Living in Taos is like being keelhauled through a dip tank. In the end, however, there are no garrapatas.* That’s what I always say, anyway. Since last week, at least. But I have discovered a wonderful thing.
My tuner came today. A Boss TU-2. I thought I wouldn’t like it, seeing as the old Fender T-10 I murdered was nice and curvy, whereas the TU-2 is like a little metal brick. Ah, but functionally speaking, a metal brick is a good thing to employ. This thing looks like it would be hard to break. The pedal is mechanically satisfying. Fortunately, I also like the way it tunes. I’m a sucker for flashing lights.
It was so easy to tune my 12-string. I have a musician friend who says tuners are a highly irrational personal choice, with some models working for you and others, equally accurate, just impossible to use. He may be right. I got on fine with the T-10, but the new one is easier for me somehow. Isn’t that weird? The sensitivity of the device, the dynamics of the indicator lights, and the motor coordination in my fingertips on the tuning keys equal faster tuning. The guitar has never sounded so good, either, almost certainly due to more accurate tuning, duh.
As you players know, when a good instrument hits a certain point of happy tuning in a warmed-up state, the sound swells somehow. It resonates more. The thing you’re holding suddenly has a voice. When that happens, you just want to play it, so you can hit those strings and hear that sound again, shape it with all the tricks you know, and taste all the flavors. Musicians know this, but it works a lot like sex. Sometimes on a big electric 12-string, it even LOOKS like sex. A glorious loud progression came to me today that had me hitting a C chord way up on the neck, over and over and over. I just couldn’t get enough of that C chord, and hitting it cleanly was a visceral thrill. To stretch things out, I’d wander a way from that part of it for a while until I just couldn’t stand it, and then come whamming back…
Heh.
Me, I jammed and practiced for almost two hours. My own spontaneous inventions plus “Pipeline,” “Surfing the Net,” and “Wipeout.” (Gotta keep up with the surf music for Los Changos del Mar.) And the guitar stayed in tune. It usually does, mostly, but this has to do with that zone I talked about earlier. Get mamma goin’, she stays in a good mood.
I’m completely exhausted, too. Every ten minutes I say to myself, man, I’m really looking forward to a hot bath tonight. And then I remember that the water heater is broken, and I’ll have to boil water in the kitchen for the bathroom sink. Oh boy, me and my washcloth.
Now then, what were you saying?
* ticks
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
May your Fender tuner rest in peace. The one you have now is one of the best, and of course she sounds better when she’s in perfect tune!
Most of my playing is done under conditions of noisy mild chaos, and I rely on electronic tuners to take the guesswork out of it. In the 60’s and 70’s, I came to believe I had a “tin ear,” because I had trouble tuning up, but after decades of playing in perfect tune (thanks to my tuner) I can plainly hear when someone is off, and it sets my teeth on edge.
You might be interested to know that the very design of the guitar makes it an instrument that it is literally not possible to tune. There will always be some note somewhere on the fretboard that will be off, and whatever you settle on is a compromise. But at least with your tuner it’s not a matter of opinion.
And I am still jealous that you have a 335-12.
Dude! So glad you stopped by.
When I finally shed several skins and turn into who I am, a post about making music sits here without a comment all day! Until now, that is.
Yes, I know that about guitars and tuning. I LOVE the Boss TU-2, though, and I’ve never had the 335-12 in better shape. What I really need now is a vintage case for it. I bought some silly thing not too long ago that will do the job, but I want the real deal.
1- “…sits here without a commentless all day…” ???
2- 12-tone equal temperament is itself fundamentally “out of tune” and a compromise that has the advantage of allowing easy transposition into different keys, but bears little relation to the actual harmonic & mathematical relationships of the soundwaves. of course we’re so culturally conditioned to it that when we hear music in an alternate scale like just intonation or various ethnic tunings (like Indian or Balinese music) it seems to sound out of tune, even though it is actually *perfectly* in tune.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_intonation
that’s one of the (many) things i love about synthesizers: you can make them as precisely in or out of tune as you want. (and i’ve already told you about the monster analog and how it has to warm up for the tuning to stabilize)
of course, like everything humans have ever created, it’s all completely arbitrary anyway, and the Universe keeps on unfolding without giving a shit one way or the other… and when it comes down to it it’s far more important what the music FEELS like than what it sounds like….