Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Robinson jams


Robinson jams
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.
Guitar player Carl Robinson jams on a traditional blues tune in the basement of Tymeless Restaurant during the Monday night blues jam in Downtown Modesto. The guitar, just like the piano, is distinctively European in origin. Few people realize this, but the guitar is traditionally tuned after the violin (they share the same tuning for the last four strings). A fiddle is traditionally tuned g-d-a-e. A guitar is tuned e-b-g-d-a-e.
Four of the strings share the same tuning, in the same order.
The Bass fiddle (stand-up bass to the rest of the world) also shares the same tuning as well (The last two strings on the guitar are tuned from the bass). A bass is tuned g-d-a-e, just like the last four strings on a guitar. Yet, the instrument is most often associated in the United States with blues and jazz music and its distinctive Latin and African rhythms.

2 comments:

matt said...

a correction with no ill intent i promise! a violin is actually tuned the opposite of a guitar and a bass. the violin is tuned in 5ths like C G D A(it may not start on C but still 5ths) while the guitar and the bass are tuned in 4ths like E A D G (B E)

inkyhack said...

I guitar is also tuned in fifths. A fiddle is tuned g-d-a-e. A guitar is tuned e-b-g-d-a-e.

Four of the strings share the same tuning, in the same order. I was incorrect in saying the first four strings though. That was my error.
I'll correct it on the blog and elaborate a bit more.