Sunday, May 3, 2009

Half-Step Down Tuning in Eb

If you don't know how to read guitar tab (as computer text), this section of a Wikipedia article may help.

As mentioned yesterday, we're going to tune all the strings of a standard (low to high) E A D G B E tuned guitar down one half step to Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb. We'll start by loosening the Low E to go down to Low Eb, so that fretting the 6th fret on that string will play the same note as an open A string:

e |--------------------------
B |--------------------------
G |--------------------------
D |--------------------------
A |-----0--------------------
Eb|--6-----------------------


Then tune down the A string to Ab, so that the 6th fret plays the same note as the open D string:

e |--------------------------
B |--------------------------
G |--------------------------
D |-----0--------------------
Ab|--6-----------------------
Eb|--------------------------


Then tune down the D string to Db, so that the 6th fret plays the same note as the open G string:

e |--------------------------
B |--------------------------
G |-----0--------------------
Db|--6-----------------------
Ab|--------------------------
Eb|--------------------------


Then tune down the G string to Gb, so that the 5th fret plays the same note as the open B string:

e |--------------------------
B |-----0--------------------
Gb|--5-----------------------
Db|--------------------------
Ab|--------------------------
Eb|--------------------------


Then tune down the B string to Bb, so that the 6th fret plays the same note as the open High E string:

e |-----0--------------------
Bb|--6-----------------------
Gb|--------------------------
Db|--------------------------
Ab|--------------------------
Eb|--------------------------


Finally tune down the High E string to High Eb, so that fretting the 7th fret is one octave higher than the open Bb string:

eb|--7-----------------------
Bb|-----0--------------------
Gb|--------------------------
Db|--------------------------
Ab|--------------------------
Eb|--------------------------


Check the tuning with unison notes:

eb|--------------0-----------
Bb|-----------0--5-----------
Gb|--------0--4--------------
Db|-----0--5-----------------
Ab|--0--5--------------------
Eb|--5-----------------------


Check the tuning with octaves:

eb|--------------7-----------
Bb|-----------8--0-----------
Gb|--------7--0--------------
Db|-----7--0-----------------
Ab|--7--0--------------------
Eb|--0-----------------------


We'll use Eb tuning for the rest of this week's lessons.

No comments:

Post a Comment

We'd love to hear from you! If you spot a typo or musical inconsistency (it sometimes happens), please let us know (please be nice, too). Thanks!

Comments on each post close after seven days.

guitar (1101) piano (566) keyboard (556) chord (537) dictionary (490) scale (358) major (301) minor (297) mode (222) jam session (142) drums (117) bb (113) eb (112) f (112) db (111) ab (110) c (106) gb (106) a (104) b (101) g (101) lesson (101) d (100) power chord (100) e (98) podcast (74) 7ths (72) bass (61) diminished (59) suspended (44) news (42) index (38) augmented (26) 0 flats (10) 0 sharps (10) 1 flat (10) 1 sharp (10) 2 flats (10) 2 sharps (10) 3 flats (10) 3 sharps (10) 4 flats (10) 4 sharps (10) 5 flats (10) 5 sharps (10) 6 flats (10) 6 sharps (10) backtrack (9) ukulele (4) harmonica (2) 9ths (1)