Re: Show us your pedalboard
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:00 pm
So did I. The Peterson tuners along with I'm sure many other tuners have custom profiles, so even though you look at it, see 'E' and tune it, you're not strictly tuning to E, it might be E - 10 cents or something like that.
The reasons for this is that fretted instruments can't be tuned perfectly, every note on every fret is basically off, either sharp or flat by some degree and it only works because it's close enough to sound like music overall.
Sweetened tunings attempt to fix this. And obviously they can't, as that would be impossible, but they can make a difference.
1) First thing they do is try to tune strings so that 5th's are correct. Guitarists love 5ths and play them constantly, they are probably the most common interval most guitarists play, so if you can get those sweet you're away laughing. We're often doing this already by ear, as an example I've been tuning with a tuner and then manually tweaking the B string for at least 10 years
2) Second thing they do it is try to compensate for string physics. When you do a big old chord and hit the strings hard, the strings deflect away from the pick and go sharp, specially the E and A strings. So if you tune to a true E, and you're playing big chords at lot, that string is probably sharp most of the time. The sweetened tuning will have you tuning the thing slightly flat, so that once you hit it hard and push it sharp, it's actually in tune.
Also on fancy tuners you can edit and create your own tuning presets, if you feel the desire to spend days working out your own tuning.
I use the Peterson Guitar preset, edited to make the B string a fair bit flat and I think I made the D string a little less flat than the stock preset. This setting works fabulously on both my electrics and both acoustics. I also use the Peterson 12 string preset on my Eastwood. The most famous sweetened tuning is probably James Taylors', which he worked out decades ago and has been using ever since, I tried that one and while it was great with a capo on, I didn't like it when playing on the first few frets.
Anyway, worth a try, I've found it 100% worthwhile, even if no one else notices or cares.
The reasons for this is that fretted instruments can't be tuned perfectly, every note on every fret is basically off, either sharp or flat by some degree and it only works because it's close enough to sound like music overall.
Sweetened tunings attempt to fix this. And obviously they can't, as that would be impossible, but they can make a difference.
1) First thing they do is try to tune strings so that 5th's are correct. Guitarists love 5ths and play them constantly, they are probably the most common interval most guitarists play, so if you can get those sweet you're away laughing. We're often doing this already by ear, as an example I've been tuning with a tuner and then manually tweaking the B string for at least 10 years
2) Second thing they do it is try to compensate for string physics. When you do a big old chord and hit the strings hard, the strings deflect away from the pick and go sharp, specially the E and A strings. So if you tune to a true E, and you're playing big chords at lot, that string is probably sharp most of the time. The sweetened tuning will have you tuning the thing slightly flat, so that once you hit it hard and push it sharp, it's actually in tune.
Also on fancy tuners you can edit and create your own tuning presets, if you feel the desire to spend days working out your own tuning.
I use the Peterson Guitar preset, edited to make the B string a fair bit flat and I think I made the D string a little less flat than the stock preset. This setting works fabulously on both my electrics and both acoustics. I also use the Peterson 12 string preset on my Eastwood. The most famous sweetened tuning is probably James Taylors', which he worked out decades ago and has been using ever since, I tried that one and while it was great with a capo on, I didn't like it when playing on the first few frets.
Anyway, worth a try, I've found it 100% worthwhile, even if no one else notices or cares.
