Nashville Tuning

[just strum]

I see the acoustic section gets very little traffic. I did a search for Nashville tuning and found nothing so I thought I would share something that I just learned about not too long ago.

Nashville tuning can be heard in songs like Wild Horses (Rolling Stones) as well as some Fleetwood Mac songs. If you google "Songs that have Nashville tuning" you will find detailed information regarding what it is and where it's used.

Here is one location for the strings:

http://search.store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/nsearch?catalog=juststrings&query=nashville&.autodone=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.juststrings.com%2Fnsear ch.html

Here are are the string sizes
NOTE

DESCRIPTION

1st E
Plain Steel
.010


2nd B
Plain Steel
.014


3rd G
Plain Steel
.009


4th D
Plain Steel
.012


5th A
Plain Steel
.017


6th E
Phosphor Bronze Wrap
.025

I have my J28SDL jumbo acoustic strung with SIT Nashville tuning and I really like the sound. I do recommend that you have more than one acoustic before you string the one with Nashville tuning unless your primary guitar(s) is an eletric.

[Ro3b]

That's pretty cool. (Eyes unplayed Yamaha speculatively.)

[Jampy]

Can you still strum normal open chords with that setup ??

sorry I am at work and can't listen to any song in that tuning..

[just strum]

Can you still strum normal open chords with that setup ??

sorry I am at work and can't listen to any song in that tuning..


Chords are what this is set up for. It just has such a nice sound to it, a much fuller sound, like a 12 string, but with half the strings. I tried it on a few songs and the sound is interesting.

Some I tried it on:
Neil Young - Helpless
Dylan - Knocking on Heavens Door
Neil Young - Heart of Gold (intro to song)

If you are familiar with Jets - Move On, it will not work on the intro.

I like it so much that I may buy another acoustic so I can keep one strung with Nashville tuning (sounds as if I am justifying the purchase of another guitar:drool: )

[Guitar Gal]

I like it so much that I may buy another acoustic so I can keep one strung with Nashville tuning (sounds as if I am justifying the purchase of another guitar:drool: )


Sounds like a good justification to me Strum :D

Thanks for the info on Nashville tuning. I had heard of it, but never really knew what it was. Might have to play around with it on one of my acoustics.

GG

[Justaguyin_nc]

I thought this to be an interesting read..
not knowing a thing about it at all..
thanks for shedding some light...
would this video be a general idea of the sounds attained?
Kinda BRIGHT huh..


YdH4YnscCgA

[just strum]

That gives you an idea of it, but I don't think it's the best use of the tuning. The example of Wild Horses is a good one and You Can't Always Get What You Want is another.

This was taken from another forum and posted by a guy I have a lot of respect for and has been an inspiration in keeping me on my journey. It provides some more examples and better describes it.

"If you have it, pull out Fleetwood Mac's 'Go Your Own Way'. Lindsey Buckingham rakes the hell out of a nashville-strung to kick the song off, and you can hear the 'looseness' as well as the jangle/ring/shimmer effect.

It's called Nashville because it's a technique that Nashville studio cats and producers employed to bring out/enhance the acoustic guitar sound 'way back'in the prehistoric, pre-stereo, pre gajillion multi-track days of mono.

Why not just use a 12-string? Because it's still just one guitar.

Splitting the octaves into the sound of 2 distinct guitars, of different woods and body shapes, recorded independently, naturally likely being a bit out of sync with each other, but not necessarily, is the 'steroid shot' as I'd call it.

Gram Parsons found it and brought it West to his Flying Burrito Brothers brother, Leadon, who went on to use it to double up the acoustic rhythm guitars most notably on Take It Easy & Peaceful Easy Feeling. Panned in various degrees to opposites sides of the stereo spectrum ... thus that huge and remarkable sound."

