half step tuneing

[taylor_blaze]

Ok so i am ready to learn this song its going to be the first new style song i am learning i have all the notes down and i can almost play it perfect...but...ya had to know that was comming...a friend of mine told me it is tuned a 1/2 step down when i could not get it myself i was going to ask him to show me how but he has left town for a bit and i need to know how to do this now before i give up on it all together. and help would be great.

Thanks

Taylor

[GibsonSG]

The way I used to do it without a tuner was tune the Low E to the A string at the 4th fret. Then tune all the others strings to the E string like normal. 5th fret E to open A, 5th fret A to open D, etc...

But a far easier way is with a chormatic tuner, which is how I do it now.

[killapede]

truth be told, it really doesnt matter. if you are planning to play along with the record, it will sound a little off. if you have perfect pitch, it will sound like a different key, but its still the same thing.
if you are just playing by yourself, dont even bother, because it is a pain in the *** to keep retuning it.

my guitar is completely out of tune half the time, but it still sounds fine, because pitches are all relative. so i just tune it up when i want to play with someone,or record, and its fine.

so, to answer your question...i would fret the A string at the 6th fret, and then tune the E one octave lower, and then proceed to tune all the strings to the low E just like i normally would.

[mojojojo]

As long as you are not having to play a chord lower than E5, who cares if it is a half step down or not... I got lazy one day and didn't feel like retuning so I learned "Boys of Summer" from the Ataris a half step higher than they play it. Also "Summer of 69" from Bowling for Soup is actually in a drop D, but I play it standard and play the low D chord one octave higher. I know it isn't right, but it sounds fine.
Sometimes, especially in a live situation, unless you are completely anal and carry 5 guitars all tuned differently, you have to learn to play higher or lower than you are accustomed to, so learn it like you want.

[TomN]

I don't know if they are still available, but I have a Korg Tuner that can be switched for Eb tuning.
You just click the switch to Eb and tune the open strings like normal and it is a half step down.

It was a 20 dollar tuner when I got it.
So if this is something you will be doing with regularity and don't have a good ear (like I don't) than I would go get a tuner with Eb tuning.

[taylor_blaze]

thanks everyone i think i got it...if not i got it to where it sounds right to me anyhow and if its not i dont think my cats or my 3 yr old is going to complain much.

but i do have one more question::

the tab goes like this
(sorry cant get this to line up right)

---------------------
---------------------
-11/13--9-9-9-9-9----
-x/x----x-x-x-x-x----
-9/11---7-7-7-7-7----
---------------------

i know i need to palm mute the x's but do i fret them on 10/12--8-8-8-8-8? is that correct?? this always seems to confuse me

there is also a part in another song that i have been learning that is like this::
------------------------------
-----x-------------x-x-x-x-x--
-------x-x-x-------x-x-x-x-x--
-------x-x-x-------x-x-x-x-x--
-7-7---x-x-x---5-5------------
-5-5---------0-3-3------------

where in the heck do i fret the x's on that one?

thanks
Taylor http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by taylor_blaze (edited October 10, 2003).]