OT alt tunings

[JGWoods]

Skip Gorman was at Old Time Music Camp North this last weekend- Oct 15-17- and he was playing an old no name mando he got in Ottawa. He tuned it GDGD and DDAD as well as standard GDAE. Boy did that thing ring when he cross tuned it. He said he is going to swap out the thinner courses for slightly heavier strings to hold the lower tunings better.
I'm definitely going to do it on my Flatiron Cadet. It opens up whole new areas of playing.
best
jgwoods

[acousticphd]

JG,

I find the possibility of oldtime cross-tunings, extended to mandolins, to be very interesting. I never realized until recently that many OT fiddlers carry around at least one or two additional fiddles cross tuned, maybe AEAE or ADAE. Just another one of the obvious secrets I guess, in oldtime like in any other form of folk music. Now I notice that tunings are given in the liner notes of several of my CDs

I have - cough - several spare mandos available to play around with alternate tunings, but except for one brief expermiment with ADAE (is that referred to as "old-time D" fiddle tuning?), haven't begun working on it.

This topic would make a great workshop class somewhere - for mando I mean, not fiddle.

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"Listen louder, play softer"

[JGWoods]

I learned fiddle primarily in AEAE tuning. I haven't done enough of it to try other than that, and standard GDAE.
Skip Gorman went to GDGD rather than AEAE to reduce stress on the instrument, otherwise it's the same interval and I guess fiddlers use it too.

It would be a great workshop subject- if one could find enough mando players willing/able to re-tune.

best
jgwoods

[mandorado]

I have been learning some mandolin tunes from Frank Wakefields teaching DVD's. Frank uses a lot of cross tuning.
Bill Monroe used to cross tune ... Frank Wakefield still does it a lot.
I usually keep at least one of my mandos tuned F#A DD AA DA (4-1) for some of the old Monroe bluegrass tunes. I don't see any reason why the same couldn't be done for old-time tunes on a mando.
I think I'll try it.
Isn't "Ways of the World" played cross tuned AEAE on the fiddle? Wonder how this would sound on a mando cross tuned. I've been working on this tune with standard tuning, and I'm almost up to Molsky speed.

[danb]

Yeah.. (D)DAD, GDAD, AEAE, GDGD, AEAC# (!) are all a hill of fun. Well worth it if you ever happen to have 2 or 3 of the things around!

[acousticphd]

Mandorado,

I just played the other night with a fiddler who used AEAE for "Ways of the World". I don't know what version she learned, but if I remember correctly, the fiddler Rayna Gellert also listed the same tuning for that tune on her CD with the same title.

Now, explain that tuning of yours again more slowly. Do I understand you correctly that you tune the two strings in a pair to different notes (F#A DD AA DA (4-1))? ?

[Shana Aisenberg]

ADAE, sometimes called high bass tuning, is usually used for either key of D or A. This is also the main tuning for the hardanger fiddle. It's a very cool tuning for both fiddles and mandos.

Seth

[JGWoods]

ADAE, sometimes called high bass tuning, is usually used for either key of D or A. This is also the main tuning for the hardanger fiddle. It's a very cool tuning for both fiddles and mandos.

Seth
No problems with the higher tension?
I haven't retuned yet- but I am tempted to try GDGD first and see how sloppy floppy things are before I go to AEAE and stress the neck.

You are only changing one string- so maybe I'll try that first.

Can you suggest any OT old standard tunes to try in ADAE?

best
jgwoods

[Shana Aisenberg]

I don't worry too much about stressing the neck for tuning up just one string. Usually I tune down to GDGD rather than up to AEAE if playing alone, but will tune up if that's where others are playing.

Here's a few great old-time tunes in ADAE;

Rye Straw, Fine Times at Our House, Shakin' Down the Acorns.... there's others but these are all that come to mind at the moment. I like the tuning, and have written a couple of original tunes in it as well.

Seth

[clopez]

When I can be bothered to cross-tune, I usually use ADAE and play D tunes, with the low open A droning alot (like the 5th on a banjo). All those D standards work well: Soldier's Joy, AR Traveler, Cherokee Shuffle, Bonaparte's, Liberty, etc. Fretting a low D on the 5th fret, and playing the unison with the open D strings, creates another cool drone, kinda like the DDAD/Deadman's tuning does.

I like playing fiddle in AEAE and ADAE. Mando in GDGD is fun, but at jams most of those types of tunes are in A. I've put a capo on to play in A, but it's just not the same, with the tone and spacing different, and all the funny looks.

I'd sure love to have a couple more mandos and fiddles to keep cross-tuned.

[Jim Garber]

Do I understand you correctly that you tune the two strings in a pair to different notes (F#A DD AA DA (4-1))? ?
This kind of tuning goes back some time. I have a few pieces from turn of the last century on my sheet music page (http://www.paperclipdesign.com/19ctunes/) under "Four Mandolin solo pieces using altered tunings."

Jim

[Scott Rucker]

Bruce Molsky, David Bass, and Bruce Green all play Stepp's "Ways of The World" in AEAE intervals. I've got a buddy who fiddles it in std tuning when he's too lazy to retune, and he does a fine job on it.