Why do you use mirrored 4ths? Pros and cons...
rclere wrote:
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
Well, here are the reasons as it pertained to me; I am thinking that coming from a string instrument background has influenced my tuning pretty radically. What works for me might not be your thing!
And yeah, I still have a very, very long way to go as far as learning how to better play and express myself on the instrument.
1) Scalar stuff. I know my scales really, really well. When tuned in 4ths, the scale fingerings are the same, just backwards. That means I can leverage what I already know. If I want to play an octave line on bass side and the melody side simultaneously, I can simply use the same fingering. I mean, sorting out a 4 note per string fingering, or the shifting required to play it 3 notes per string on the bass side it's really quite time consuming. Made worse if I want to harmonize a thing, mirrored 4ths simplifies the availability and location of notes for me, drastically reducing the learning curve.
ie what I practice on the melody side works on the bass side, and vice versa. What I practice on bass or guitar helps my Stick playing, and vice versa. So scales are the same fingering, just "mirrored".
2) Intervals and chord construction. Why have different geometry for each side of the instrument? Why learn a completely different set of chords for the bass side when I could just use what I know already. Also, the chords available on the melody side are the same as those on the bass side. Again, learning curve drastically reduced and what I practice on once side of the instrument easily migrates to the other.
3) I like 10ths as much as the next guy, but I like playing major and minor 3rds on the bass side as chords, as well as 4ths. So to make a long story short, I can do this easily in mirrored 4ths, and cannot in 5ths. It bugs me to have that limitation, so I prefer to go with a tuning that enables closed voicing on the bass side. Don't worry, I can still play the wider interval chords too.
4) Reading. I believe in the language of music, and as such I spent a lot of money and time ion a formal music education as well as hours upon hours of gruelling practice. I tried to read stuff down using matched reciprocal, and while it is possible, why make it more difficult than it already is? Mirrored 4ths enables me to interpret a score much more closely than I could in a 5ths tuning. Reading in both clefs is easier in M4, and I benefit from regular daily reading practice. To me, reading is the key to hand independence, and probably THE most tangible way to organize studying towards developing that.
5) Ears. I have an excellent ear, I can transcribe anything. It comes from years of playing along to the record/CD/itune and then ear training practice and development in school, and then years of further practice and listening. Over that time, I've sort of developed this really fast "hunt and peck" thing where I hear some stuff, and my hands kind of no where to go intervallic ally. 5ths tuning kind of fucked that up for me, going in mirrored 4ths realigned how I understand things and made the Stick now a tangible thing for me to learn.
6) I wanted to sound different. Different tuning means different logic and approach, even if the difference is subtle. Greg and Bob are amazing, as are many others but I don't want to sound like them. I mean that with the utmost respect.
7) Did I mention learning curve? lol. M4 drastically reduced my learning time and allowed me to make some progress. It was utterly unacceptable for me to invest two years of hardcore practice, and then sound pretty much the same as I did if I sat there with my thumb up my ass thinking about new ways to beat my head against the wall trying to learn the simplest of pieces. Then after months of practicing the crap out of said pieces, they were prone to failure. Too much to keep track of in. 5ths/4ths so changing the tuning to M4 works with how I think, and the sacrifice is pretty minimal vs the gains.
There are some downsides, but I don't notice them really. Maybe it's that the results and efficiency outlay the shortcomings for what I want to do.
The big one, is that range on the bass side is cut down I have a low E as my first note as opposed to that thunderous Low C. Also, mirrored 4ths kind of works on a 10 string, but feels better suited to a 12 string. It might be because I never play my railboard in M4... Another thing to consider is that if you are a geometry/tabs only player and don't know the notes on the instrument - taking lessons or doing seminars and stuff might be whacky. I think Greg is pretty familiar with mirrored 4ths tuning, and like all tunings hahaha so he would probably be a good learning resource.
So to close, I have nothing bad to say about 5ths tunings, it's just that they didn't click for me is all. I just don't have time to totally start from scratch on something when a simple tuning change makes it possible for me to interface with the instrument. M4 is right for me, all I can say.