In his post on bridge positions for the 'zouk, Guensey Pete mentions checking tuning with an electronic tuner. With no disrespect to you, GP, or anyone else...
Why do people use electronic tuners? I've always taken the view that we should use our ears...otherwise, we (at best) don't develop the skill of careful listening or even (at worst) lose it altogether.
I confess that I'm over-reliant on electronic tuners, but I do try to have a go at tuning my fiddle by ear. It would be great to be able to do it easily and accurately, and I'm full of admiration for people who do it so effortlessly. and with such panache. So I'm working on it. But with a fretted instrument, especially a mandolin with strings in pairs, it's very difficult to get it right in a crowded noisy session and I make a lot of use of a cheap clip-on transducer plugged into a tuner. You might need to check the instrument on different frets and get to something of a compromise - fret wear, action height etc means you don't just tune the open strings.
Whilst agreeing with you that it's best to develop the skill but sometimes it's just easier to use a tuner (being in a noisy environment etc where it's hard to hear what you're tuning to or tuning quietly so that you don't distrub others). Also it can speed up the tuning process (something that as an audience member I'm all in favour of). Finally, for those of us who don't have perfect pitch it's a darn sight easier to the "standard" than to do it by ear on your own. I find it easier to tune the strings to each other than to tune with a different (non string instrument).
I play the harp and I often use an electronic tuner. It makes tuning faster, after all I have 27 strings zu tune.
And I found that it can take some time to train your ears. Many beginers won´t be able to tell if a string should sound a little bit higher of lower. A tuner makes sure people get used to the sound of a correctly tuned instrument. And after awhile you can tune without electroic help.
I normally tune by ear. But I do have an electronic tuner which I tend to use when we play in noisy pubs, of course provided that we all tune to A=440, not to someone's instrument.
Electronic tuners, specifically the clip on to the instrument type (that aren't affected by the din in the pub), have been a great benefit to our session. Those who have them use them, and then every one else tunes to those people. They are especially handy for our zouk player who has lots of strings to get into line. Tuning becomes a much quicker and more precise effort, and we can get to playing faster. And the overall sound has improved, as not everyone has the ability to get the tuning spot on by ear. We have one young man who wants to study music in university, and uses a pitch pipe or other people, which is great--it is part of training his ear.
Myself, I can hear when tuning is off, but when it gets close, I sometimes get mixed up whether it is off in the sharp direction or the flat direction, turn the key the wrong way, and then have to go back and start over. The noise around me can throw my ear off. And often on a guitar, the pitch on the different frets is sometimes not quite correct, so errors can creep in as you tune string to string, So having a tuner helps me tremendously.
I have no problems with people tuning by ear, but am bemused when people who tune by ear have problems with the electronic aids. Should we all eat with flint knives and cook on fires because that is the way man was intended to eat? Should I ignore my calculator on my desk and do my division longhand? If I was walking into a strange session, I would of course tune to them, but if I am tuning to standard pitch I will use my gadget.
I don't agree Shadia.Not a few muscians of my acquaintance are totally reliant on electronic tuners now.It's not so bad if everybody uses the same tuner at a session but what often happens is that everyone tunes to their own tuner and they're not always calibrated properly.Then a box player walks in and we have to start again.I started out on guitar and the first thing you had to do was learn to tune your instrument by ear with a tuning fork or pitch pipes,but people seem to skip this nowadays.You don't need perfect pitch.What happens if you forget to take it to a gig?I once had to tune the guitar of a young singer who was supporting me and she was in tears because she was due to go on and she'd forgotten her gizmo.She was amazed that I didn't need one.In my day we were amazed if someone couldn't tune their instrument by ear.I think they're only useful for a quick quiet tuning check onstage,but of course we managed for years without them.
Alister, I see you are a flute player. My experience of those in sessions is that they often take a little while to "warm up" and thus may not be always at concert pitch. Often accordians are slightly off pitch too.
I can see the argument for "tuning to each other" but we still need a reference note. Usually, this would be from a "box" instrument or similar.
However, if the instruments are all tuneable, I don't see any problem in playing at concert pitch. These tuners, if working correctly, are very accurate. A lot of people can't use them properly, mind you.
In any case, I generally just use one to "get into tune" or when I realise something has obviously gone wrong. All the minor tweaks, I can and usually do "by ear".
Anyway, as for training your ears. Your ears might well know what perfect pitch should sound like. They might not be as good at determining what a slightly "off pitch" note should be or how to get back to it quickly should they go even more out of tune. It's much easier to return to concert pitch, as we know what that is(tuner or not).
