New Tom Bradshaw tuning article

[jonshack]

I see our own Ken Byng is credited with co-editing this Tuning paper by the ever reliable Tom Bradshaw, well worth studying: https://songwriter.com/bradshaw/chord_construction.php

I’ve never done a full harmonic tune up on pedal steel before so I gave it a go last night as per the instructions, carefully noting down the offsets so I can enter them into my tuner - they turned out quite different from the typical Newman-ish set I use. It’s quite a tricky process at times but you should end up with a uniquely accurate chart for your instrument. My guitar has never sounded sweeter, played on its own at any rate. This is as close to Just tuning as you can get so I’ll be interested to hear how it sounds with the band, especially with a piano. I think this is why people tweak Just tunings back towards Equal Temperament (or go fully ET a la Buddy Emmons).

[Ken Byng]

Hello Jon. So glad that you have got on well with the study that several of us put together.

I have watched Buddy Emmons and Lloyd Green at close quarters, and was amazed to see them tune their start off open E's and C's completely by ear. This obviously suggests that they both have perfect pitch. Buddy tuned out his E9 neck using harmonics on all strings, and using his ears to totally tune his C6 strings.

Lloyd just used his ears to tune his E9 tuning, indeed he got his Es in tune first and within a minute or so his whole neck plus pedals and levers was in perfect tune. Just amazed me. I haven't weaned myself off my Peterson tuner yet, but I do the occasional gig with a band that contains an electric piano. I'm always in tune with the piano when I use the SE9 and CE6 sweetened tunings.

Back in the day (early 60's & 70's), when we used to use a pair of tuning forks in E and C and tune the rest by ear, quite often some of the rest of the band and I were not in tune with each other. That no longer happens with the advent of good quality tuners. Guitarists who use clip on tuners these days, are constantly checking their tuning - often straight up.