Guitarist tuning issues.

[mcnach]

Strat haters should get Les Pauls. EOS.

or grow up

 

[comatosedragon]

Maybe someone here can answer the burning question I've had for a long time. What compels a human being to tune out loud?

Ear training? Reference pitch for other band members?
Although I do agree it should not be done in front of an audience, there is nothing at all wrong with tuning 'out loud'.

 

[bass.slinger]

The guitar player in my bad loves to play cool looking cheap guitars that never stay in tune. They also always have issues with strings getting caught on edges of frets etc. I know there are people who hate Strats, and he's one of them. Even the cheap Mexican Strats are for the most part well made.

He's had problems the last 3 shows with one guitar going out of tune after just playing one song. I think it's a bad look tuning after every song and usually he doesn't have it on mute. Has anyone been in a situation like this?

On the plus side he still has hearing to tune with unlike most other guitarists who are almost always too frigging loud (just finished a gig last night where the guitarist was peeling paint off the walls all night). You know it is bad when you are thinking about getting the solid filter plugs because the 25dB filters in your earplugs are not cutting it.

 

[Honch]

I keep wondering about these posts complaining about band mates.

If you got an issue with something someone is doing the most obvious, sensible, grown up and mature thing to do would be to go talk with the person in question about it, you know the one the issue concerns, not everyone else.

Posting your problems on a public forum won't solve them!

I keep wondering too, about these posts complaining about posts that's complaining about band mates! He never intended to solve this, the main question he ended the post with was ...

Has anyone been in a situation like this?

... and nothing else. He did not ever asking for guidance to solve this. If I can't contribute to any thread with more construcitve criticism like that, I'll just bail out. I DON'T READ IT. Just the same if I am hearing music that I don't like (doom, black metal, dark metal etc) instead of bickering I just turn it off. I know if a band plays that before I join, so it's not a question of me joining. I don't go out on a campaign and a crusade against that music.

"posting your problems on a public forum won't solve them". Jeez, what's the point of any forum at all then? I had a problem with pots on my bass. Put it here. No one has an answer as of yet. I don't sound off with my second post like "hey, no one cares!?!??! What the eff is this for kind of forum". If there's no reply, no one knows, for sure. I don't need to BUMP that question. I know, if no one's replied and it's silent, I just let it be. No less no more than that. I am sure anyone who's remotely interested in that thread found it, and hadn't got an answer. And they don't reply with "I don't know" or "you could try buying a new bass" or something cunning and smart *ss. I just get it by the silence. Don't need to flog a dead horse.

And your notion "doing the most obvious, sensible, grown up and mature thing to do would.." well, if neither he nor his gtrd friend is neither mature nor grown up, then what?

He obviously talked with the person and it didn't help, now then what?

 

[40Hz]

What I am saying is that these post makes me wonder, and to me, in my opinion, they are an expression and display of immature behaviour that is much to be compared to displaying your dirty laundry in public.

I think you may have a fundamental misunderstanding of forums such as this one where people are encouraged to air their grievances and discuss band "dirty laundry" (as you so oddly characterize it) in an attempt to attain better clarity and gain a broader perspective on an issue that's troubling you.

Perhaps in a simpler and basically monocultural society where there's little real diversity and a larger degree of universally accepted social conventions, something like the original post might be considered in poor taste. But definitely not here where there are huge differences in opinion about nearly everything.

Welcome to a messier and more complex human world.

 

[Twobass]

I keep wondering about these posts complaining about band mates.

If you got an issue with something someone is doing the most obvious, sensible, grown up and mature thing to do would be to go talk with the person in question about it, you know the one the issue concerns, not everyone else.

Posting your problems on a public forum won't solve them!

Also you might not know this, but guitars are more prone to go out of tune than basses, no matter quality.


When that is said it could probably be minimized with some adjustments, and tuning out loud during a show is definitely a no go.

I have talked with him about it, I just want some feedback from other people. Is that wrong? He's the kind of that will listen to something I have to say. I just don't think he wants to do something about it. This has happened three shows in a row and I understand that guitars go out of tune every now and then. It shouldn't happen in the middle of playing a song.

