Course Content
Lesson 7: Tuning to Play with Others
6:12
However, when it comes time to playing with other people, that's when we all need to be in the same place.
So that's where tools like tuners can come into play.
You don't need batteries to tune your instrument.
You just need to pick one pitch and make the other ones match.
At the 4th fret on the bass string, at the 3rd fret in the middle string, or make the middle of melody match each other.
You don't need batteries for that.
But if you want to play with other people, it'll help a lot if you're in the same place.
Sometime in the late 19 eighties, people decided to to kind of standardize and choose D as our focus.
It's not the only way.
I sometimes tell people that before that time, dinosaurs and dulcimers roamed the land as free range critters, and they tuned to whatever tuning they wanted, whatever pitches they wanted.
But when they wanted to play together, it made sense to pick some old time keys.
And a lot of old time music is in d, g, and a.
When we tune to d, all of a sudden we're right there.
It makes it easy to play in the other 2 as well.
So how are we going to find out what is a d?
Well, if you have a piano, hit your d.
The d that's below middle c, that'll be that pitch right there.
And then go up to the twinkle twinkle which is an a that'll be that middle pitch.
If you're gonna stay in that tuning the melody string will match that.
Or if you're gonna go to 158 tuning, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle.
You want your melody string to be the D that's just above middle C.
So that's if you have a piano.
What if you don't have a piano?
Do you have a guitar?
This D is going to be the same string as the middle D string on the guitar.
Don't have a guitar?
Have a tuning pitch to a pitch pipe?
A d.
It doesn't matter which octave it's going to be in.
You can make it match the name.
Another thing that's happened in this modern world let me let me actually do this.
Our people have created tuners.
There are clip on tuners.
There are tuners that lay on your instrument.
There are tuners that are apps for your phone.
So this one is called Istrugglesoft, and now if I want to play with other people in d, I'm trying to get all these all to stay still.
And now they are.
So we're in D.
But let's use our tuner to see what the other instruments ended up being.
Let's come over here.
I told you this one was pitched a little higher.
Do you remember what pitch I said it was?
G.
It's still a 158.
Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle.
Same still relationship.
The twinkle twinkle little star is what the bass and the middle string are most likely going to be.
So this one's in G.
That's where it likes to be played.
It can't tune down to D, which is where it was when I started.
Let's see where this one is.
Oh, it's in D sharp.
A little sharp D sharp.
Now I can lower it all to d.
I have my instrument in D, so I can play with that instrument and use the same music.
Now, this one only has got 2 strings right now because that one broke, but let's see where it ended up.
E.
So that's where it likes it, but it can go to d.
So all of these have the range.
These are standard dulcimers.
They all have the range of being able to play in d, as well as the keys that they prefer.
Well, that's our quick primer on tuning your instrument without batteries and using a tool.
There are other tools that you can see tuners that have little they either have a dial or they have a meter that shows one way or the other, and whenever it turns the right color, whenever the thing the needle is sticking straight up, you're on target.
But make sure you don't trust that stuff too much because sometimes your ear will have to fix what the tuner got you close to.
My dad was someone who liked to play golf, and he always said that the the main rule was to get close within 6 feet of the pin when you're when you're hitting your ball to get onto the green.
Once you get on the green, then you gotta be able to putt.
And if you can get within 6 feet, probably not gonna be a hard putt.
Well, use your ear to get you close, and then use your tuner to fine tune it, and you'll find that your skills are improving faster than you ever thought possible.
Have fun, because the most important thing to do is play music.
When it comes time to play with other people, we all need to be tuned to the same pitch. The common tunings are D-A-d and D-A-A. You can tune using a piano, a guitar, a pitch pipe, or an electronic tuner.
0 comments
Leave a comment
Please log in or register to post a comment