[tot_Ou_tard]

Wow! Thank's Just Strum. I always thought Nashville Tuning was synonomus with Open E, but it is something different. Does it work well for electrics?
You can get strings for them from the same site JS mentioned
http://www.juststrings.com/dad-exl150h.html

I found the following description at http://www.guitartips.addr.com/tip164.html

Nashville tuning is a little more involved than just tuning your guitar differently. It's also known as high-stringing a guitar because different strings need to be used. It creates a 12 string effect on a 6 string guitar. The simplest way to explain it is, you use the high octave strings of a 12 string set of strings on a six-string guitar. The first two strings of your instrument (high E and B) remain unchanged, and the lower four strings (G through low E) are tuned an octave above standard tuning. It is possible to buy ready-made string sets for Nashville tuning but they may be hard to find. You can use a 12-string set ( just use the octave or thin strings) but that's kind of expensive. The best way for you may be to buy the strings individually from your local music store's single-string bin.
The gauges for a medium set would be .012, .016, .010, .014, .020, .030 high to low.
A light set would be .010, .014, .009, .012, .018, .027 high to low.
All strings are unwound except for the low E which is wound.

To tune them, use my 12 String Guitar Tuner (http://www.guitartips.addr.com/12_string_guitar_tuner.html) and tune the strings to the High E, High B, and Octave Higher strings. You can use an electronic tuner and tune it just like you would a regular strung guitar the only difference is that the last four strings will be an octave higher than a normal 6 string.

[just strum]

[QUOTE=tot_Ou_tard]Wow! Thank's Just Strum. I always thought Nashville Tuning was synonomus with Open E, but it is something different. Does it work well for electrics?
You can get strings for them from the same site JS mentioned
http://www.juststrings.com/dad-exl150h.html

You know, that is a good question. The next time I'm buying strings, I will have to order a pack. If someone else knows, I hope they post. If not, I will provide some feedback when I get a set.

Right now the only thing I can say is - they're louder.

[YerDugliness]

Recently a bunch of us from the Washburn forum got together for a jam session at Pearl, TX, and one of the members had a Nashville tuned guitar there. I played it a bit and really liked the sound, and noted that the way you fret the chords doesn't change, just the sound. Like Strum, I can see getting another acoustic to keep in Nashville tune so I have some variation in the sound, might come in handy for some jammin' or open mic nights :whatever: .

Good thread, Strum--might just string up the D32S with Nashville strings once I get your old D32SW mod'ed.

Dugly :cool:

[just strum]

--might just string up the D32S with Nashville strings once I get your old D32SW mod'ed.

Dugly :cool:

That would be a good option. How long before the SW is set up the way you want it?

When Wings gets over here he can give you a little more or a lot more background on Nashville tuning. I would also be interested in hearing what he has to say about Nashville tuning on an electric guitar.

[wingsdad]

Well, Strum, you pretty much quoted earlier the meat of what I was 'splainin' at the Washburn house, and a couple of others here got sum good info, too.

The only thing I might add is that you don't need a 'great' guitar for Nashville (a/k/a 'high-strung') tuning. It just has to be one that's well-intonated and stays in tune. The attributes of the guitar's woods that can make significant differences in delivery of low end and midrange have little to do with the sound, since the frequency range is so limited to the treble range. I happen to dedicate my ancient Guild D-40 to it because the sucker is so fragile and battered, the reduced tension of the thin strings is safer.

As for the electric...it works the same way, best with chords. And you don't need killer pickups. Single-coils naturally deliver more 'bell-like' tone, so that might be a consideration. Again, it's Bernie Leadon with the Eagles on their 1st album for an example: listen closely to 'Witchy Woman' for the chord rake accents during the verses. Leadon's main squeeze was a Tele.

[just strum]

As for the electric...it works the same way, best with chords. And you don't need killer pickups. Single-coils naturally deliver more 'bell-like' tone, so that might be a consideration. Again, it's Bernie Leadon with the Eagles on their 1st album for an example: listen closely to 'Witchy Woman' for the chord rake accents during the verses. Leadon's main squeeze was a Tele.

Maybe I will give this a try with my Squier or G400. It will give reason to use the seldom used guitars and add a different sound the electric side. That way I can throw regular strings back on the J28SDL.

Since getting the Dot and the ARC300, the others have spent a lot of time in their cases.

[wingsdad]

I'd go with the Squier, Strum. Single coils and a strat's ability to emulate 'acoustic-lke' character.