 

[Matt Dean]

I played with a very good guitar player that had this very annoying habit of adjusting his effects pedal before every solo. And he would never start the solo on the proper beat or bar.

First had a talk about it. But, he couldn't stop himself. So, we fired him.

 

[Twobass]

Music is mainly about how it sounds, not how it looks. And performance isn't exclusively about you and what you want to do.

I'd suggest to your guitarist that people are far more interested in how the band sounds rather than how "cool" his guitar looks. (Besides…the pawnshop/junker guitar schtick has already been done to death ages ago, first by the old punk, and later the grunge bands - so he's not even being original.)

I'd tell him fix it or pack it in. I'm a real bug about playing in tune and avoiding interruptions or "dead air" (as in constantly retuning) once a band takes the stage.

But that's me. YMMV.

I was at an acoustic show awhile back where two of the guitarists must have hastily restrung just before coming out. They were sliding out of tune in every song. And they had to retune between every number. People were starting to fidget about it after the third song. By the fifth number people were starting to leave in droves. As did I.

I doubt they ever got booked back in that place.

I hate dead air as well, once we finish a song just start the next one. People don't want to see a band not making music on stage.

 

[Twobass]

@Twobass You're friends? Talk to him. Convince him with arguments to do something(!) to solve what's annoying, i.e. tuning loudly, and getting out of tune.

However, I wonder why you'd so much focus on his guitar? Let him play whatever guitar he likes.
Even the cheapest guitar can be modded to stay in tune. That's solve one problem, right?
If you don't like his guitar, well, then I'd say, it's not his problem, then
At best, it'd be the whole band's problem to agree on a specific band sound.
But that'd be a different story, IMHO. Just saying.

Don't go too harsh on your band mates. You all have gathered for some reason. Recall what it is you formed a band for, and focus on that, I'd say. Whatever it is: Friendship, fun, money - recall what you all want to commit to, and remind yourselves to focus on that. Chances are, you can solve any problem, since all have the same goal, and no one would feel pis*ed of, when someone mentions what could be improved to reach your common goal.

Good luck and have fun! \m/

I really don't care what guitar he plays, I have a problem the ones that always have an issue with. When you see the same guitar have problems in every show. I tend not to like that guitar, for some reason. I don't play the most expensive basses.

 

[Michael Schreiber]

I really don't care what guitar he plays, I have a problem the ones that always have an issue with. When you see the same guitar have problems in every show. I tend not to like that guitar, for some reason. I don't play the most expensive basses.

No problem, just wondered why it was emphasized in the opening post, as well as that he doesn't like strats.
Sounded to me like you rather had him playing a strat. Glad to read that's not the issue.

I'd take the time to go shopping with him, looking for some reasonable tuners and strings.
Not expensive, and effective, IMHO. He can play the guitar he likes - and wouldn't have to tune too often.
Good luck.

 

[Reedt2000]

I know an experienced pro who regularly gigs a cheap rogue acoustic guitar. The guy can PLAY and he makes it sound great.

As others have mentioned this sounds like a setup problem more than anything. Certainly intonation is extremely important. A cheap double locking trem that is not properly adjusted or has worn out contact points between the bridge knife edge and pivot pins will unfortunately never work properly. In my experience the biggest tuning stability problem on cheap guitars is the treatment of the nut slots. If the are not shaped and smoothed properly the strings will stick. As you tune you leave extra tension between the nut and tuning machines which inevitably releases while playing, detuning the strings. When you bend a string the same thing can happen, you put extra tension in the string that does not return due to the sticking nut. The length of the string is looser than before and therefore flat.

He should take his guitars to a knowlegable tech who can diagnose and remedy these issues as well as set and dress fret ends that strings get caught on.

Unless there is some sort of damage or malfunction in the parts of these guitars a good tech should be able to straighten out the problems you describe.

 

[NoiseNinja]

I think you may have a fundamental misunderstanding of forums such as this one where people are encouraged to air their grievances and discuss band "dirty laundry" (as you so oddly characterize it) in an attempt to attain better clarity and gain a broader perspective on an issue that's troubling you.

