remarks on 3-string guitar

(1) the high three would’ve been easier.

but it’s the “3rd” string—one of
“the high three”—whose tuner (the
gizmo that tightens a given string;
aka, more elaborately, a “tuning
machine”) is actually busted on this
actual guitar (a “rogue”; the logo
didn’t make it into the photo…
SO-069-RA1000-SN, if you must know
[made in china]).

with three strings in the *low* positions—
as shown here—one has good reason to attack
the strings “from above” (also as shown here).
usually if i do that at all… and i do, some-
times… i’ll come at “from above” frettings
with my thumb (as *not* shown here).

usually i use an ordinary “from below” grip
on the guitar, though. in any tuning. (so
only certain low notes get played with my
thumb; more often they get “damped” [so as
*not* to sound when strummed]).

(2) anyhow. message of the day. there are three
“obvious” tunings for three strings (once one
has learned the “standard” EADGBE tuning learned
by every beginner-guitarist): eadGBE, eaDGBe,
and eADGbe, one might call them… or, better,
GBE, DGB, and ADG.

or, still better: 0-4-9, 0-5-9, and 0-5-10.

(the apparently-missing possibility for
“three strings together from a row of six”,
namely EADgbe is accounted for in the “digits”
notation… it’s just *another* 0-5-10).

these number-codes reflect the *process of
tuning* the instrument and so are *very*
easily learned and remembered (once one
has learned a few chords & the “standard”
guitar tuning).

one more revision.
let X=10.
now we have 049, 059, and 05X
(and this last is pronounced
“oh-five-ten”). and typing ’em out
won’t be a problem.

the photo shows a major chord in the
059 tuning (isomorphic to strings 2
through 4 of “standard”): “barre”
all three strings.

anybody that can feel a beat and endure
a moderate amount of pain in their hands
can strum out a song in this tuning:
open strings, fifth fret, seventh fret;
jam around ad lib (these three chords
are, among many other things, the heart
of the blues [for at least one player]:
12-bar “boogie woogie” was the first tune
i ever picked out note-for-note [and, alas,
also one of the last; this’ll change some-
day if the guitar-gods spare me].).

(3) boogie-woogie for absolute beginners.

tune three strings to an open chord.
0 denotes “strum the open strings”
5 is “strum all three, fretted at 5”
7 (exercise)

(for a one-count; how many actual
*strums*—and whether *up* or *down*—
is here left to the player’s imagination
(never let your right hand know what
your left hand is doing).

0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
7,7,7,7
5,5,5,5,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0.

yep. that’s it. the arrangement that won my heart.
it looks pretty naked all spelled out like that.
this must be what they call “over-analyzing every-
thing”. (even when you actually only ever do it
from time to time.) go and do likewise.

vlorbik unstrung, part n+1

the serial number was evidently stickered-in
or something; you can kind of see the shadow
of the glue over the line under the plain-as-
-day model number (DR-212NA; this here is an
epiphone 12-string). by the end of the day,
there’ll be some rainbow-geometry graphics by
me covering up this label. & there’ll be, as
i imagine it now, four strings where the middle
four strings go. four *low* strings; i’ll’ve
strung this Twelve as if it were a Bass. then
i’ll go on to tune it in any of three “obvious”
ways (“as if” any of the [high-, middle-, or low-]
sets-of-four-strings that occur in “ordinary”
tuning EADGBE [thus, “as if” EADG, ADGB, or DGBE]).
yep. that’s the plan.

yamaha woody unstrung

it’s back to its usual set-up
(low five strung in the positions
of the high five; the tuning machine
for woody’s sixth was long ago bent
down into uselessness trying to stop
a buzzing) now a few days later.

tuned either as E-A-D-G-B (“the obvious”…
though really it’s not *so* obvious) or
as *if* A-D-G-B-E (the *apparently*
“obvious”… this would be the “usual”
tuning, with the sixth string missing).
this works out, let’s see, to a “concert-
-key” tuning of E-A-D-Gflat-B, duh (now
that i think of it; lower the second string
by a “half-step”; that’s it).

anyhow the upshot is that its the “obvious”
first tuning that’s weird to play…
i’ve got to keep reminding myself to
mentally move each fingering “up one string”;
in practice sometimes i’ll just fake it and
get (ordinary first-fret) E-major by just
kind of “thinking A-minor instead” and then
just transpose “visually” from there.

and it’s the second, “*apparently* obvious”,
tuning that’s easier to *play*. even though
i’ve computed the names of its notes only now.

new strings by madeline and the net. thanks, honey.

strum like it’s hot

i bought a mandolin today.
and made this recording.

not since _4_strings_5_ways_…

new audio track today: two pair.
i *didn’t* play it backwards
(despite the photo). i *made*
a recording with this tuning
and the guitar reversed (as
shown here; i’m right-handed)
but, surprise, it stank. so
i decided not to publish. the
dots are a good idea for be-
ginners: the red & green dots
show the same major scale on
two (different pairs of)
adjacent strings. i can use
these to “fake it” pretty well
even *with* the guitar upside-
-down (as long as i stick to
playing “improvisations on
the major scale”… a favorite
piece to be sure, but not
exactly calculated to wow ’em).

my dyin’ bed.

f’book’s got a version by a spot-on bob clone. meet me jeezus meet me.

lay down your weary tune

soundcloud was acting up yesterday
but finally i succeeded in posting
this version of “for john henry”.
difficult, madam? would god
it were impossible.

how public like a frog

video of me playing three-string guitar. recorded by john martin. studio space, computer, and wi-fi connection by madeline.

more four-string guitar

new soundcloud upload: 3 bass hit (one treble).

with a quasi-standard tuning;
lower the 2, 3, and 4 strings
by an octave (as it were;
actually one substitutes
lower strings on the easy-
-to-reach part of the neck
usually used for higher ones
to get this effect); the result
is the “usual” fingerings apply
but they *sound* different
(and are harder to play; the
thickness of the strings
comes into play here).

i’ve had the three basses tuned
in true-usual tuning… so as to have
the E, A, and D strings acting as
themselves but easier to reach
because close to the highstring-side
of the neck. and then the high E, also tuned
as itself. probably three blind mice
was done in that tuning.

of course the electric’s got all six.

notes

three blind mice, arranged for four-string guitar, uploaded minutes ago.

a while back i put up electric E blues, my first-ever recording on electric guitar. my *new* (new to me… used of course…) electric guitar (a steal at a hundred bucks), a hohner. only the second electric i’ve ever owned… and i barely ever played the first and sold it pretty quick (for the same price i paid, so i got its use for free). anyhow, i’m quite the beginner and loving it.