Younger musicians seem to regard them as a magic passport to being perfectly in tune.I've seen people farting about with them for fifteen minutes and still ending up souding awful,but they're in tune because,hey they've used a tuner.
You are probably correct about cheaper tuners, Dafydd. Certainly, I find that you can tune to a much greater accuracy with the newer and more sophisticated tuners compared to a very early one I used to use.
There's also intonation issues with fretted instruments and I find that it's often necessary to "fine tune" further by ear to compensate for this.
Of course it's OK to use something to tune up to - tuning fork, tuners, arbitary 'A' or whatever - but one problem comes when some people retune during the session to that A (via tuners) and others don't.
It's an intriguing related issue - I've never been in a session where people stop part way through and say "OK, now we've warmed up, let's retune" or even "Hey - we haven't tuned for teh last hour - anyone got an "A"?" Do any of you do that?
Even more interesting is the notion that we should all play slightly bright - because sharpening the pitch sharpens the sound.
I worry that these intersting notions get lost in teh pursuit of the 'right' pitch.
If we are sounding "off" we sometimes pause to retune--but it is usually only to correct an egregious problem--a flute that has warmed up after a cold car ride, or a peg that has slipped, etc.
And I totally agree that some people abuse tuners--don't use them correctly, don't learn to tune the old fashioned way before they begin using the labor saving device, aren't sensitive to the tuning of those around them, etc.
I don't myself buy the argument that everyone should tune up slightly to sound "bright." If one instrument among others is slightly sharp, it stands out, but if everyone tunes slightly sharp to the same degree, the "sharpness" is lost in the crowd. I know some folks play a half tone sharper than most, in Eflat, but I don't think it necessarily improves their sound.
I played for over forty years using just a tuning fork and my ears. I’ve now been using an Intellitouch tuner for about four years and I’m very happy with it. I use it for guitar and fiddle and it’s extremely accurate. I still do all the double and triple checks, but the tuner saves me a minute and that’s a minute I can be playing instead of tuning. In a noisy situation, it’s a lifesaver. Of course, if I have to tune to an obstinate instrument that can’t adjust, I rely on the ears entirely. Sometimes, I forgo the tuner just to keep my ears in practice. I would encourage any student to get very good at tuning by ear before using a tuner. It’s a convenience, not a crutch.
I use another tuner that has a meter when I set the intonation on an instrument (usually guitar). It beats the ear everytime, because you can’t listen to the fretted note and the harmonic note at the same time and the human ear can’t reliably detect a five cent difference between two successive pitches. But the tuner gives me the pitch right there on the meter and I can match the pitches very accurately.
Well, I do seem to have sparked a discussion while I was off-line.
Personally, I use one because I'm not perfect, and in any noisy environment it's a boon. Mine is both highly recommended by others, AND has the facility to be tuned to another pitch itself, so if you know what you're going to be playing with you can compensate. Yes, of course you do the other checks as well - the harmonics, the octaves, full chords in the key you're playing in.
The biggest curse is the person who hasn't tuned to any particular pitch and expects you to play along with them at a moments notice, like our local club organiser did to me and Rob the other week - several people in the audience were highly amused by the two of us furiously tuning to this off-pitch guitar on-stage, as he played on oblivious.
Martin Simpson pointed out that he never uses one in his normal solo work, prefers the ears, and I quite agree, but he conceeded their use in group and noisy situations.
Now that I've got one, I realise that I need to go back to all my old electric instruments and re-compensate - I was never very happy with the final set-ups, now maybe I'll get it right.
It occurs to me that I was talking about the initial setting-up of an instrument, particularly, in my post that sparked this all off, and I do know a couple of good luthiers who use every piece of help available, including electronics, in the same circumstances, to make sure the set-up of each instrument is as precise as possible.
What one chooses to do at the beginning, and during the general proceedings, of a session is of course up to the individual. I was relieved to read that most posts seemed to agree that tuners had improved things in a session, by and large and on the whole, all things being equal, if that's all right with everyone else. Phew !
How much can you trust electronic tuners anyway? Play a 'b' (not sure if that should be 'b' or 'B' havn't mastered abc yet - still working on the fiddle!) anyway ... play a first finger 'b' on the 'a' string and get it in tune with your open 'e' string. Then see how out of tune that first finger 'b' is when you play it with the open 'd'. Am I dredging up old worms?
