After too long a delay, here is the Ontober/November article, entitled Bad Habiits and Blindfolds. Enjoy!

Alt_Guitar_Techniques oct

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After a period of shocking neglect I am restarting the blogging on tunings and happy guitar related material. I have begun by fixing the broken links resulting from the unfortunate but necessary transfer to another host for the blog. Oh well. Look for new things coming very soon. Oh, and a hapy new year to everybody!

This is much delayed but here is Alt_Guitar_Techniques Aug_Sep, yet another NZ Musician article in pdf fotmat.

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Hi there. I have been advised that due to an immanent change in servie provider that the blog may be down for an unspecified period of time. While unlikely, it is also possible that the materials here may be losty like the last time there were technical issues. As a result I am delaying posting new material, especially the audio files currently under development until all of this is sorted out. Please bear with me, the songs and tunings demonstrations are coming soon.

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Large printable image in jpeg format. Print off a few copies, get out your highlighter and start marking off the positions of D, then G and so on. In fact, go ahead and flush out voicings for major and minr chord types. In that interest I offer an excerpt from One String at a Time: This is for the 5 7 3 Cousin (read group of four adjacent strings) with scale charts and tonal scale chord sets. As always, if a voicing doesn’t work for you, try something else. Also, the tonal chord sets are just examples: use the big chart to derive more chord forms.

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This one is from the latest issue and centers on learning the fretboard. The focus is on standard tuning, but is general enough to work in your favorite. Seriously, knowing where the octaves and unisons are allows for easy replication of melodies and (later) transposing keys. It is easier to look like you know what you are doing in some strange tuning if you can repeat the same phrase elsewhere. Alas, that is easier said than done. And for the purposes of exercises such as these I will keep on posting sample fretboard charts from Stringbreakers Notebok.

Alt_Guitar_Techniques Aug_Sep

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Here is another excerpt from ‘One String at a Time’ Functionnally this works for strings 4-3-2 in standard tuning. I set this to G C E in order to have C be the open pitch of the middle string. This is to associate with the scales in C I have referenced elsewhere. Note the scale charts at the top are for the 14 named groups of scales I am familiar with. I go into depth on the modes of scales elsewhere and at great length. The triad chord shapes are the real meat on this page: learning these left hand patterns and (especially) being able to switch from one to another on the same set of three strings will introduce serious flexibility. Then again, you can go whole hog and try E A C# E A C# tuning and use the same shapes on the bottom three strings as the top three. The drop down to E on third string can be problematic but if your guitar is set up for it the results are worth it. Have fun!

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Another excerpt from ‘One String at a Time’. This page has the patterns for the modes of the Enigmatic scale and the Composite 2 scale.Each mode is presented as two groups of four notes, and the component groups for the entire mode set is sorted out.

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 A selection from the GTR – scales and related modes in C. Two pages now, more later…

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I was specially asked about Diminished tunings, so I figured I might as well post the lot. I have thus far found only two players who have confirmed using them: John Renbourn and Joe Satriani. I list details in Stringbreaker’s Notebook but the details of these lists have only been released in the GTR, which is out of print and likely to remain that way unless asked very nicely. I may well post images from the book here but I am still undecided.

Oh, I have a challenge for you for this list (and maybe for the other tuning lists I have posted). Find a tuning I have not listed within my semi-reasonable range of -5 to +3 for each string. No clones, mind you: check against the interval pattern. What? You say you don’t know what that is?

Each of these tunings has three pieces  of information: the spelling, the displacements and the interval pattern. The spelling for standard tuning is, of course, E A D G B E. As standard tuning IS the standard I describe every tuning by, the displacements are how far each string is displaced from standard tuning. Drop D, for example would have a displacement of -2 0 0 0 0 which means that the lowest string is moved -2 or lowered two semitones (eg from E to D). The interval pattern is the distance in semitones each string is from the next highest. So again for standard tuning the intervals are 5 5 5 4 5. Moving from the low E to A is five semitones (go ahead and count them, I’ll wait), from the A to D is again five semitones, from D to G is five semitones, from G to B is four semitones, and from the b to E is five. Take all of the individual intervals and arrange them in sequence to get 5 5 5 4 5. Every tning is represented in that manner. Interestingly, if you apply a capo on the guitar and evaluate the new ‘tuning’ the intervals are the same. If you do the same thing manually by retuning the strings,while you get a ‘new’ tuning,the intervals are the same. So this is the capo effect, and a tuning which has the same intervals as another is a clone and can be transposed from one to the other without changing your fingering patterns, just like using a capo. So if you submit a tuning to me where the intervals match one I have posted, it doesn’t count. Now on with the tunings…

