Standard tuning?

[chip]

I have recently been having trouble singing, hitting the notes but I have now tuned down 1/2 step E flat and have regained my voice. Do any others drop tune for their voice? If you haven't tried it, give it a whirl, in my case the results are astonishing. I can now sing Rockin me ( Steve Miller) which was almost impossible before hand also Anything that's rock & roll ( B) Tom Petty which is really hard, the first few lines at any rate.

[Greeny]

This is where I find a capo essential equipment. I write a lot of songs where it doesn't quite sound right vocally, but a quick shift of a capo usually does a trick. Easier than re-tuning too (probably...).

Capo's are also good for writing inspiration too. They can give normal, tired chords a whole new lease of life. I often just play around with one finding new shapes and sounds.

[Flash Harry]

The Queen of Glam, our very own Sir Elton sings his oldies a semitone or two down these days. It's called getting old and it happens to all of us.

[Farrell Jackson]

There are guitarists that drop tune to E flat for easier string bends with heavier gauge strings.....like Stevie Ray Vaughn and I think Jimi Hendrix may have also. It seems it would work for easier vocal note hitting also. I've thought about it but have never tried it. Hey if it works that's all that counts.

A few times in my own songs/recordings I've used the pitch down option to drop the key in order to sing a part I'm having difficulty hitting comfortably. It's usually just a short section used sparingly because when it gets pitched back to normal it can sound odd or not like my voice.

Farrell

[Oldrottenhead]

i remember fondly my old fostex 4 track, where i could slow down the tape to reach those higher notes lol.

[64Guitars]

You can drop the pitch of your tracks in Audacity without changing the tempo using the Change Pitch effect. Saves you from having to re-tune your guitar.

[chip]

Also the guitar sounds better, the Gibson loves it. It has now stabilized it's tuning issues. I have spent the afternoon de tuning guitars. Tonight we play and we are going flat, the only problem as far as I can see, is the bass. But it's to late, the other guitarist has down tuned his guitars ready for tonight but the bass player won't know till he turns up. Should be fun.

[Bluesberry]

I have pretty much abandoned standard tuning for now.  I have been playing with open tunings Open D (DADF#AD), Open Dminor (DADFAD), OPen C (CGCGCE), and P4 (perfect 4ths all the way EADGCF, deadly cool).  I really like the sound of Open C.  There is an old Flamenco tuning that Bruce Cockburn uses a lot EADF#BE and the drop D version DADF#BE, and of course Drop-D itself DADGBE.  Really cool.  Alternate tunings is where its at.  Of course DADGAD is cool too.  My personal favorite is a bit of a hodge-podge between Open D, open C, and P4th.  It is DADGCE.  My main acoustic is tuned to this one pretty much all the time, I really like the sound and the chord shapes, and the 4 middle strings being in 4ths makes soling really nice.  Its another one that Bruce Cockburn uses.  I find the more altered tunings I play around with the more I like experimenting, and the easier it gets to find your way around.  Standard tuning isn't so standard anymore, it seems everybody is playing with altered tunings on videos and albums these days.    

Alex Hutchings uses P4 tuning exclusively ....... wicked......here is a little tutorial on P4 tuning.http://imaguitarist.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/the-e-a-d-g-c-f-tuning-for-guitar-an-introductory-guide/

[Greeny]

Nice one Bluesberry! I haven't seen several of those tunings so I hope to give them a try. I wasn't very successful with DADGAD, but maybe I didn't perservere long enough. All great tips though - THANKS!

[chip]

Well......It went great, the guitars sounded great and the bass too, more to the point my singing was loads better. We used both Gibsons and both, which is unusual stayed in tune with only slight adjustments needed. The audience could not tell the difference, some of them saw us the other week, one did point out that the guitars sounded a little heavier, but being we used the Gibsons and not any Strats/teles that would be the case anyway. So onwards and downwards we go. I used drop D on a couple of songs which sounded very deep and heavy with the new tuning. The bass player thought it was a bit odd at first but in the end liked it, more bottom end, just how I like it.