Well, five, if you are talking about on a fretted instrument, it all depends how accurately it was fretted, how well the bridge is compensated for the string guages you are using, etc.... Nothing to do with the accuracy of the tuner.
If you are talikg about a fiddle, the whole thing is a moveable feast, even down to how hard you lean on the bow, I believe. We are dependant on the skills of the fiddle-players to stay on pitch, once they have tuned their fiddles.
Then you have the problem of the perfect ( to the human ear ) intervals versus the well-tempered instrument. cf "The Node of Pythagoras". Try a bit of googling on perfect pitch and the even temprament and see the morass you can get into. Are you aware, for instance, that John Harrison, who designed and built the first chronometers, was also interested in this aspect of music, and trained his local church choir to sing in different intervals ?
These are very old worms indeed. But I still like an instrument, mine and those I am playing with, to be "in tune", for the maximum possible pleasure of all those involved.
Good tuners are now cheap £20 ish; the reason for using them is obvious to any one with a brain cell.
At sessions we play TOGETHER (hopefully most of the time) this means we have to be in tune with each other. The vast majority of instruments use a 440Hz A as a standard and any one that comes to a session unable tune to concert pitch is taking the p*ss.
You made that up didn't you Luddite.
Conan, perhaps you have not come across modern tuners which are quit small and light making it possible to pass round the room so that everyone can use the same one, or hasn't that occurred to you?
One guy who comes to our session, with a Mandola, used to find it a total nightmare trying to tune the thing up in our really noisy session pub.
He recently bought one of those clip on tuners & his whole session experience has changed, for the better!
I use one myself, unless I'm playing with Pipes in B-ish or C#-ish or F-ish then, I'll go back to only using my ears.
But hey, here's a thought, I spent 25 years using my ears so perhaps folks should learn to tune by ear first, before simply relying on an electronic gadget?
My fiddle tends to keep at pitch (once new strings have settled in) and I always tune to an A440 tuning fork at home. What I'm finding I do more of at sessions is to wait until most people have got some sort of tuning right with their electronic gizmos and then I'll do a quick check with my tuning against the general tuning of the session, making any adjustments that may be necessary. I got this idea from my orchestral playing.
Sheer laziness, I suppose
I have one and I use it...as a reference point. Its all very well tuning to a fork....it its not noisy and if the fork is perfect. With the likes of a fiddle being out of tune is important and somewhat mindbending.
I once went and listened to a small regional orchestra with a friend, we could both hear one violin being played out of tune, not by much but enough to tug on the proverbial chesthairs. I am also not averse to using fine tuners, a small knock, change in temperature, accidental plucked string, knocked peg and a thousand other things can knock you ever so slightly out of tune. If you dont have time or skill to mess around making sure soundpegs are perfect and everything is just so, then its no point making everyone suffer over perceived elitism.
Joze, I agree. Although I use synthetic core strings such as Obligatos which can be tuned perfectly well from the pegs like gut can, I still do the fine tuning using micrometer tailpiece for exactly the reasons you give.
I remember we once had a chamber orchestra leader who drove everyone mad when she tried to get her A in tune with a tuning fork using the peg. The string would be either flat or sharp, but never spot on. A micrometer adjuster alongside the E adjuster would have solved the problem perfectly.
Actually, the problem doesn't exist to any particular extent with the G and D when tuning from the pegs - with sythetic core or gut of course.
Electronic Tuning
Electronic Tuning
In his post on bridge positions for the 'zouk, Guensey Pete mentions checking tuning with an electronic tuner. With no disrespect to you, GP, or anyone else...
Why do people use electronic tuners? I've always taken the view that we should use our ears...otherwise, we (at best) don't develop the skill of careful listening or even (at worst) lose it altogether.
Do you agree - or am I barking?
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Alister
Re: Electronic Tuning
I confess that I'm over-reliant on electronic tuners, but I do try to have a go at tuning my fiddle by ear. It would be great to be able to do it easily and accurately, and I'm full of admiration for people who do it so effortlessly. and with such panache. So I'm working on it. But with a fretted instrument, especially a mandolin with strings in pairs, it's very difficult to get it right in a crowded noisy session and I make a lot of use of a cheap clip-on transducer plugged into a tuner. You might need to check the instrument on different frets and get to something of a compromise - fret wear, action height etc means you don't just tune the open strings.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by RichardB
Re: Electronic Tuning
Whilst agreeing with you that it's best to develop the skill but sometimes it's just easier to use a tuner (being in a noisy environment etc where it's hard to hear what you're tuning to or tuning quietly so that you don't distrub others). Also it can speed up the tuning process (something that as an audience member I'm all in favour of). Finally, for those of us who don't have perfect pitch it's a darn sight easier to the "standard" than to do it by ear on your own. I find it easier to tune the strings to each other than to tune with a different (non string instrument).
