Guitar Lesson no. 1
This week: "Why is the guitar tuned the way it is?"
Two strats hangin' out at |
The tuning, of course, is E-A-D-G-B-E. Each fret represents a half-step in tone. This means that the fifth fret of E is A, the fifth fret of A is D, etc. EXCEPT for the jump from the G to B, this is on the fourth fret.
The guitar evolved over a period of several centuries, and it is naive to think that the anatomy of the human hand, ease of playing and the nature of how people hear sound was not involved. There are many possible chords on the guitar, and literally thousands of alternate forms,and I am also assuming here that you know at least the basic ones. There are, for instance, E, Emajor, Eminor, E7, Emajor7, Eminor7, Esus4, E9, E7thirteenth, Edim, Eminor6/9, Eminor9flat5, etc.
There are a LOT of chords. But they all function in one of three ways in "Western" music theory, as a Major, Minor or Seventh. Majors give you the basic tone of a piece of music; Minors add texture and emotion; Sevenths introduce tension, which is then resolved to the Major. At least that is how it works in major keys, it can get a little more complicated, but for right now this is all we need to wrestle with.
We will get into all this in much more detail in the future, and into what chords will substitute as Majors, Minors and Sevenths. For right now, I want you to think of playing a simple F chord. You will be playing an F note on the high E string (first fret), a C note on the B string (first fret), an A on the G string (second fret), and an F on the D string (third fret). OK? If you drop down (in tone) one fret, ie one half-step, you have an E chord. From the original F chord position, if you go UP one fret, you have an F sharp, one more fret up there is a G chord, and so on through G sharp, A, A sharp, B, C, etc. This also works in the chord form of A, and E, etc. For some of these forms you must learn the barre chord form, ie, using the index finger to form a bar across the fretboard to substitute for the nut.
Not every chord works this way all the time, there are exceptions here and there on the fretboard, but it works almost all the time for almost all chords. F minor up one fret is an F sharp minor, then an E minor, and on up the neck of the guitar. C sharp minor works this way, so does A minor, A7, F7, D sharp 7, etc. So when you learn the chords in the first position (in the first four frets) you are not only learning the beginning chords but the form of the advanced ones. And learning the theory of chord structure. You may not realize it, but that is what is happening, and that is why the guitar is tuned the way it is. In addition, there are many standard patterns of playing single-note riffs (especially used in jazz soloing) that can be moved up or down a fret to play in other keys. Once you have the basic patterns in hand, you can make whatever variations you want, and if you move to another key just change whichever fret you begin on.
"What about alternate tunings?"
There is nothing wrong with alternate tunings. The most frequently used is a "drop D", where the low E string is tuned to D, and this adds interesting texture to the guitar tone without seriously changing most of the fingering patterns. "Open" tunings are those which give a specific chord when all the strings are played open, or unfretted. You can tune it so you get an A or an E or a D, or any way you want. In the future we will cover some specific open tunings, and how they have been used by various artists, most notably Robert Johnson, Jimmy Page and Joni Mitchell. Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen", for instance, was recorded in an open A tuning.
It becomes very interesting to use these, and they are very useful for certain tonal effects. Johnson used them to vary the key he played in and still have the constant bass note effects common to "Delta" blues. On the other hand, it can be much more of a challenge to use the standard tuning and still get the effects you desire. Challenging, and therefore educational. Remember, the guitar's form and tuning evolved gradually through centuries of trial and error, and it developed for good reasons, including the natural curve of the hand fretting on the neck.
All this brings up...
All this brings up the question of exactly how to tune. Of course, use a good tuner or a tuning fork tuned to A, but there's more to it than just getting the A and then tuning from it to the other strings by the fifth fret/fourth fret step-ups. Once you have that accomplished, or have used a tuner to get each string tuned, you must get the guitar in tune with itself. It is very common for the instrument to sound not quite in tune otherwise. The best method is to use the twelth fret harmonics. The A string's harmonic on the twelth fret (one octave up) should be in tune with the A note on the second fret of the G string. The G string's twelth fret harmonic should be in tune with the G note on the third fret of the high E string; its harmonic with the E note on the second fret of the D string; its harmonic with the D note on the third fret of the B string; its harmonic with the B note on the second fret of the A string. The low E string's harmonic should also be in tune with the E note on the second fret of the D string.
If this is accomplished, the guitar is in tune with itself. But even that is not all there is to it. The guitar's intonation must be correct, or the notes high up the neck will not be in tune with the notes down low on the neck. We'll get into intonating the guitar properly in the future. Right now, I want to leave you with one last thought on tuning. Get ready, 'cause this is a difficult one. When the guitar is properly in tune, it will be slightly out of tune.
Believe it or not, all stringed instruments are designed to be out of tune when they are properly tuned. This is because if they were absolutely correctly in tune in one key they would be out of tune in all others. This is true for guitars, violins, mandolins, even harps and pianos. For instance, the piano frequently has to play in many keys and with an entire orchestra of other instruments. If it were tuned absolutely to the key of C it could not be played in other keys, at least not without sounding awful. Nor could it be played with other instruments. So middle C is tuned correctly, and the notes below middle C are slightly flat, those above slightly sharp.
How does this relate to the guitar? Well, for one example, a classical guitar professor once told me the B string should be tuned "bright", that is, just a hair sharp. Otherwise it sounds to the human ear as if it were flat, even if it is not. If you tune each string absolutely perfectly with an oscilloscope, the human ear will interpret the B string's notes as slightly flat. Humans are not oscilloscopes. We physically hear the same vibrations, but inside the brain it is not the same. And we're talking about playing music that people will hear and hopefully enjoy, not just sounds for tuning machines.
Don't think I'm alone in this idea. Eric Johnson is considered by many guitarists to be one of the finest living guitar players today, and rightly so. He tunes his lower strings slightly flat and his upper strings slightly sharp. This makes it sound more correct, or more melodious, to the human ear. It also enables him to play guitar with a piano player without the instruments sounding slightly out of tune with one another. For instance, if you tune the low E string, which is the E below middle C, exactly to pitch, when you play a G note on the third fret it will probably sound a little sharp. Partly this is because the guitar's notes are not totally in tune perfectly up and down the neck.
So what about an innovation like the Buzz Feiten tuning system? This makes the guitar completely in tune with itself all the way up the neck. Well, I know guitarists who really like the idea. Personally, although I have nothing but respect for Mr. Feiten and his work, I'm not rushing out to get my guitars reworked for this. It works fine, but the entire structure of the "tempered" method of tuning is somewhat inaccurate to start with. Plus, part of the beauty of the guitar's tone is the subtle vibration and interplay of the notes NOT being perfectly in tune, just as it is for ALL stringed instruments. They are designed to be out of tune slightly, when tuned correctly. There's nothing wrong with the Feiten concept, or the Novax method either, although it looks pretty weird! But there's nothing wrong with the traditional structure of the guitar fretboard, either. In fact, using guitars with and without the Feiten system together just makes the subtle interplay of the slightly-out-of-tune notes sound even better!
NEXT WEEK:
Chord substitutions.