Stevensi - Posted - 11/03/2012:  04:38:01

Hi guys,

I am very new to all this so forgive me if this is obvious, or even wrong.

I am using some tools on my Android phone that seem really useful, so thought I would share and get feedback on what others think or use.

For tuning I have something called 'gStrings', which seems to work pretty well; my teacher said my Banjo was in tune when I went last week, although he drops 4 to C as opposed to the D I had it tuned to.

I also have a simple metronome called 'Metronome Beats' which I am using to try and get my timing right. It allows for different timings, adjusting the speed, and adding emphasis to the first beat.

I also use the Voice Recorder my phone came with to record my practice, not all the time but it does help to sometimes hear what you really sound like.

So all in all, my phone is proving really useful in helping with my Banjo playing, and all for FREE.

Let me know if you use anything like this, or even if you think these new fangled things should be taken out in the yard and burned.

Cheers

Ian

jcland - Posted - 11/03/2012:  06:50:00

I also have gStrings installed on my Android and it beats any tuner I have used in the past 40 years of playing. Why can't Snark, Krog, Intellitouch, Peter, Boss and other manufactures make something this accurate and best of all it is FREE.

Granted I can't clip my smartphone on my Banjo or Guitar head stock yet.

Dan-Ban - Posted - 11/03/2012:  06:50:20

Thanks for the freebie tips. It's always good to hear about usuable apps. Good idea to record oneself. I've started doing that on my phone too.
Dropping the 4th string to a C is an interesting move for BG. G modal, or Sawmill as it's also known, is more of an Old time/ Clawhammer tuning. Did your teacher say why? I'd like to hear g modal Bluegrass. Keep having fun :)

BDCA - Posted - 11/03/2012:  08:49:16

quote:

---

Originally posted by jcland

I also have gStrings installed on my Android and it beats any tuner I have used in the past 40 years of playing. Why can't Snark, Krog, Intellitouch, Peter, Boss and other manufactures make something this accurate and best of all it is FREE.

Granted I can't clip my smartphone on my Banjo or Guitar head stock yet.

---

The software may be free or inexpensive but then they's have to charge you $500 for the hardware!!

Cya!

Bob

Fathand - Posted - 11/03/2012:  09:08:21

Dropping the 4th string to C used to be the Standard 5 string Banjo Tuning and later called C Tuning, most people today call it Drop C Tuning,  gCGBD.  In bluegrass it is probably most well known in Earl Scruggs' "Home Sweet Home" but was also used in his "Toy Heart" and "Polka on the Banjo".  I am not sure what style of music you are interested in playing but in bluegrass, the current standard tuning is G Tuning, gDGBD. If you are interested in playing bluegrass find out why your teacher is giving you C tuning. Are they teaching out of some old book? G tuning also works well for a lot of clawhammer tunes. 

G Modal Tuning is accomplished by raising the 2nd string to C, gDGCD

Dan-Ban - Posted - 11/03/2012:  10:02:12

Thanks Fathand for the explanation & making me realize I'd got my strings mixed up; oops. Couldn't understand the use of a CH tuning for BG. Now I understand: it's not a CH tuning but a classic BG tuning. You always learn something on the BHO :-)

Stevensi - Posted - 11/03/2012:  13:27:21

I think my teacher is teaching me old style; he is really a Guitar teacher who also teaches Banjo. At the moment I just need someone to teach me some basics, like getting some timing and rhythm right.



I think there are much better teachers of Bluegrass but that can wait. Things like chord changes are my issues right now.



I must admit I don't care for the C tuning; it somehow doesn't sound right but it does match some of the tunes I am learning, and doesn't matter on some of the other stuff I am practicing.



Of course, with the gStrings tool, I can retune fairly easily. So when I need to I simply retune the 4th to C or D, depending what I am doing at that moment.

Edited by - Stevensi on 11/03/2012 13:28:27

ellabrow - Posted - 11/03/2012:  17:33:42

Nice share, use the same three on my android as well!

Thanks,

Elliot

Aradobanjo - Posted - 11/07/2012:  16:45:06

Hello,

You forgot Earl did Farewell Blues is in C tuning with Mercury. Darling Corey was in D tuning. Many more ways to play a song that G.

If only the 5th string... Then again the other turnings allowed the 5th string to remain the same or sharpened enough without breaking the string.

John
Aradobanjo

Dave Magram - Posted - 11/22/2012:  10:37:32

quote:

Originally posted by Aradobanjo



Hello, You forgot Earl did Farewell Blues is in C tuning with Mercury. Darling Corey was in D tuning. Many more ways to play a song that G. If only the 5th string... Then again the other turnings allowed the 5th string to remain the same or sharpened enough without breaking the string. John Aradobanjo

Right on with "Farewell Blues", John. A great tune!

Just to set the record straight (no pun intended), the slow Flatt & Scruggs song in D-tuning (with all of the pretty harmonics backup) was titled “Cora Is Gone”, recorded on Mercury in 1950.

Earl used the “dropped C tuning” (gCGBD) on the bluesy, uptempo “Darling Corey”, recorded by F&S in 1962 on the F&S- At Carnegie Hall Columbia album. “Darling Corey” was mis-titled on that album as “Dig A Hole in the Meadow” (probably by the same person at Columbia who also mis-titled “Wild Horses at Stony Point” as “Fiddle & Banjo” on the same album).

Bill Monroe recorded the same song with it’s correct title, “Darling Corey”--first with his brother Charlie in 1936, and then again with the Blue Grass Boys on Decca in 1962.

For more info on “Darling Corey” (or "Darling Cory") , see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlin%27_Cory

I always said that Darling Corey, with  "a .45 strapped around her shoulder and a banjo on her knee" and making moonshine, was my kind of gal!  Who knew that she would someday have a whole Wikipedia page about her?

- Dave

Edited by - Dave Magram on 11/22/2012 10:48:15