I think one of the best ways to understand alternate tunings is to spend some time creating tunings from scratch. I found it very valuable a couple of years ago to strip up a piano, and starting with middle c create a just tuning. Just tunings are the logical place to start because they are very easy and you will find that you will start getting a more intuitive feel for the classic problems of tuning a 12 tone scale. This is how tuning evolved in the first place. To really appreciate this however you really need to spend some time playing in these tunings. I can remember a feeling of exhileration that came when I went through Pachelbel's canon in d in just tuning! To tune an easy just tuning: Start with c and tune nothing but pure fifths, fourths, and thirds. For starters make sure the I, IV, and V chords in the key of c are perfectly tuned. This will give you all your white keys. make B flat pure with f. Make F sharp a pure 3rd with D. Make C# a pure 3rd with A. All that's left is E flat and G sharp. You can tune G sharp to be a pure 3rd with e. and E flat you can tune to be a pure 5th with b flat or a pure minor 3rd with c. The other really easy one is to start at middle C and tune a circle of pure 5ths. The old fashoned way is up a fifth, up a fifth down an octave (4ths were not used), and so on. Stop at C#. Then starting at c (above middle c) tune down a fifth down a fifth up an octave, down a fifth, down a fifth and thats it! Once you play around with this for awhile you will get a sense of the classic tuning problems. Then you can start tempering here and there always listening to the results by playing some simple pieces. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/maildemo
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