Seeking tuning and music theory advice

For help with setups and other technical issues.
Post Reply
User avatar
hillerheilman
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 361
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 6:42 pm

Seeking tuning and music theory advice

Post by hillerheilman » Wed Apr 17, 2019 3:31 pm

Hey all. Not sure if this is the correct section of the forum in which to ask these questions, so if not please feel free to move it if necessary. I'm seeking some advice on music theory and tunings. Please keep in mind that I haven't been playing very long, have zero formal instruction and am trying to teach myself basically. So if I miss something, which I probably will, please correct me.
Just to give you a bit of background, I have a disability that essentially makes only the first two fingers and thumb of my fretting hand useable. Initially I tried to force myself to play standard tuning, which pretty much sucked the whole time. Then after I got a new guitar (with help from forum users Deed_Poll and Shadoweclipse13. Thanks again guys!) I tried experimenting with a slide in open E. (EBEG#BE) After a short while I found that it wasn't really as much my thing as I thought it would be due to not being able to fret behind the slide to create other chords since my other useable finger had to mute strings. So, I decided to abandon the slide and find the best way to do as much as possible with just my first two fingers.
To that end, I've come to open D minor. (DADFAD) I've chosen that tuning because it gives me mostly moveable chord shapes that I can easily do with two fingers. So far I've found that strings 4, 5 and 6 (DAD) create a moveable power chord, and barring the all strings anywhere on the neck will create a minor chord which I then (if I am not mistaken) can turn major by going a half step higher on the third string with my second finger. So, having access to minor, major and power chords thus far, are there other chords I can do with just my useable fingers that I may not be aware of?
My next question is in regards to scales. So far I know the minor and major pentatonic, as well as the blues and gypsy scales. However, the way I've gone about learning them has been a bit different than normal and has caused me to hit a bit of a wall. I've learned the scales all on one string, basically using half steps to memorize them. For instance, the gypsy scale (my favorite so far) using half steps would go:
(root-2-1-3-1-1-3-octave)
Where I'm struggling is taking the knowledge I've learned on one string and applying it across multiple strings the"normal" way. After experimenting I've found that my fingers are most comfortable doing scales on the first three strings, so I think the best way to do it would be to learn scales across the first 3 strings reserving 4-6 for rhythm and chords. It's probably pretty simple and just isn't clicking in my brain yet, but can someone please explain how I would go about spreading the scale across three strings as opposed to just one?
Lastly, apart from what I already know, what other scales are essential to learn?

As always, any help is appreciated. Thank you all.
~Hiller

User avatar
rumfoord
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 713
Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2014 11:06 am
Location: Boston-ish, MA, USA

Re: Seeking tuning and music theory advice

Post by rumfoord » Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:06 pm

Ooh! Great questions!

You didn't mention how flexible your right hand is, but I bet developing your technique both hands as best you can will be super important. Picking technique, finger picking, other crazy things, maybe tapping? I'd say definitely also explore rhythm, poly rhythms and things.

It's going to look crazy intimidating (and still fairly wheedly wheedly), but nowadays tapping on the guitar is more than just EVH playing Eruption
or dudes with goatees and rack amps that play chapman sticks (teasing, but no disrespect to either :D )

Yvette Young is my favorite: But Tosin Abasi is important: Josh Martin, omg wat: Sarah Longfield: Rob Scallon: El Ten Eleven: I'd say your one string scales could come in pretty handy for that actually. By the way, you might not want to play in any of those styles, but the technique itself seems usable in lots of surprising ways that you might want to experiment with.

Otherwise, I think you're on the right track to develop each scale on one string, then just slowly work on figuring out the fingering on multiple strings.

Basically the extent of my knowledge of scales is that all the modes (minor scale included) are just the same notes of the major scale but starting and ending at a different note.
Last edited by rumfoord on Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Futuron
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1213
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2017 3:19 am
Location: Australia

Re: Seeking tuning and music theory advice

Post by Futuron » Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:15 pm

How to spread scales across multiple strings? Well if you are starting with F, then the open A string is 4 semitones (half steps) above that, and the D string a further 5 above that. Since you know the scale already, now you can figure out for all 3 strings where all of the notes are for that scale, and experiment! Try 2 or 3 notes per string. Expanding to all 6 strings will probably be easier than you think.


And I think DADFAD is a good idea, you have access to all the normal chords.

User avatar
timtam
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 2729
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:42 am
Location: Melbourne

Re: Seeking tuning and music theory advice

Post by timtam » Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:38 pm

Here are scales for D Minor tuning ..
https://www.gtdb.org/dadfad

You could learn one octave - root to root - of the main scales ... one octave between 1st and 3rd strings spans 4 frets as in standard tuning.
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

User avatar
hillerheilman
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 361
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 6:42 pm

Re: Seeking tuning and music theory advice

Post by hillerheilman » Thu Apr 18, 2019 6:42 pm

Thanks for the replies everybody! I need some clarification on a few things if you don't mind.
rumfoord wrote:
Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:06 pm
Ooh! Great questions!