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Compo
Re: Electronic Tuning
Mmm. The trouble is, though, if you use a tuner, you tune to, er, the tuner - not to those around you.
And also, I'd contend, you don't need perfect pitch (most people don't have it) - just a good ear.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Alister
Re: Electronic Tuning
I´m new here, so hello to everyone!
I play the harp and I often use an electronic tuner. It makes tuning faster, after all I have 27 strings zu tune.
And I found that it can take some time to train your ears. Many beginers won´t be able to tell if a string should sound a little bit higher of lower. A tuner makes sure people get used to the sound of a correctly tuned instrument. And after awhile you can tune without electroic help.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Shadia
Re: Electronic Tuning
Hi Shadia, welcome!
I normally tune by ear. But I do have an electronic tuner which I tend to use when we play in noisy pubs, of course provided that we all tune to A=440, not to someone's instrument.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Janek
Re: Electronic Tuning
Electronic tuners, specifically the clip on to the instrument type (that aren't affected by the din in the pub), have been a great benefit to our session. Those who have them use them, and then every one else tunes to those people. They are especially handy for our zouk player who has lots of strings to get into line. Tuning becomes a much quicker and more precise effort, and we can get to playing faster. And the overall sound has improved, as not everyone has the ability to get the tuning spot on by ear. We have one young man who wants to study music in university, and uses a pitch pipe or other people, which is great--it is part of training his ear.
Myself, I can hear when tuning is off, but when it gets close, I sometimes get mixed up whether it is off in the sharp direction or the flat direction, turn the key the wrong way, and then have to go back and start over. The noise around me can throw my ear off. And often on a guitar, the pitch on the different frets is sometimes not quite correct, so errors can creep in as you tune string to string, So having a tuner helps me tremendously.
I have no problems with people tuning by ear, but am bemused when people who tune by ear have problems with the electronic aids. Should we all eat with flint knives and cook on fires because that is the way man was intended to eat? Should I ignore my calculator on my desk and do my division longhand? If I was walking into a strange session, I would of course tune to them, but if I am tuning to standard pitch I will use my gadget.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by AlBrown
Re: Electronic Tuning
I don't agree Shadia.Not a few muscians of my acquaintance are totally reliant on electronic tuners now.It's not so bad if everybody uses the same tuner at a session but what often happens is that everyone tunes to their own tuner and they're not always calibrated properly.Then a box player walks in and we have to start again.I started out on guitar and the first thing you had to do was learn to tune your instrument by ear with a tuning fork or pitch pipes,but people seem to skip this nowadays.You don't need perfect pitch.What happens if you forget to take it to a gig?I once had to tune the guitar of a young singer who was supporting me and she was in tears because she was due to go on and she'd forgotten her gizmo.She was amazed that I didn't need one.In my day we were amazed if someone couldn't tune their instrument by ear.I think they're only useful for a quick quiet tuning check onstage,but of course we managed for years without them.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by dafydd
Re: Electronic Tuning
And some of the cheaper tuners are only accurate to 25 cent so you can be a quarter of a tone flat.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by dafydd
Re: Electronic Tuning
Alister, I see you are a flute player. My experience of those in sessions is that they often take a little while to "warm up" and thus may not be always at concert pitch. Often accordians are slightly off pitch too.
I can see the argument for "tuning to each other" but we still need a reference note. Usually, this would be from a "box" instrument or similar.
However, if the instruments are all tuneable, I don't see any problem in playing at concert pitch. These tuners, if working correctly, are very accurate. A lot of people can't use them properly, mind you.
In any case, I generally just use one to "get into tune" or when I realise something has obviously gone wrong. All the minor tweaks, I can and usually do "by ear".
Anyway, as for training your ears. Your ears might well know what perfect pitch should sound like. They might not be as good at determining what a slightly "off pitch" note should be or how to get back to it quickly should they go even more out of tune. It's much easier to return to concert pitch, as we know what that is(tuner or not).