Perhaps in a simpler and basically monocultural society where there's little real diversity and a larger degree of universally accepted social conventions, something like the original post might be considered in poor taste. But definitely not here where there are huge differences in opinion about nearly everything.

Welcome to a messier and more complex human world.

How is it that Tom Waits song go:

"If there's one thing you can say
About Mankind
There's nothing kind about man"

 

[Honch]

While we're at it, I think those who have delved into automatic tunable guitars such as Gibson Tronic, or whatever it's called is quite futile. It's one thing to have a guitar tune itself. That's actually totally futile. The do or die is when it DOESN'T go out of tune once you've tuned it, and that no robotic or autotuner can solve. There's those German company EVERTUNE that makes a bridge that has springs for each string under, and it claims to keep tuning no matter what. But guess what? you can't bend those strings, because when you bend, it's interpreted as "out of tuning" and starts to compensate. So it isn't possible to bend at all then. The thing I think is way more important than tuning up, is that the guitar STAYS that way. With those automatic tuner guitars you have to - in the middle of a song - mute the guitar (ha! something for your gtrd) and press a button and strum. Then it takes a while for that touch up. I want to avoid that. I would love to see if something keeps in tune in spite if it's going to be freezing cold, or hot summer day with hot spotlights reminiscent of a sauna, and the system keeps it. And that the system should be able to detect and differ bending from tuning, so it doesn't listen really, but goes by measuring tension. Then you have to provide fretwire with earth sensing or connecting mechanism so it knows when you're bending. But I have yet to see one. The German Evertune doesn't actually tunes itself but it stays in tune, and has no whammy bar bridge as of yet.

EVERTUNE • SHOP

LTD EC-1000 EverTune review | MusicRadar

An Evertune equipped LTD can be had for 1427 USD. Not that steep if you'd ask me for a guitar that keeps tuning ONCE tuned up. You still have to mute it though and that may be the dealbreaker....

 

[Honch]

Invalid Link Removed

USD1000. Works but tunes digitally, with Antares autotune.

 

[farace]

Let me ask this: if he plays a decent guitar, does it stay in tune?

Reason I ask is because (and this seems to be more common with guitarists than bassists for some reason), some people have simply never learned 1) how to properly string an instrument, and 2) the proper way to tune. If you have someone that lets the string haphazardly wrap over itself on the tuner post instead of neat adjacent downward wraps (usually accompanied by a bird's nest of uncut excess string), or feels the need to somehow wrap the entire untrimmed string around the post, there will be tuning problems. Likewise, if you have someone that doesn't put a bit of graphite in the nut slots and bridge saddles, and tunes down to a note instead of up, there will be tuning problems.

It might not be the guitar at all. I've had some garage sale refugee guitars in the past and managed to keep them in tune.

 

[40Hz]

How is it that Tom Waits song go:

"If there's one thing you can say
About Mankind
There's nothing kind about man"

With all due respect to Tom Waits (whom I'm a great admirer of btw) I have to disagree.

Every day there are millions out there who care deeply, accept responsibility, and act accordingly. They make the effort to make the world as good a place as they possibly can. If they didn't exist, it would have been over for humankind a long long time ago.

There are those who like to argue: "nobody cares for anyone but themselves." But I suspect that's more to justify their own moral shortcomings and overall spiritual laziness than anything else. Nobody thinks they've got it all figured out more than the clueless morons of the world. And nobody dismisses the motives and efforts of others more quickly than an individual who is himself a complete failure in life.

I love Tom Waits great music with its occasional scathing insights and clever words. But I don't buy it as gospel. And deep down inside, I doubt Tom Waits buys it either.

 

[KickingBass]

Ear training? Reference pitch for other band members?
Although I do agree it should not be done in front of an audience, there is nothing at all wrong with tuning 'out loud'.

You're one of them! get him!!! Nah I see what you're saying, as long as it's not on stage in front of an audience. The epitome of lame and unprofessional sounding.