Hi everyone,

As you can see this is my first post so I will try to avoid annoying everyone with first post syndrome. I have only just starting trying to learn production and have the following question:

I'm trying to translate an acoustic guitar melody from a song I'm using as inspiration for a new tune. I have tried to hamme rit out on my synth and I came to the conclusion the guitar line I am mirroring is tuned differently to the standard guitar tuning. Apparently the guitar is tuned to AADEBE, meaning I can't get the exact pitch on my synth line. Does anyone have some advice as to how I can get round it? The exact pitchings are what I love about the original song so I would be grateful for any help.

Are you asking how you can tune the synth up or down a few cents?

Joe

hi matthew -- i'm not sure exactly about your question. from your email, i think you mean that you fiddled around with your guitar and came up with this really cool melody and then when you went to put it on the synth it ended up not being the same as you expected. then you figured out the guitar was not in standard tuning.

my question is -- did you try and figure out what notes you played based on your tuning? also, i am wondering -- in the tuning above, is the first A the top or the bottom (the biggest string or the smallest string)? i just think that a string that is supposed to be an E (or somewhere around there) tuned to an A is one of two things -- either detuned so much it's ridiculous, in which case you'd probably get more buzz than tone OR it's tuned UP to the A in which case it's TIGHT. if it's tuned up and is really, really tight (and hasn't broken) it is definitely adding enough stress to the neck that you can't rely on the tuning you have (or think you have) at all.

anyways, my suggestion is to try and figure out the actual notes of the melody and try that on the synth. in the event that it doesn't work, maybe even getting a starting note down can help you figure out the rest.

either way, i hope this helps. i'm not sure if what your level is with guitar and all of that, so forgive me if i said stuff you know already. also, if you need more and think i can help, post again on here -- or you can hit me up at hellomynameisyournamehere@yahoo.com

Thanks for you suggestions dude.

Right well basically - I'm not a guitarist. I was listening to a song the other day - Free Ride by all round dude (sadly deceased!) Nick Drake. I just started messign around in Reason and got a beat down and was then trying to add the melody over it free hand on my synth but I couldn't get a 'fit' no matter what notes I hit - it sounded vaguely right but not exactly. So i looked in to it further and apparently Drake was a sucker for setting his guitars up with all manner of weird and wonderful tunings. I tried to find the sheet music on the net to see exactly what notes he is purported to be playing but I can only find ones you have to pay for! (yes, yes I know I'm being tight fisted!)

The closest I have got to getting more info is that he always tuned his guitars down mid-set or whatever and someone on a forum said he "tuned down to AADEBE to play Free Ride."

Any more ideas?

Try changing the cent value, that's a lower measurement of pitch than semitones.

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hey matthew -- ok, so i did a little research on this tab -- yeah, nick drake liked playing around with the tunings -- which makes sometimes can make difficult fingerings easy and/or allow for more open chords --

anyway, the tuning i kept finding for this song was "CGCFCE" -- this makes a lot of sense -- the low e can tune down to a c but any lower than that, and it doesn't have enough tension to really ring the note, will lack harmonics, and will buzz on the fretboard -- for a good tab of this song, check this site --> http://www.guitaretab.com/d/drake-nick/5600.html

anyway, i hope this tuning helps with your song. for some really funky tunings, check out ani difranco -- even if you don't like her music, she has a ridiculous amount of different guitar tunings and really uses them to make playing songs easier -- easier fingerings and easier access to different chords

matt

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