You didn't mention how flexible your right hand is, but I bet developing your technique both hands as best you can will be super important. Picking technique, finger picking, other crazy things, maybe tapping? I'd say definitely also explore rhythm, poly rhythms and things.

It's going to look crazy intimidating (and still fairly wheedly wheedly), but nowadays tapping on the guitar is more than just EVH playing Eruption
or dudes with goatees and rack amps that play chapman sticks (teasing, but no disrespect to either :D )

Yvette Young is my favorite: But Tosin Abasi is important: Josh Martin, omg wat: Sarah Longfield: Rob Scallon: El Ten Eleven: I'd say your one string scales could come in pretty handy for that actually. By the way, you might not want to play in any of those styles, but the technique itself seems usable in lots of surprising ways that you might want to experiment with.

Otherwise, I think you're on the right track to develop each scale on one string, then just slowly work on figuring out the fingering on multiple strings.

Basically the extent of my knowledge of scales is that all the modes (minor scale included) are just the same notes of the major scale but starting and ending at a different note.
Wow, looks like I've got some research to do. You're right that I would usually associate tapping with super fast EVH style shredding, but as a slow blues/ jazz guy I think it may be interesting to see how this technique can be applied.
Futuron wrote:
Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:15 pm
How to spread scales across multiple strings? Well if you are starting with F, then the open A string is 4 semitones (half steps) above that, and the D string a further 5 above that. Since you know the scale already, now you can figure out for all 3 strings where all of the notes are for that scale, and experiment! Try 2 or 3 notes per string. Expanding to all 6 strings will probably be easier than you think.


And I think DADFAD is a good idea, you have access to all the normal chords.
Just for clarification, when you say 3 notes per string, what do you mean? For example using the gypsy scale notes for example, in let's say D (D, E, F, G#, A, Bb, C#) would I be playing D, E and F on one string and then G#, A and Bb on the next and so on? Or would I be playing the first set on each string and then moving on to the next set until the end of the scale?
timtam wrote:
Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:38 pm
Here are scales for D Minor tuning ..
https://www.gtdb.org/dadfad

You could learn one octave - root to root - of the main scales ... one octave between 1st and 3rd strings spans 4 frets as in standard tuning.
wait so You're saying that in theory I should be able to go 4 frets up on the next highest string on a given note and be at the same note?

User avatar
timtam
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 2729
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:42 am
Location: Melbourne

Re: Seeking tuning and music theory advice

Post by timtam » Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:25 pm

hillerheilman wrote:
Thu Apr 18, 2019 6:42 pm
timtam wrote:
Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:38 pm
Here are scales for D Minor tuning ..
https://www.gtdb.org/dadfad

You could learn one octave - root to root - of the main scales ... one octave between 1st and 3rd strings spans 4 frets as in standard tuning.
wait so You're saying that in theory I should be able to go 4 frets up on the next highest string on a given note and be at the same note?
Not quite. By 'span' 4 frets on 1st and 3rd string I meant for example that there is an A on the 4th fret of the 3rd string (tuned to F) and then the next A, an octave up, is on the 7th fret of the 1st string (tuned to D) .. so the 'span' is 4 frets ... 4,5,6,7. Said another way, the A is 3 frets and 2 strings away. But only for strings 1 and 3 - the number of frets that an octave 'spans' differs for every x/x+2 string pair in D minor tuning.

See for example the A major scale in D minor tuning from that site here ...
https://www.gtdb.org/dadfad/scales/a
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

User avatar
Futuron
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1213
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2017 3:19 am
Location: Australia

Re: Seeking tuning and music theory advice

Post by Futuron » Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:23 pm

hillerheilman wrote:
Thu Apr 18, 2019 6:42 pm
Thanks for the replies everybody! I need some clarification on a few things if you don't mind.
Futuron wrote:
Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:15 pm
How to spread scales across multiple strings? Well if you are starting with F, then the open A string is 4 semitones (half steps) above that, and the D string a further 5 above that. Since you know the scale already, now you can figure out for all 3 strings where all of the notes are for that scale, and experiment! Try 2 or 3 notes per string. Expanding to all 6 strings will probably be easier than you think.


And I think DADFAD is a good idea, you have access to all the normal chords.
Just for clarification, when you say 3 notes per string, what do you mean? For example using the gypsy scale notes for example, in let's say D (D, E, F, G#, A, Bb, C#) would I be playing D, E and F on one string and then G#, A and Bb on the next and so on? Or would I be playing the first set on each string and then moving on to the next set until the end of the scale?
Whatever seems to work but that is the kind of thing to try. Basically whatever allows your hand or fingers to hang around the same area while covering plenty of notes was my thinking

Post Reply