Tuning Straight Up?

[Fred Rogan]

Is anyone tuning straight up? Using no sweeteners?

[Bobby Martin]

Straight up, equal temper using a Boss TU-12 on my Show-Pro and old Sho-Buds. Still getting gigs at 74, must be doing something right!

[Fred Rogan]

You da man! thanks Bobby. sound like you are doing something right!
I've been using the sweeteners all these years but I think I like it better straight up.

[Mike Vallandigham]

Close for me, I tune straight up on both E9 and C6, but flat the 3rd and 6th strings on E9 by 3 cents.

Pretty standard - never wanted anything more.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Push pedals A&B, tune E's straight up with your calibrated 440 tuner, put the tuner away, cross tune C6 E's to open front neck E's.

Tune both neck's strings to the E reference.

Don't tweak anything except the 3rds and those as little as possible. When you play with a band that knows how to tune properly, you won't have any clashes all night long.

If you're just playing with yourself in the bedroom and can't stand the dissonance, use all them high dollar tuner sweeteners to make it pleasing but that won't work in the real stage world.

[D Schubert]

Straight up A = 440

[Michael Hill]

I do. I've tried sweetened tunings quite a bit. I always got some things sounding better and other things sounding so 'out' they couldn't be used.

[K Maul]

I’m no genius and I don’t have dog ears but I generally tune 3&6 a couple cents flat and tune my Es and middle F# with A&B pedals down. My Williams doesn’t have much cabinet drop so it only needs a tiny tweak. My Fender has almost none.

[Fred Rogan]

Thanks y'all. some very interesting approaches. I appreciate the comments and will check them out. I think my ears had gotten weary of the sweetened method.

[Robert Parent]

Have been tuning straight up (all strings and pedals) for a couple of decades. It took a few months to get use to it at first, but to me everything now sounds more in-tune with the rest of the band members.

Robert

[Slim Heilpern]

I'm playing an E9/B6 U12 and tune straight up. Sweetening some of the chords sours others. Also I record with keyboards and guitars that are not sweetened.

- Slim

[W. C. Edgar]

I've been tuning straight up since Buddy mentioned it back in the day and would NEVER change
Those days of all that tempered tuning each string different are in my rear view mirror, and were a real waste of time
That's my story and I'm stickin to it

[Douglas Schuch]

I started learning using a Korg tuner and just tuned straight up figuring that was fine for learning. Then, like WC who posted above, I read where Big E. tuned straight up, or tempered only his G#'s on the E9 neck slightly. And I started leaving my G#'s slightly flat, and it sounded better. When I've tried Jeff Newman's tuning charts, or other "sweetened" tunings, sometimes they sounded great playing alone, but when I played with my band or with a backing track, it would sound off.

My friend Harry from Norway says he tunes strings to 440, but tunes the pedals and levers to his ear. I pretty much do that now, as well - to adjust for cabinet drop and get the chords they create sounding good.

It works for me. YMMV.

[Fred Treece]

“Everything straight up”? I don’t believe that is mechanically possible.

I tune my 3rds (G# and D#) about -4c, then step on the B pedal and get the A’s and all other open strings straight up 440. It’s a 3-4 cent compromise, even on a Williams 700. No one will notice.

Pedals and levers, I just try to get the Roots and 5ths tight and make sure the 3rds are a hair flat to them. It can be done by ear in a quiet room.

I am not a great player. I hit some clammy sounding notes more often than I’d like, but it’s not because the guitar is out of tune.

[Lane Gray]

Given that there's no way for a country band to be in tune (the electric keys will be in tune, but guitars and basses will vary by how much finger pressure, and fiddles will be close but variable) I quit sweetening all the way, but I don't like the sound of ET thirds. So I've got a "barely sweetened" system: everything straight up, except for C#, D#, E#, G# and A#, all of which go between 4&6 cents flat.
B0b used to say "shouldn't the E# be flatted twice, since it's the third to a root that's already flatted?" My only answer was "down that road lies complicated charts, and compensators are next. Nope, only flatting thirds."

