[linux-audio-user] in tune - stupid thread

[Dave Robillard]

On Mon, 2004-20-12 at 01:16 +0100, Christoph Eckert wrote:
> > I think this is called "well tempered tuning".
> 
> I know what well tempered tuning is, where it comes from, why 
> we need it and that most popular instruments are tuned in 
> this way.
> 
> But what I do not know: Do guitarists tune the six strings in 
> pure tuning, or do they add some aberration to make them 
> tempered?

Well.. there really is no "pure tuning" - it's something of a trade-off.
You can tune your guitar so certain things sounds right, and others not.
If you tune the B string to be exactly in tune with the B on the second
fret of the A string, then tune the high E to the B string, the high E
will be quite a bit sharp of the low E string and things will sound like
garbage.  There just isn't a "perfect" tuning (which is kinda
frustrating until you learn to deal with it)

E major and A major (chords) are the obvious examples (and all bar
chords of the same shape).  If you tune it so the E major chord sounds
right, the 3rd of the A major will be flat, and if you tune so the A
major sounds perfect, near everything sounds like crap. :)  It's always
that damn B string.

Personally, I tune the B string a bit flatter than it "should" be and
shoot for the best of both worlds (making sure the high E and low E are
dead on).  Every guitar is different as well, particularly acoustics
where the adjustment is far more limited.

(Not sure what this means in terms of well-tempered etc. though)


-DR-