Approaching my chord book with a detuned axe.


Vegas Wierdo
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Joined: 01/28/06
Posts: 239
Vegas Wierdo
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Joined: 01/28/06
Posts: 239
06/30/2007 12:30 am
I've been using a Hal Leonard Guitar Chord book to learn all the weird guitar chords out there. I have a question that might be stupid.

I play with big fat .12 strings, tuned down to C# (altogether, C#-F#-B-E-G#-C#). So it's thickness for jazz, lower tension for blues bending, and the detuned thunder of Black Sabbath. At that tuning, .12 strings bend easily enough and yet they *KRANG* like a piano.

So, uhhhhhhh... if I pick any chord from the, say, the E section...

...will that chord necessarily register as a C#?

Or is it anyone's guess? :confused: Would there be some chords that somehow translate as an F# or an Eb for whatever reason?

Stated otherwise, will every chord in that book register at precisely a whole + half step down (you know what I mean) every single time?

That's why thus far I'll only practice chords with a guitar that's strung with .10s and tuned to standard. But I would rather use my main axe, which is detuned to C# with .12s.

Could be a stupid question. I don't know. :confused:
# 1
dvenetian
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dvenetian
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Posts: 627
06/30/2007 6:03 am
If you tune the strings using perfect 4th intervals and the 2nd string using a M3 interval from the 3rd string, then yes, the chords would be titled 3 semitones lower than standard tuning.
So, an open E shape would be C#.
An open Am would be F#m, Etc.........................................
# 2
Vegas Wierdo
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Joined: 01/28/06
Posts: 239
Vegas Wierdo
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Joined: 01/28/06
Posts: 239
07/01/2007 8:27 am
Tanx. Now I may proceed. :cool:
# 3

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