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Post by sarge on Feb 21, 2016 15:35:06 GMT -5
Way back in the mid 60s I was in a rock and roll band. No electronic tuners back then I don't think and if there were, none of us could've afforded one. Some of you old timers may know this, but back then when you needed to tune up your guitar you could pick up the phone and listen to the dial tone. The dial tone was A, so you'd listen to that dial tone and tune the A string to that then you could tune the rest of the strings. Our rhythm guitar player would always then fine tune his by playing a chord and tuning it to what he thought sounded right when playing the chord. Anyone else ever use the dial tone on a phone to tune your guitar back then?
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Post by JamesP on Feb 21, 2016 19:55:42 GMT -5
Didn't know that Sarge. Sounds like a great tip. We had a bass player who had pertecf pitch, at least we thought he did. He would tune up a guitar or fiddle and give us an E. We all would tune to him. It seemed to work. I caneven remember nights down at the Ryman, out backon the steps with tbe band tuning to the E.
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Post by banjo on Feb 22, 2016 2:54:34 GMT -5
It states in Ralph Heibutski's superb biography of Danny Gatton that he would use the dial tone and I'd never heard of anyone else doing it. I don't recall which note it was, but it wasn't "A"- more like "F" or "B flat" and it wasn't exactly on pitch- just near enough, so the dial tone must vary from one telephone company to another. Danny came from Maryland as I'm sure you guys know right well? The only sources we had were pitch pipes (ugh!), tuning forks or a reference such as a piano. I used to get mine tuned to my guitar teachers grand piano once a week on a Sunday. Memories...
e&oe...
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Post by earleg on Apr 5, 2016 14:04:11 GMT -5
Think our areas were Bb. I used a concert A tuning fork early '70s but if there was a keyboard involved then would tune to it. I still have the same A tuning fork. One guy in a band prior to fork had perfect pitch and could tune to an A without any reference other than his ears and mind.
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Post by JamesP on Apr 5, 2016 14:38:58 GMT -5
I will add that Chet Atkins had absolutely perfect pitch! When those blue eyes turned green and he would flash them at you, even though he might be grinning a lttle, you knew you were out of tune or out of time!
He had perfect timing as well, which made him so valuable as a record producer.
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