[Fred Treece]

B0b used to say "shouldn't the E# be flatted twice, since it's the third to a root that's already flatted?" My only answer was "down that road lies complicated charts, and compensators are next. Nope, only flatting thirds."

I get your drift. It is definitely a rabbit hole. I’m kinda with b0b on that, though. That’s exactly what I do with my F’s, but that’s where my tuning OCD ends.

[Lee Baucum]

“Everything straight up”? I don’t believe that is mechanically possible.

I tune my 3rds (G# and D#) about -4c, then step on the B pedal and get the A’s and all other open strings straight up 440. It’s a 3-4 cent compromise, even on a Williams 700. No one will notice.

Pedals and levers, I just try to get the Roots and 5ths tight and make sure the 3rds are a hair flat to them. It can be done by ear in a quiet room.

I am not a great player. I hit some clammy sounding notes more often than I’d like, but it’s not because the guitar is out of tune.

So very close to what I do. Pedals up, 3rds almost -8c. Pedals down, tune the A's to be in tune with the E's. 3rds almost -8c. "A pedal" and the "F lever"... tune the 3rds almost -8c.
(I say "almost"...it's more than 4 and less than 8 cents, using a $30 tuner!)

The F#'s can be tuned close enough that compensators are not needed.

[Tucker Jackson]

B0b used to say "shouldn't the E# be flatted twice, since it's the third to a root that's already flatted?" My only answer was "down that road lies complicated charts, and compensators are next. Nope, only flatting thirds."

The F note does get double-flatted in the "flatting of your 3rd process," but it only matters when you play it alone at the nut.

It only seems like a rabbit hole because you're looking at the number and thinking about it at the nut. Seems so flat. But it sounds good in real-world playing as part of an interval, when the bar is free to move about because the dreaded 'double flatting' reverts to normal, desired 'single flatting' with the proper bar placement you're already doing:

When used in a typical A+F position, you are already shifting the bar 4 to 6 cents (in your system) to the right of the fret marker to get the root note in tune with the band -- to bring that A-pedaled not up to +0. You are then free to tune the F lever 'slightly flatted' off of that. If you tuned by ear without knowing the number of cents involved, this is how you would tune it, because it sounds right. If you then checked the number of cents with a tuner, you might say, 'Wow, that F note looks pretty flat at the nut.' But so what? It's the sound we're after -- specifically the sound when played against other strings that matters.

Tuning this way renders the exact same intervals you have in open and pedals-down versions of a major chord, where the 3rds are 4 to 6 cents flatter than their respective roots. Please don't fear it.... it's not a complicated rabbit hole, just a simple (and time-honored) concept. And there is no deeper hole or can of worms that is introduced by doing this.

[Justin Wierenga]

Never use sweeteners, straight up here.

[scott murray]

glad I’m not the only one tuning straight up!

ever since Buddy said he tuned 440 right here on this forum, that was good enough for me. it sounds right to my ears

[Gary Newcomb]

I’ve gone back and fourth and now I’m sweetening again after a few years of ET. I feel like the guitar is more resonant with JT and I get more sustain. But I’m still fudging the bar around in different positions in either JT or ET depending on the pitch center of the band or track.

[Dennis Detweiler]

I've experimented with all of them but end up back at sweetened. If you tune by ear to get the beats out, it's sweetened. All of the notes on a piano are not 440. I tune my E's 440 with the pedals down. G#'s are sweetened. A's (b pedal) are 440 to match A's on piano. In the studio, I'm perfect with the keyboard. I've tried everything 440 and it sounds terrible to my ears. I'm currently using Sid Hudson sweetened E9th on my Peterson tuner. I play U-12. The B6th, I tune by ear, tune out the beats.

[Bob Hoffnar]

I have been tuning straight up for a while now. It’s easier for me but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter when it comes to playing in tune.

[Fred Treece]

What exactly is meant by straight up tuning? Let’s say I have all my open strings tuned straight up. What is next?

[Lee Baucum]

What exactly is meant by straight up tuning? Let’s say I have all my open strings tuned straight up. What is next?