Nashville tuning

[Golden Smoghead]

I'm curious ... I have an acoustic guitar I want to use more often. The action has drifted high so I was using it for slide guitar only, however I have been mostly playing by myself (aka "with myself") lately so I have not been really messing with it much except when I want to record a slide guitar part.

 

So, I was thinking about putting it in Nashville tuning, but the few youtube videos I found led me to think it's pure kitsch. (Best thing I saw on there for "nashville tuning" was a pretty cool cover of Ryan Adams' "Pearls on a String"). I may do this anyway, but just curious as to how often other SSTers use this setup. Also how do you come up with the strings? I was going to be lazy and buy a 12-string guitar set and then just use whatever the lowest four strings are (upper octave, obviously).

[Rev HW Smith]

Nashville is the place to be.

[anthony]

I have not tried it, but I know there are a few Pink Floyd tunes that utilize it (if memory serves).

 

For your action drifting high, maybe it is time for a new setup? Check neck relieif, saddle/nut height, or worse.

[GtrPlyr]

You don't need to buy a 12-string set, just get something like this:

 

D\'Addario EJ38H High Strung/Nashville Tuning Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings .010-.027

 

Nashville tuning can sound quite good and inspire some new songs. It's definitely not kitsch. Check out the Stones' "Wild Horses" for a good example of the tuning. Johnny Marr and David Gilmour have also used it to good effect. I'm pretty sure Paul Westerberg used it on It's a Wonderful Lie as well.

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

You don\'t need to buy a 12-string set, just get something like this:

 

D\'Addario EJ38H High Strung/Nashville Tuning Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings .010-.027

 

Nashville tuning can sound quite good and inspire some new songs. It's definitely not kitsch. Check out the Stones' "Wild Horses" for a good example of the tuning. Johnny Marr and David Gilmour have also used it to good effect. I'm pretty sure Paul Westerberg used it on It's a Wonderful Lie as well.

 

The way Nashville tuning was described to me, you merely use the octave G string rather than the lower G from a 12-string. IIRC the octave G on a 12 string is abouty .10 or .12 so you could have a leftover E string that could work in the pinch.

[jimjiminy]

I've messed around w/ the Nashville tuning before, but mostly using it for overdubbed rhythm tracks or arpeggios. It's worth trying, because as GtrPlyr points out, it may inspire some new tunesmithing.

[ChrisFFTA]

All you need for Nashville tuning is...

 

Go to you local music store and buy some single strings. Use bronze strings for acoustic guitars. The gauges you'll need are one of each as follows:

.010 plain

.014 plain

.009 plain

.012 plain

.018 plain

.027 wound

Take off the old strings, clean your guitar and fretboard with guitar polish and guitar fretboard cleaner.

Start putting on strings starting with the first or High E string. This string is .010 gauge. Continue installing strings as follows. Second string .014, third string .009, fourth string .012, fifth string .018, and sixth string .027.

Tune first two strings (E, as you would normally. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth (G, D,A, Low E) are tuned an octave higher. Don't be afraid that you are tuning them too high because they are tuned a full octave higher. Your electronic tuner won't lie to you.

Notice that after tuning, when you give it a strum and you will be amazed of what comes out of your guitar. It inspired me and it'll inspire you too!

[Golden Smoghead]

I've messed around w/ the Nashville tuning before, but mostly using it for overdubbed rhythm tracks or arpeggios. It's worth trying, because as GtrPlyr points out, it may inspire some new tunesmithing.

Yeah good call, appreciate all the inputs! Definitely got some stuff moving, I'll try to get a cut of the song I wrote around this tuning.

[Guest Moses]

what is nashville tuning?

[ChrisFFTA]

www.google.com

www.wikipedia.org

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

All you need for Nashville tuning is...

 

Go to you local music store and buy some single strings. Use bronze strings for acoustic guitars. The gauges you'll need are one of each as follows:

.010 plain

.014 plain

.009 plain

.012 plain

.018 plain

.027 wound

Take off the old strings, clean your guitar and fretboard with guitar polish and guitar fretboard cleaner.

Start putting on strings starting with the first or High E string. This string is .010 gauge. Continue installing strings as follows. Second string .014, third string .009, fourth string .012, fifth string .018, and sixth string .027.

Tune first two strings (E, as you would normally. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth (G, D,A, Low E) are tuned an octave higher. Don't be afraid that you are tuning them too high because they are tuned a full octave higher. Your electronic tuner won't lie to you.

Notice that after tuning, when you give it a strum and you will be amazed of what comes out of your guitar. It inspired me and it'll inspire you too!

 

O.K. So I guess what was described to me is a bastardized version of Nashville tuning. But I would still like to try it. This tuning seems like it would be very high and thin. Using the .009 at an octave rather than the low G string, in my thinking, might have a chimey sound to it.

 

I know that Roger McGuinn said in a number of interviews that most of his 12-string melody lines would be written on and around the G because of the tone of those octave strings. I think the higher string has something to do with the overall sound.

[Golden Smoghead]

Here's the song I wrote after we talked about this stuff, guitar is in Nashville obviously:

 

http://www.yousendit.com/download/TTdHRm82bEpWRC9IRGc9PQ

 

Messed up a couple lyrics and I think that D string may be a little flat, but good enough to show you where my head's at!

[Groo]

Here's the song I wrote after we talked about this stuff, guitar is in Nashville obviously:

 

http://www.yousendit.com/download/TTdHRm82bEpWRC9IRGc9PQ

 

Messed up a couple lyrics and I think that D string may be a little flat, but good enough to show you where my head's at!

 

That's some nice pickin'!! Very Ryan Adams-esque (in a good way).

[GtrPlyr]

Nice! I like your song Golden Smoghead

[Golden Smoghead]

Thanks GtrPlyr!

 

That's some nice pickin'!! Very Ryan Adams-esque (in a good way).

 

Hahaha, I'm a big RA fan so that's a compliment to me any way I can get it!

 

Always interesting how a different instrument or adjustment brings out new perspectives. I found the Nashville tuning to make my FINGERS tired, for me usually it's my wrist that gets tired, but my individual fingers felt like this was a workout. I would guess that's because the strings are under higher tension, so it takes more force to push them down. (Also should point out like I said in my original post, that guitar has very high action.)

 

Also maybe was said before, but it's definitely at a different place sonically from a normal-strung acoustic. So I'm thinking I may drag this one along to some of the songwriter parties we have where you wind up with five acoustic guitars playing. I always end up trying to play banjo, which I stink at. So it'd be cool to be able to play a guitar, but have a different sound, on those kind of occasions.

[BigWheeledWagon]

So, I've decided to give this a try as well -- I ordered a pack of acoustic strings. I think I'll try it out on my old Gibson Dove. It's got a really heavy low end (enough so that it can be a bitch to record and requires a little creative microphone placement), so I think it will sound pretty good high-strung. Hopefully this will inspire some new songs, but at the very least it should add a little texture to some recordings. Most of the discussion here seems to have centered around high-stringing acoustic; has anyone tried this with electrics? I've spotted packs of Nashville tuning strings for electrics as well. I was thinking that a high-strung electric might inspire some interesting rhythm playing that would be difficult on a 12-string (funkier chords higher up on the neck, etc. that could be difficult with the string-tension of 12-string). Not sure how it would translate to lead.