More Natural-Sounding Tunings with Offsets

[bleujazz3]

Just thought to post this informative video from Cooper Carter regards sweetened tunings. Within your FAS device (Axe III, FM9, or FM3) are tuning offsets made possible within your SetUp feature.

Plz view the last section of CC's video to learn about sweetened tunings.

FTR, this does make my guitar sound much more natural with these tuning offsets. Try them for yourself, and see if it does sound better to you...

 

[scottp]

Hmmm, I missed this one.
Going to check out the sweetened tunings for grins.

 

[bleujazz3]

Hmmm, I missed this one.
Going to check out the sweetened tunings for grins.

They're pretty good, but the G3 seemed a bit sharp for .010 gauge strings. Modified it to -0.17 cents, and it seemed better. YMMV slightly.

 

[bdrepko]

Here is a question. If I use sweetened tunings in my band, does the other guitarist and bassist need to use them as well? Will it sound off if they dont?

 

[Greg Ferguson]

Here is a question. If I use sweetened tunings in my band, does the other guitarist and bassist need to use them as well? Will it sound off if they dont?

Yes. A sweetened tuning will make you out of tune with any other instrument that doesn’t use it.

BTW, James Taylor uses a variation of a sweetened tuning that is part of the great sound he gets from his guitar.



https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/are-we-all-tuning-our-guitars-wrong talks about it further.

 

[Bakerman]

Here is a question. If I use sweetened tunings in my band, does the other guitarist and bassist need to use them as well? Will it sound off if they dont?

Maybe not enough to worry about it. I lined up normal tuning & Taylor offset clips from the Paul Davids video in that GW article. Sounds fine to me.



Note: The normal clip is detuned 5 cents to be closer to the average pitch of the Taylor offsets. You might want to watch out for that if using offsets when the rest of a band tunes normally. Offset in a way that averages around 0 cents instead of tuning every string down.

 

[bleujazz3]

Here is a question. If I use sweetened tunings in my band, does the other guitarist and bassist need to use them as well? Will it sound off if they dont?

To a slight degree. You can use your ears to edit the cents edits that CC suggests so it works better for your band. I'll post my SS of what I use for my PRS McCarty below. Your guitar may be similarly "Buzz-Feitened" but might require a slightly separate offset tuning.

EDIT: It was the G string that my offset was modified, to 0.17 cents flat.

Maybe not enough to worry about it. I lined up normal tuning & Taylor offset clips from the Paul Davids video in that GW article. Sounds fine to me.



Note: The normal clip is detuned 5 cents to be closer to the average pitch of the Taylor offsets. You might want to watch out for that if using offsets when the rest of a band tunes normally. Offset in a way that averages around 0 cents instead of tuning every string down.

Thx for this. Here's what I used for my PRS McC stoptail:

 

[bleujazz3]

Yes. A sweetened tuning will make you out of tune with any other instrument that doesn’t use it.

BTW, James Taylor uses a variation of a sweetened tuning that is part of the great sound he gets from his guitar.



https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/are-we-all-tuning-our-guitars-wrong talks about it further.

Greg,

Thanks for this as well. It may be that the acoustic string gauge James uses that affects the offset cents values. It was surprising to view how much offset James was actually employing with his guitar, much more so than what CC mentioned in his video.

 

[bleujazz3]

It is necessary to compare your revised tuning olfsets played against some backing tracks or music to compare where you might need to adjust the cents offset of each string. This was how I was able to check my tunings against a regular band's and compare where my tuning might need adjustment.