Re: new standard tuning

[studio seventeen productions <ambient@adnc.com>]

At 03:31 AM 11/4/96 EST, you wrote:
>about Fripp's "New Standard Tuning":
> 
>yes, the bending possibilities are limited, but on the electric guitar you
>can always use a whammy bar to bend notes. This is not the same as 
>bending a
>string with your finger but as Dave said - maybe the restriction forces 
>you
>to leave the territory you're used to, and find something new.
> 
>I had this musical crisis years ago when I was simply fed up with what I
>played. I really couldn't help but notice that my playing repeated itself,
>that I used other guitarists' phrases and chords, and I got bored to the
>point of almost giving up the guitar altogether.
> 
>In my first Guitar Craft course in 1988, Fripp presented this different
>tuning he had found and switched to, abandoning the old tuning altogether
>for himself. I recognized that here was a chance for me to throw away all
>the learned stuff that bored me, and jump into unknown territory.
> 
>Being a lazy person who doesn't practice a lot, it took me years to learn
>the new tuning, but I took the chance. I tuned my guitars to the new 
>tuning,
>and never went back. It was a painful process at times because in the
>beginning I couldn't play *anything* meaningful - when in a session 
>someone
>asked me to play a specific chord, I couldn't, or it took quite a while to
>figure it out, and I felt like a fool. For a long time, I was unable to 
>play
>a solo because I hit wrong notes very often.
> 
>Eventually I got familiar with the NST, and I'm happy with it. The whole
>playing and feeling of the guitar is different. There are undeniable
>limitations: No more bending; playing scales is more difficult because
>you have to stretch the fingers more; and some kinds of chords are 
>impossible
>to play. On the other hand, the tuning gives you the chance to learn a 
>new,
>fascinating, and equally expressive language, with a different way of
>phrasing, playing scales, and new kinds of chords.
> 
>I'm not saying that the NST is a *better* tuning. Of course the 
>traditional
>tuning is just as limitless as the NST. For guitarists who feel happy with
>the traditional tuning, and with their playing, there is no need to learn
>a new tuning, but for guitarists who feel stuck, the NST is a possible way
>out.
> 
>-Michael P
> 


A *VERY* similar experience to mine.  I vacillated between the two for
years, and finally, after my fourth or fifth GC course, dove in to NST
permanently.  And, like Michael, I've never looked back.

a blessing that's hard to recognize



dave at seventeen
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