1          F# F# C D# C C         2 -3 -2 -4 1 -4          0 6 3 9 0

2          F# F# C D# C D#       2 -3 -2 -4 1 -1          0 6 3 9 3

3          F# F# C D# C F#       2 -3 -2 -4 1 2            0 6 3 9 6

4          F# F# C F# A C          2 -3 -2 -1 -2 -4         0 6 6 3 3

5          F F B F G# F               1 -4 -3 -2 -3 1          0 6 6 3 9

6          F F B F B D                 1 -4 -3 -2 0 -2          0 6 6 6 3

7          F# F# C A A C            2 -3 -2 2 -2 -4          0 6 9 0 3

8          F F B G# G# F            1 -4 -3 1 -3 1            0 6 9 0 9

9          F# F# C A C C            2 -3 -2 2 1 -4            0 6 9 3 0

10        F F B G# B F               1 -4 -3 1 0 1             0 6 9 3 6

11        F# F# D# D# A D#     2 -3 1 -4 -2 -1          0 9 0 6 6

12        F# F# D# D# A F#     2 -3 1 -4 -2 2            0 9 0 6 9

13        F# F# D# D# C C       2 -3 1 -4 1 -4            0 9 0 9 0

14        F# F# D# D# C D#    2 -3 1 -4 1 -1            0 9 0 9 3

15        F# F# D# D# C F#     2 -3 1 -4 1 2             0 9 0 9 6

16        F F D F G# D              1 -4 0 -2 -3 -2          0 9 3 3 6

17        F F D F G# F               1 -4 0 -2 -3 1            0 9 3 3 9

18        F# F# D# F# C C       2 -3 1 -1 1 -4            0 9 3 6 0

19        F F D F B D                 1 -4 0 -2 0 -2            0 9 3 6 3

20        F F D F B F                  1 -4 0 -2 0 1             0 9 3 6 6

21        F F D G# G# D           1 -4 0 1 -3 -2            0 9 6 0 6

22        F F D G# G# F            1 -4 0 1 -3 1             0 9 6 0 9

23        F# A C F# A C           2 0 -2 -1 -2 -4          3 3 6 3 3

24        E G A# E G E              0 -2 -4 -3 -4 0          3 3 6 3 9

25        F# A C F# C C            2 0 -2 -1 1 -4            3 3 6 6 0

26        E G A# E A# E            0 -2 -4 -3 -1 0          3 3 6 6 6

27        F# A C A A C              2 0 -2 2 -2 -4            3 3 9 0 3

28        E G A# G G E             0 -2 -4 0 -4 0            3 3 9 0 9

29        F# A C A C C              2 0 -2 2 1 -4             3 3 9 3 0

30        E G A# G A# E           0 -2 -4 0 -1 0            3 3 9 3 6

31        F# A D# D# A D#       2 0 1 -4 -2 -1            3 6 0 6 6

32        F# A D# D# A F#       2 0 1 -4 -2 2             3 6 0 6 9

33        E G C# E G C#           0 -2 -1 -3 -4 -3         3 6 3 3 6

34        E G C# E G E             0 -2 -1 -3 -4 0          3 6 3 3 9

35        D# F# C D# C C        -1 -3 -2 -4 1 -4         3 6 3 9 0

36        D# F# C D# C D#      -1 -3 -2 -4 1 -1         3 6 3 9 3

37        D# F# C D# C F#       -1 -3 -2 -4 1 2          3 6 3 9 6

38        E G C# G G C#          0 -2 -1 0 -4 -3          3 6 6 0 6

39        E G C# G G E             0 -2 -1 0 -4 0            3 6 6 0 9

40        D# F# C F# C C        -1 -3 -2 -1 1 -4         3 6 6 6 0

41        D F B F B D                 -2 -4 -3 -2 0 -2         3 6 6 6 3

42        D F B F B F                 -2 -4 -3 -2 0 1          3 6 6 6 6

43        E G E E G C#             0 -2 2 -3 -4 -3          3 9 0 3 6

44        D# F# D# D# A D#    -1 -3 1 -4 -2 -1         3 9 0 6 6

45        D# F# D# D# A F#     -1 -3 1 -4 -2 2          3 9 0 6 9

46        D# F# D# D# C C      -1 -3 1 -4 1 -4          3 9 0 9 0

47        D# F# D# D# C D#    -1 -3 1 -4 1 -1          3 9 0 9 3

48        D# F# D# D# C F#    -1 -3 1 -4 1 2            3 9 0 9 6

49        E G E G G C#             0 -2 2 0 -4 -3            3 9 3 0 6

50        D F D F G# D              -2 -4 0 -2 -3 -2         3 9 3 3 6

51        D F D F G# F              -2 -4 0 -2 -3 1          3 9 3 3 9

52        D# F# D# F# C C       -1 -3 1 -1 1 -4          3 9 3 6 0

53        D F D F B D                -2 -4 0 -2 0 -2          3 9 3 6 3

54        D F D F B F                 -2 -4 0 -2 0 1            3 9 3 6 6

55        D F D G# G# D           -2 -4 0 1 -3 -2          3 9 6 0 6

56        D F D G# G# F           -2 -4 0 1 -3 1            3 9 6 0 9

57        E A# A# E G E            0 1 -4 -3 -4 0            6 0 6 3 9

58        E A# A# E A# C#       0 1 -4 -3 -1 -3          6 0 6 6 3

59        E A# A# E C# C#       0 1 -4 -3 2 -3            6 0 6 9 0

60        E A# A# E C# E         0 1 -4 -3 2 0             6 0 6 9 3

61        E A# A# G G E           0 1 -4 0 -4 0             6 0 9 0 9

62        E A# A# G A# E         0 1 -4 0 -1 0             6 0 9 3 6

63        D# A C D# A C           -1 0 -2 -4 -2 -4         6 3 3 6 3

64        D# A C D# A D#        -1 0 -2 -4 -2 -1         6 3 3 6 6

65        D# A C D# C C          -1 0 -2 -4 1 -4          6 3 3 9 0

66        D# A C D# C D#        -1 0 -2 -4 1 -1          6 3 3 9 3

67        D# A C A A C             -1 0 -2 2 -2 -4          6 3 9 0 3

68        C# G A# G G C#        -3 -2 -4 0 -4 -3         6 3 9 0 6

69        D# A C A C C             -1 0 -2 2 1 -4            6 3 9 3 0

70        C# G A# G A# C#      -3 -2 -4 0 -1 -3         6 3 9 3 3

71        C# G A# G C# C#      -3 -2 -4 0 2 -3          6 3 9 6 0

72        E A# E E G E              0 1 2 -3 -4 0             6 6 0 3 9

73        D# A D# D# A C        -1 0 1 -4 -2 -4          6 6 0 6 3

74        D# A D# D# A F#       -1 0 1 -4 -2 2            6 6 0 6 9

75        D# A D# D# C C        -1 0 1 -4 1 -4            6 6 0 9 0

76        D# A D# D# C D#      -1 0 1 -4 1 -1            6 6 0 9 3

77        E A# E G G E              0 1 2 0 -4 0              6 6 3 0 9

78        D G# D F G# D           -2 -1 0 -2 -3 -2         6 6 3 3 6

79        C# G C# E G E           -3 -2 -1 -3 -4 0         6 6 3 3 9

80        C F# C D# C C           -4 -3 -2 -4 1 -4         6 6 3 9 0

81        C F# C D# C D#        -4 -3 -2 -4 1 -1         6 6 3 9 3

82        C F# C D# C F#         -4 -3 -2 -4 1 2          6 6 3 9 6

83        D# A D# A A C           -1 0 1 2 -2 -4            6 6 6 0 3

84        C# G C# G G E          -3 -2 -1 0 -4 0          6 6 6 0 9

85        D# A D# A C C           -1 0 1 2 1 -4             6 6 6 3 0

86        C# G C# G A# C#      -3 -2 -1 0 -1 -3         6 6 6 3 3

87        C F# C F# A F#          -4 -3 -2 -1 -2 2         6 6 6 3 9

88        C F# C F# C D#         -4 -3 -2 -1 1 -1         6 6 6 6 3

89        C F# C A A C              -4 -3 -2 2 -2 -4         6 6 9 0 3

90        C F# C A A F#            -4 -3 -2 2 -2 2          6 6 9 0 9

91        C F# C A C C             -4 -3 -2 2 1 -4          6 6 9 3 0

92        C F# C A C F#            -4 -3 -2 2 1 2            6 6 9 3 6

93        C# G E E G C#           -3 -2 2 -3 -4 -3         6 9 0 3 6

94        C# G E E G E             -3 -2 2 -3 -4 0          6 9 0 3 9

95        C F# D# D# C C        -4 -3 1 -4 1 -4          6 9 0 9 0

96        C F# D# D# C D#      -4 -3 1 -4 1 -1          6 9 0 9 3

97        C F# D# D# C F#       -4 -3 1 -4 1 2            6 9 0 9 6

98        C# G E G G C#          -3 -2 2 0 -4 -3          6 9 3 0 6