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Johnny Jay
Re: Electronic Tuning
"A lot of people can't use them properly"
You've hit the nail smack on the head there John.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by dafydd
Re: Electronic Tuning
Younger musicians seem to regard them as a magic passport to being perfectly in tune.I've seen people farting about with them for fifteen minutes and still ending up souding awful,but they're in tune because,hey they've used a tuner.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by dafydd
Re: Electronic Tuning
You are probably correct about cheaper tuners, Dafydd. Certainly, I find that you can tune to a much greater accuracy with the newer and more sophisticated tuners compared to a very early one I used to use.
There's also intonation issues with fretted instruments and I find that it's often necessary to "fine tune" further by ear to compensate for this.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Johnny Jay
Re: Electronic Tuning
Of course it's OK to use something to tune up to - tuning fork, tuners, arbitary 'A' or whatever - but one problem comes when some people retune during the session to that A (via tuners) and others don't.
It's an intriguing related issue - I've never been in a session where people stop part way through and say "OK, now we've warmed up, let's retune" or even "Hey - we haven't tuned for teh last hour - anyone got an "A"?" Do any of you do that?
Even more interesting is the notion that we should all play slightly bright - because sharpening the pitch sharpens the sound.
I worry that these intersting notions get lost in teh pursuit of the 'right' pitch.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Alister
Re: Electronic Tuning
If we are sounding "off" we sometimes pause to retune--but it is usually only to correct an egregious problem--a flute that has warmed up after a cold car ride, or a peg that has slipped, etc.
And I totally agree that some people abuse tuners--don't use them correctly, don't learn to tune the old fashioned way before they begin using the labor saving device, aren't sensitive to the tuning of those around them, etc.
I don't myself buy the argument that everyone should tune up slightly to sound "bright." If one instrument among others is slightly sharp, it stands out, but if everyone tunes slightly sharp to the same degree, the "sharpness" is lost in the crowd. I know some folks play a half tone sharper than most, in Eflat, but I don't think it necessarily improves their sound.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by AlBrown
Re: Electronic Tuning
I played for over forty years using just a tuning fork and my ears. I’ve now been using an Intellitouch tuner for about four years and I’m very happy with it. I use it for guitar and fiddle and it’s extremely accurate. I still do all the double and triple checks, but the tuner saves me a minute and that’s a minute I can be playing instead of tuning. In a noisy situation, it’s a lifesaver. Of course, if I have to tune to an obstinate instrument that can’t adjust, I rely on the ears entirely. Sometimes, I forgo the tuner just to keep my ears in practice. I would encourage any student to get very good at tuning by ear before using a tuner. It’s a convenience, not a crutch.
I use another tuner that has a meter when I set the intonation on an instrument (usually guitar). It beats the ear everytime, because you can’t listen to the fretted note and the harmonic note at the same time and the human ear can’t reliably detect a five cent difference between two successive pitches. But the tuner gives me the pitch right there on the meter and I can match the pitches very accurately.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Bob himself
Re: Electronic Tuning
Well, I do seem to have sparked a discussion while I was off-line.
Personally, I use one because I'm not perfect, and in any noisy environment it's a boon. Mine is both highly recommended by others, AND has the facility to be tuned to another pitch itself, so if you know what you're going to be playing with you can compensate. Yes, of course you do the other checks as well - the harmonics, the octaves, full chords in the key you're playing in.
The biggest curse is the person who hasn't tuned to any particular pitch and expects you to play along with them at a moments notice, like our local club organiser did to me and Rob the other week - several people in the audience were highly amused by the two of us furiously tuning to this off-pitch guitar on-stage, as he played on oblivious.
Martin Simpson pointed out that he never uses one in his normal solo work, prefers the ears, and I quite agree, but he conceeded their use in group and noisy situations.
Now that I've got one, I realise that I need to go back to all my old electric instruments and re-compensate - I was never very happy with the final set-ups, now maybe I'll get it right.
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Electronic Tuning
It occurs to me that I was talking about the initial setting-up of an instrument, particularly, in my post that sparked this all off, and I do know a couple of good luthiers who use every piece of help available, including electronics, in the same circumstances, to make sure the set-up of each instrument is as precise as possible.
What one chooses to do at the beginning, and during the general proceedings, of a session is of course up to the individual. I was relieved to read that most posts seemed to agree that tuners had improved things in a session, by and large and on the whole, all things being equal, if that's all right with everyone else. Phew !
