source file: mills3.txt Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 17:09:31 +0100 Subject: pedal steel tunings and temperaments From: "Bob Lee" Bill Alves wrote: >One I know of is Chas Smith, whose recordings on the Cold Blue label in the >mid-80s were great. I heard him live around the same time here in LA. I >haven't heard from him since, though. His stuff reminded me a lot of La >Monte Young, though if I remember right his pieces were all in 12TET. I have one of his recordings, and it sounds like a regular Nashville E9th tuning in JI to me. That's the traditional way the instrument is tuned. See my article at http://wco.com/~quasar/articles/just_e9.html Paul H. Erlich wrote: >Sometimes a chord like GBDEA occurs, not only in >passing in music but also in tuning the open strings of a slide guitar, and >the only way for all the consonant intervals to sound good is to use a >meantone temperament. Strict JI will not work (try it!). JI is but one tuning >system (actually, several) and has its defects just like any other. One of my steel guitar necks is tuned to a C Pentatonic, and of course I was struct with the same dilemma. I use a meantone temperment on that neck. I actually only use JI on my Hawaiian (non-pedal) steel guitars. Jerry Byrd has recorded extensively on his C diatonic Hawaiian guitar tuning. The 7 string tuning, low to high, is E F G A B C E. Notice how he omits the D note, making the instrument quite tunable "by ear". He says that it was the last innovative tuning he developed, and that he started using it on records in Nashville in 1952. That sweet intonation sold a lot of hit country records! The most stunning use of the C Diatonic is his "Steel Guitar Romantic World", a collection of Japanese pop songs. The accompaning orchestra is 12TET, but Byrd's solos are inspirational and JI of course. -b0b- // quasar@wco.com // http://wco.com/~quasar SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: "Bob Lee" Subject: Surrogate Kithara PostedDate: 24-12-97 17:21:52 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $MessageStorage: 0 $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 24-12-97 17:19:38-24-12-97 17:19:38,24-12-97 17:19:08-24-12-97 17:19:09 DeliveredDate: 24-12-97 17:19:09 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl ([137.174.112.59]) by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP v4.6 (462.2 9-3-1997)) with SMTP id C1256577.0059AE64; Wed, 24 Dec 1997 17:21:29 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA25219; Wed, 24 Dec 1997 17:21:52 +0100 Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 17:21:52 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA25021 Received: (qmail 18997 invoked from network); 24 Dec 1997 08:21:49 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 24 Dec 1997 08:21:49 -0800 Message-Id: <01bd1086$df5084a0$825e04c7@quasar> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu