bottom string:  D.....so it's tuned to D  A  E   A  D .  Perfect 5ths in the bottom 3 strings and perfect 4ths in the 2 upper strings. He demonstrates why he prefers the tuning.  I'm a pianist who noodles around on the guitar, playing mostly bluesy pentatonic riffs.  I've wondered why the conventional guitar tuning (mostly 4ths)  made a sort of left turn at the B string, tuning it to a major 3rd.  I assumed that it maybe has to do with making things convenient for playing in E and A major.  Whatever the case, I thought this was interesting.    In this interview, Jacob mentions his conversation with Joni Mitchell (when he performed with her at the Grammys)  about her innovative tunings. 

 

Anyway, I'm interested in this and suspect Taylor or some other brand will be marketing.  Jacob also mentions that this 5 string custom has more space between the strings, making finger picking easier.  I'm happy that Jacob is so delighted to talk about all things music, seemingly over and over with just about anyone. I hope he can maintain his enthusiasm in the years to come. 

 

 

[Anderton]

Interesting indeed. I have one of those Gibson Les Pauls from the year they used the slightly wider neck, and the automated tuning, so I experiment quite a bit with alternate tunings. There's definitely much more guitar life than E A D G B E! One of my favorite presets is a drone, E B E E B E. The two tonics in the middle sound cool. Because there's no major/minor bias, you can layer the drone chord with anything to thicken the sound.

[Philbo King]

On 4/18/2024 at 1:53 PM, Anderton said:

Interesting indeed. I have one of those Gibson Les Pauls from the year they used the slightly wider neck, and the automated tuning, so I experiment quite a bit with alternate tunings. There's definitely much more guitar life than E A D G B E! One of my favorite presets is a drone, E B E E B E. The two tonics in the middle sound cool. Because there's no major/minor bias, you can layer the drone chord with anything to thicken the sound.

One I used while a teen to investigate modal music (something like sitar melodies). It's also a drone tuning:

D A D A A D

I got really fond of the slight phasing/flanging sound of the intonation imperfections between 2nd and 3rd strings of the Teisco Del-rey $20 electric I had at the time.

 

This is one example of the idea that imperfections are often way more interesting than totally perfect sound.

[KuruPrionz]

Then there's Keith Richards, who has used a 5 string guitar for decades and uses another tuning - G D G B D

 

I haven't dabbled much in tunings, I can play a bit of 5 string banjo, which is similar to Keith's tuning but the low G is tuned to the G at the 5th fret of the high D string. 

I do tune a 12 string down a whole step and I use "Nashville Tuning" on a couple of guitars, that's the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th strings all an octave higher but still EADGBE. Sounds great with a standard tuned guitar, sort of multi-dimensional 12 string sound. 

 

I've always felt like there is still much to learn on standard tuning so I haven't investigated other tunings. I saw John Reborn once, he used a variety of tunings, amazing talent. 

[jazzpiano88]

I really like how Frank Gambale tunes it.  He gets the nice piano chord voicings.  
 

 

[Philbo King]

Re: Beato video

Some very cool ideas.  I just wish he had less chorusing effect muddying it up.

[jazzpiano88]

Yeah, the chorusing is way overdone, IMO.   Definitely muddied the sound. 

[Dr Mike Metlay]

Well, when Jacob Collier mentions something, the world takes notice, I guess. I have been playing and recording with my beloved Schecter A-5X "Betty" in an A E B E A tuning for over 20 years. The tuning has worked so well for me, and intrigued so many other players, that I ended up having to make up a name for Betty, since she wasn't a guitar, a bass, a fretted cello, a mandocello, or anything like that. I ended up settling on the name "aebea" to reflect the tuning that made her special.

 

How do you pronounce it? Simple: it rhymes with "idea".

 

mike

 

 

 

[Strays Dave]

When I first posted this I didn't realize that Jacob has been using this guitar for a while now.  On Reddit someone mentioned that he used this guitar on  his Mahogany Sessions version of   "Little Blue".  Among many other things I now realize. Someone also said that his Taylor 5 string was a one off special build and that the cost of retooling their manufacturing to build and market quantities of the guitar would be cost prohibitive. 

 

This live recording in a church shows the guitar off nicely. Little Blue is fairly simple, with some momentary fills and harmonic excursions.  There's something about how he voices chords.  I just watched a 70 minute YouTube biodoc about Jacob called "Jacob Collier: In The Room Where It Happens".  The documentary features Herbie Hancock saying "I thought I was good with harmony --- no, he was all over my stuff and past that".   

 

 

[ElmerJFudd]

On 4/18/2024 at 2:19 PM, Strays Dave said:

His tuning uses a low bottom string:  D.....so it's tuned to D  A  E   A  D .  Perfect 5ths in the bottom 3 strings and perfect 4ths in the 2 upper strings. He demonstrates why he prefers the tuning.  I'm a pianist who noodles around on the guitar, playing mostly bluesy pentatonic riffs.  I've wondered why the conventional guitar tuning (mostly 4ths)  made a sort of left turn at the B string, tuning it to a major 3rd.  I assumed that it maybe has to do with making things convenient for playing in E and A major.  Whatever the case, I thought this was interesting.    In this interview, Jacob mentions his conversation with Joni Mitchell (when he performed with her at the Grammys)  about her innovative tunings. 

 

Anyway, I'm interested in this and suspect Taylor or some other brand will be marketing.  Jacob also mentions that this 5 string custom has more space between the strings, making finger picking easier.  I'm happy that Jacob is so delighted to talk about all things music, seemingly over and over with just about anyone. I hope he can maintain his enthusiasm in the years to come. 

 

 

I watched this recently.  Yeah, the fellow has a fascinating take on music and how he wants to play guitar and most everything.  He’s a curiosity, as are his arrangements and compositions.  

[murphybridget]

8 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

I watched this recently.  Yeah, the fellow has a fascinating take on music and how he wants to play guitar and most everything.  He’s a curiosity, as are his arrangements and compositions.  

It sounds like you stumbled upon something really intriguing! It's always fascinating to encounter musicians with unique perspectives and approaches to their craft. Exploring new musical styles and perspectives can be such an enriching experience. If you have any more discoveries like this, feel free to share—I'm always up for exploring new musical curiosities!

[Strays Dave]

I've been pondering about how someone develops Jacob's level of skill at such a young age.  I thought of Pablo Picasso.  Even though he was in a completely different discipline,  I think there are similarities.  Both of them grew up with parents who worked in the discipline (music and visual art)  Jacob, as a toddler sat in his mother's lap when  she was teaching violin to students. He "played" violine from age 2 to 4 or 5. He said he abandoned the violin for the piano  and of course other instruments.   JC got his first Cubase multi-track software around 7 years of age.  Picasso sat on his father's lap and began drawing as a tot. According to a YT documentary I watched he drew constantly.  Reportedly Picasso was drawing as well as his art professor father by age 11. 

 

Picasso reportedly only agreed to go to grade school if he was permitted to draw at school. Jacob, at age 11 created multitrack recordings of himself singing the multiplication tables (as an aid to learning them). 

 

Both of them had both the nurturing of professional parents and the drive/desire to play/work constantly at their craft.  Of course many parents attempt to steer their young children into being  baby Einsteins.  It happens on occasion.  

 

Many will disagree, but it's been said that Picasso was the sort of artist who only comes around every hundred years or so.  Time will tell, but I think this may also be true of Jacob.