Me, and I know MadMonk is... I know Rob Martino is, Andremu I think... Anybody else out there using the Force? (Fourths)

being ignorant to mirrored fourths, Im curious what this tuning gives you? is it easy to switch... the only other tunings I have played in is classic (high bass 4th) MR, and 5ths strait across like Trey uses. thanks

I have my 10-string Rosewood tuned in mirrored 4ths, and my NS/Stick is straight fourths. My Railboard is standard Matched Reciprocal.

At first, I really liked the M4s, and it felt like a bridge between the straight 4ths on the NS/Stick--which I still love--and MR on the Railboard. But after some time, say 3 years now tomorrow, when I got my Railboard on Christmas Eve 2015, I finally felt like I can get around on the inverse 5ths bass tuning. And I still love the straight fourths on the NS/Stick, which only has 8 strings.

But I find when I pick up the Rosewood in mirrored 4ths, I'm all confused and it feels unwieldy. If I'm playing in inverse strings, I guess it's now 5ths that seems most comfortable to me. And I'm okay with that!

So I think I'm actually going to change the Rosewood away from mirrored 4ths, and back to MR. And now I don't know what the heck tuning I'd get when I get a 12-string one day.

But I'm not knocking on mirrored 4ths whatsoever. It's a fine, fine tuning, and I reserve the right to keep playing with it, maybe to return some day.

I had to plead the Fifth and keep my connection to the Fourth straight, and not mirror the dark side of the Force. Er, Fourths.

Hmmm I think I will do a "Why I use mirrored 4ths" thread.

All about the learning curve for me, It was a simple change that allowed me to make use of what I already know, and simultaneously assimilate information from other tunings. If that makes sense.

Steve, how you feel about M4 is how I feel about the 5ths tunings - which is funny because I play violin hahaha

I’m thinking about doing a variation or “mirrored deep baritone”, so low to high B E A D G on the melody and bass, but one octave lower on the bass side. Therefore, the bass would start on a 5-string bass’ low B and the melody on a 7-string guitar’s low B. Similar fret spacing for the pitches on the bass side, ans similar guitar fret spacing for the pitches if you start on fret 5 where you would have E A D G C or fret 10 where you have A D G C F, as I tune my guitars in P4.

What do you think?


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I mentioned this on the other 4ths thread. Mirrored 4ths really only works well with a 12-string Stick. I tried it on a 10-string and it is too limiting. And on an SG12 it is perfect for me.

-Eric

Yeah, I don't even play my 10 string railboard at all, so it pretty much stays in raised matched reciprocal tuning. A 12 string really made more sense to me, even when I was trying to get along in 5ths tuning. I did mess with the railboard with the bass side tuned in 4ths a bit, but I just like the 12 string better.

Bummer, it looks like this thread has stalled, or maybe not many people use mirrored 4ths...

I was hoping to find some ideas and variations of the official mirror 4ths tuning for the grand stick and the mirror "guitar" and "piano" tunings for the SG12.

After owning an SB8 and having a massive range in straight fourths and a rather limited range in split tuning, even 5ths on the bass side, I can see why this tuning is not recommended for less than 12 strings. Even in the Grand stick, the bass side begins on low E1 instead of low C1, otherwise, the bass side would not go high enough for effective chording. I noticed this on my SB8 4ths/5ths tuning, the bass side was just too low.

To put this in perspective:

A 12-string bass side in 4ths tuning would begin on low E1 and go up to an F3, whereas a 10-string bass side in 5ths would start on low C1 and go up to E3, right beside that F. That's more range with one string less.

So a 10-string bass side in 4ths begins on low E1 and go up to an C3, fairly similar range to what I got on my SB8 (C1 to A2), which I found quite limiting.

Meaning that for me to have a useful tuning, I would start with low D1 (which is a must for me) and go up in 4ths to E3, which would give me the same range that I have on my 10-string classic. However, for this, I would need 12-strings and the additional X fret...

So the tuning would be:

1. F4
2. C4
3. G3
4. D3
5. A2
6. E2

7. D1
8. G1
9. C2
10. F2
11. Bb2
12. Eb3

Might as well leave the stick as it is and forget about the whole thing...

My NS Stick came tuned more or less: Bass E A D G, Melody E A D G

or

G D A E E A D G
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

[*that's mirrored 4ths correct ??]

and it was - to me - super boring, because it is/was too familiar.

I just recently mentioned in another post dealing with how a 12 can do what a 10 can do what an 8 can do, and my point was not so fast - because an 8 you can come pretty close to 5ths straight intervals [the Crafty tuning] and you are not going to do that on a 12... and plus, by virtue of having just 8 strings, it's going to be played much more differently than a 10 or 12....

I wound up going 8 string Guitar Intervals, but in saying so - disqualifies me from this thread, since don't use mirrored 4ths...