99        C# G E G G E             -3 -2 2 0 -4 0            6 9 3 0 9

100      C F# D# F# C C        -4 -3 1 -1 1 -4          6 9 3 6 0

101      C F# D# F# C D#       -4 -3 1 -1 1 -1          6 9 3 6 3

102      C F# D# F# C F#       -4 -3 1 -1 1 2            6 9 3 6 6

103      C# A# A# E A# C#    -3 1 -4 -3 -1 -3         9 0 6 6 3

104      C# A# A# E A# E       -3 1 -4 -3 -1 0          9 0 6 6 6

105      C# A# A# E C# C#    -3 1 -4 -3 2 -3          9 0 6 9 0

106      C# A# A# E C# E       -3 1 -4 -3 2 0            9 0 6 9 3

107      C# A# A# G G C#      -3 1 -4 0 -4 -3          9 0 9 0 6

108      C# A# A# G A# C#    -3 1 -4 0 -1 -3          9 0 9 3 3

109      C# A# A# G C# C#    -3 1 -4 0 2 -3            9 0 9 6 0

110      C A C D# A C             -4 0 -2 -4 -2 -4         9 3 3 6 3

111      C A C D# A D#           -4 0 -2 -4 -2 -1         9 3 3 6 6

112      C A C D# C C             -4 0 -2 -4 1 -4          9 3 3 9 0

113      C A C D# C D#          -4 0 -2 -4 1 -1          9 3 3 9 3

114      C# A# C# G G C#      -3 1 -1 0 -4 -3          9 3 6 0 6

115      C A C F# A C              -4 0 -2 -1 -2 -4         9 3 6 3 3

116      C A C F# A F#            -4 0 -2 -1 -2 2          9 3 6 3 9

117      C A C F# C C             -4 0 -2 -1 1 -4          9 3 6 6 0

118      C A C F# C F#            -4 0 -2 -1 1 2            9 3 6 6 6

119      C A C A A D#             -4 0 -2 2 -2 -1          9 3 9 0 6

120      C A C A A F#              -4 0 -2 2 -2 2            9 3 9 0 9

121      C A C A C D#             -4 0 -2 2 1 -1            9 3 9 3 3

122      C A C A C F#              -4 0 -2 2 1 2             9 3 9 3 6

123      C A D# D# A C           -4 0 1 -4 -2 -4          9 6 0 6 3

124      C A D# D# A D#        -4 0 1 -4 -2 -1          9 6 0 6 6

125      C A D# D# C C          -4 0 1 -4 1 -4            9 6 0 9 0

126      C A D# D# C D#        -4 0 1 -4 1 -1            9 6 0 9 3

127      C A D# A A C             -4 0 1 2 -2 -4            9 6 6 0 3

128      C A D# A A D#           -4 0 1 2 -2 -1            9 6 6 0 6

129      C A D# A C C             -4 0 1 2 1 -4             9 6 6 3 0

130      C A D# A C D#           -4 0 1 2 1 -1             9 6 6 3 3

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Stringbreaker’s Notebook is a useful references for the study of alternate tunings. It is a handly collection of fretboard charts for 174 different tunings all of which are in use.

The sample page below is for a slack key tuning. Easy to use and demonstrates basic ‘cousins’ concept. The cross references are for page number of other tunings with at least four adjacent strings in common.

If you look at the bottom four strings at fret 9 you see D G A D, which is the same as the top four strings of DADGAD tuning. Just to make things obvious, here it is:

Every tuning in the book is cross referenced from one tuning to another. If you know DADGAD, then there are over 30 possibilities listed that you can transfer your learned chord and scale shapes. Speaking of learned chord shapes, Here is a selection for the 5 2 5 (read D G A D) cousing group from ‘One String at a Time” Note that the chord families are all in the key of C…

While out of print, copies of Stringbreakers Notebook may be found in music stores in Wellington, and by special arrangement. Try Alistair’s Music on Cuba street or ask at the local Rockshop. One String at a Time is a work in progress.

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