AEAE "Raised Bass"

[Brent Hutto]

As of yesterday I'm the happy recipient of a Trinity College OM that Jeff Budz was selling in the Classified. I was so looking forward to having an instrument that sounds in the guitar range while having the fifths tuning I love on mandolin.

Here I am 24 hours later with it tuned to AEAE and having thoughts of leaving it that way for good. Man that's a good sounding tuning. And at least if you're playing fiddle tunes in the key of A it makes playing in first position easy-peasy.

I may even go the extra mile and use GDGD for tunes in G then just capo up to AEAE when I'm playing in A, for no-stretch convenience.

Some of my fiddle tune books refer to this as "Raised Bass" tuning. I think that's a good name for it and maybe I'll start using that term instead of AEAE. I posted a clip of the new instrument playing a spooky, droning Lament over in the Song-A-Week group. Now I'm working on some Strathspeys and Jigs.

[downtowndalebrown]

I love AEAE. I got my Fender octave 5 or so years ago, and it's been in AEAE since day one (even though I didn't know how to play a darn thing in that tuning). My advice: Invest in a nice capo to take advantage of the open strings in more keys than A and E.

[EdHanrahan]

Ah, the perfect response to the domestic interrogation of: "Why do you need so many mandolins?" Realize, of course, that "so many" equals any number greater than one!

And just because it often comes up, know that mandolin capos are the same as banjo capos.

[Brent Hutto]

I actually have a mando (banjo?) capo. The one called Planet Waves NS. However, it has a slight radius to the bar and pad while my OM has a flat fretboard. I may end up using my dead-flat classical guitar one instead, even though it will stick out a ways on the far side.

[David Surette]

I am a big fan of the AEAE tuning. As many of you probably know, that is a very popular fiddle tuning in the world of old-time fiddle. I used it for years as my "standard" tuning on a four-course Flatiron, and a lovely four-course Trillium (in fact I did the GDGD, and spent most of my time at the capo 2 position). Great for drones, great for the dark mood. Have fun.

[Jacob]

For octave mandolin/Irish bouzouki, the wider Paige banjo capo designed to fit beyond the 4th fret works well for me. It is narrower than a guitar capo.

[JGWoods]

ADAE = High bass
AEAE= high bass and counter.
So I've often heard it from fiddlers.
They also call tunes the "coarse part" and the "fine part" and when you are playing in AEAE the coarse part is played on the lower, thicker, coarser strings; then you play the fine part up on those fine little high strings.

[Brent Hutto]

I like that nomenclature. My playing sounds a lot "finer" on the top two strings no matter what the tuning!

[JeffD]

Learning to play in cross tuning is one of the hardest things I have ever done. It just screws with my mind. I feel like I have forgotten how to walk.

I have changed my approach. Instead of learning to play cross, I am learning to play certain tunes in cross. It seems a better approach for me.

An OT jam I recently attended was playing in A, and not just A but A cross. Certain tunes much easier in standard tuning were not on the agenda. (That said, it was a glorious jam, and for a moment or two I got the sneaking suspicion I had been there forever, with occational excursions into mere reality, or the key of G for that matter.)

[JGWoods]

I've never struggled with alternate tunings- but I rarely play the same tunes in alternative ways. I guess it comes from playing clawhammer banjo for 45 years in many different tunings. Cumberland Gap has it's own tuning, some folks play Little Birdie in a unique tuning and it never bothered me I suppose because I think in terms of tune and fingering, not where the chords lie.
Same goes for fiddle, and for mandolin when it is cross tuned. Almost all AEAE tunes are two string tunes that allow for playing them high and low with the same fingerings by switching pairs.
Occasionally I get caught- I tried to play Jenny Lynn in A when I was tuned conventional and boy was that hard. It's a natural in cross tuning.

[otterly2k]

I'm pretty much always tuned in ADAE, but I'll give AEAE a try sometime. I like the idea of GDGD that is capo-able to AEAE... might tune my other OM accordingly...

[Brent Hutto]

Other than A (obviously) what keys fit well on an AEAE-tuned instrument, chord and harmony-wise? Does E work out pretty well? Others?

[JGWoods]

I thought there was only two keys- A and D, there's more?

[Brent Hutto]

I dunno. I saw a jazz guy playing in E-minor one time. Thought about asking how he did it but then I told myself "Man, that's just crazy talk. Best stick to them real tunes in A and D".

[BlueMt.]

I prefer GDGD but my favorite is GDAD. Have capo will travel.

[Jeff Budz]

I don't believe in AEAE or ADAE, having never tried it, I can honestly say it has nothing to offer. //joke

I'll have to give it a shot and see what I come up with. A jazz guitar professor told me many years ago about alternate tunings: "The point of guitar is to make the regular tuning sound all ****ed up". I still stick with that mentality, but am at least willing to experiment these days.

Glad you are enjoying the TC, Brent.

[Brent Hutto]

Some kinda!