Book on tuning in Fifths - anyone read/tried?

[SteveFreides]

http://www.lnrmusic.com/5thstuning.html

Comments solicited.

-S-

[Vunz]

I haven't, although I thought about getting it. Ultimately, I decided on getting a cello method instead, especially since I wanted to use the 4-finger method. This proved to be very effective in my case.

Cheers,
Vincent

[Paul Warburton]

The great jazz bassist and fifths tuning father, Red Mitchell was my mentor. A few years back I thought about the switch....too damn old. Dennis heard about my plight at the time and sent me some rough drafts of his book. I was VERY impressed.

[paulunger]

Dennis' book is a very good introduction and I highly recommend it. It teaches you to utilize a three finger and traditional technique and applies it to fifths tuning. With a lot of helpful strategies.
I think Dennis is working on a new book that will utilize the four finger technique and the "New Dutch School" techniques. Contact him.
I find the four finger technique important to learn and to supplement our traditional technique. There are some great beginning cello books by Grant that start you in fourth position and really help you learn the four finger technique.

[Sam Sherry]

My first instrument was violin (which I put down thirty years ago) and I used to play some mandolin (until six or eight years ago). I still play bad guitar.

I tried playing DB in fifths about four or five years ago for a couple of weeks. With all that time playing fifths, I 'knew how' but found it unsatisfactory.

The typical violin/mandolin/'cello fingering calls for one finger to shift to cover many adjacent chromatic tones. In contrast, the typical bass/guitar scale pattern has different fingers playing adjacent chromatic tones. Consequently, for me, fifths tuning lends itself to scalar playing and fourths tuning points toward more chromatic playing.

My two cents: Give it a try. You may waste some money on a "Red Mitchell" set but you'll learn a bunch about why you play what you play, whether you ultimately decide to switch or hang in fourths tuning.