# Posted on February 10th 2006 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Electronic Tuning
How much can you trust electronic tuners anyway? Play a 'b' (not sure if that should be 'b' or 'B' havn't mastered abc yet - still working on the fiddle!) anyway ... play a first finger 'b' on the 'a' string and get it in tune with your open 'e' string. Then see how out of tune that first finger 'b' is when you play it with the open 'd'. Am I dredging up old worms?
# Posted on February 11th 2006 by five
Re: Electronic Tuning
Well, five, if you are talking about on a fretted instrument, it all depends how accurately it was fretted, how well the bridge is compensated for the string guages you are using, etc.... Nothing to do with the accuracy of the tuner.
If you are talikg about a fiddle, the whole thing is a moveable feast, even down to how hard you lean on the bow, I believe. We are dependant on the skills of the fiddle-players to stay on pitch, once they have tuned their fiddles.
Then you have the problem of the perfect ( to the human ear ) intervals versus the well-tempered instrument. cf "The Node of Pythagoras". Try a bit of googling on perfect pitch and the even temprament and see the morass you can get into. Are you aware, for instance, that John Harrison, who designed and built the first chronometers, was also interested in this aspect of music, and trained his local church choir to sing in different intervals ?
These are very old worms indeed. But I still like an instrument, mine and those I am playing with, to be "in tune", for the maximum possible pleasure of all those involved.
# Posted on February 12th 2006 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Electronic Tuning
Use the tuner, people think their ears are good/well trained enough & they aint.
# Posted on February 12th 2006 by Leftheris
Re: Electronic Tuning
Good tuners are now cheap £20 ish; the reason for using them is obvious to any one with a brain cell.
At sessions we play TOGETHER (hopefully most of the time) this means we have to be in tune with each other. The vast majority of instruments use a 440Hz A as a standard and any one that comes to a session unable tune to concert pitch is taking the p*ss.
PP
# Posted on February 13th 2006 by Pied Piper
Re: Electronic Tuning
Tuners at sessions are realistically only useful if everyone is tuned correctly using a tuner or otherwise; it only takes one...
# Posted on February 13th 2006 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Electronic Tuning
You made that up didn't you Luddite.
Conan, perhaps you have not come across modern tuners which are quit small and light making it possible to pass round the room so that everyone can use the same one, or hasn't that occurred to you?
PP
# Posted on February 13th 2006 by Pied Piper
Re: Electronic Tuning
One guy who comes to our session, with a Mandola, used to find it a total nightmare trying to tune the thing up in our really noisy session pub.
He recently bought one of those clip on tuners & his whole session experience has changed, for the better!
I use one myself, unless I'm playing with Pipes in B-ish or C#-ish or F-ish then, I'll go back to only using my ears.
But hey, here's a thought, I spent 25 years using my ears so perhaps folks should learn to tune by ear first, before simply relying on an electronic gadget?
# Posted on February 13th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Electronic Tuning
My fiddle tends to keep at pitch (once new strings have settled in) and I always tune to an A440 tuning fork at home. What I'm finding I do more of at sessions is to wait until most people have got some sort of tuning right with their electronic gizmos and then I'll do a quick check with my tuning against the general tuning of the session, making any adjustments that may be necessary. I got this idea from my orchestral playing.
Sheer laziness, I suppose
# Posted on April 8th 2006 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Electronic Tuning
I have one and I use it...as a reference point. Its all very well tuning to a fork....it its not noisy and if the fork is perfect. With the likes of a fiddle being out of tune is important and somewhat mindbending.
I once went and listened to a small regional orchestra with a friend, we could both hear one violin being played out of tune, not by much but enough to tug on the proverbial chesthairs. I am also not averse to using fine tuners, a small knock, change in temperature, accidental plucked string, knocked peg and a thousand other things can knock you ever so slightly out of tune. If you dont have time or skill to mess around making sure soundpegs are perfect and everything is just so, then its no point making everyone suffer over perceived elitism.
# Posted on April 9th 2006 by Joze
Re: Electronic Tuning
Joze, I agree. Although I use synthetic core strings such as Obligatos which can be tuned perfectly well from the pegs like gut can, I still do the fine tuning using micrometer tailpiece for exactly the reasons you give.
I remember we once had a chamber orchestra leader who drove everyone mad when she tried to get her A in tune with a tuning fork using the peg. The string would be either flat or sharp, but never spot on. A micrometer adjuster alongside the E adjuster would have solved the problem perfectly.
Actually, the problem doesn't exist to any particular extent with the G and D when tuning from the pegs - with sythetic core or gut of course.
# Posted on April 9th 2006 by Trevor Jennings