Hey Emma. I love your work. I filled in a form a while ago to be able to have lessons from you. Are you still thinking of doing this? It would be an absolute honour. Best of luck with the new single. Can’t wait to add it to my playlist!
I took just a couple students when I first put that form out, and the experiment went quite well! I am going to open things back up for more people after the summer is over (September, probably?) so keep a look out on here. Just getting my sea legs with all this!
Ah ok. Thanks for the reply. Best of luck with everything. I’m sure you’re super busy as it is. It would be amazing to get some insights from such a talented player like yourself! Hope you’re still enjoying The Good Wife 😊
I see False Alarm is in the same tuning as your cover of The Gold that I tried my hands on a few days ago. Coming from a jazz/funk/rock background, I'm noticing how at a loss I am when it's not standard tuning (or drop-D) in terms of where things are. And I don't mean the exact note/chord names, but I'm so used to thinking about the relationship between chords and scales as shapes on the guitar, like a 2-5-1 or the pentatonic scale with add blue notes or something.
How do you handle this? Do you (consciously or unconsciously) invest the time to get as familiar with that tuning as you are with standard tuning? Or do you work with it as a standard-tuning with some deviation? (That's what I do in drop-D)
Great question!! I tune to odd things to disorient myself. I enjoy having to “feel around” for something cool. Although I have an extensive theory background, I find that I make cooler things when I let my ear take over in that way!
Over the years, though, I’ve gotten quite familiar with FACGCE and open D (DADF#AD) and can find my way around quite well. I know what certain things sound like and how to reach for them in these tunings and I do tend to think of it in those numbers (1, minor 2, 3, etc).
One other element that I love about these tunings is how the ringing open strings encourages you to write with that sound and in the “key” of the tuning. This makes for some interesting sounds sometimes and it’s another reason I love them. This way, I’m thinking about chords more from the bottom up (usually, what power chord am I playing on the bottom) and not in terms of scales. It’s like the low strings are controlled and the higher strings just ring out and do what they want until I feel like using them.
Not a perfect answer but I hope that helps!! And great ear- I was writing this song around the same time I came up with my arrangement of The Gold, so they are quite paired in my mind.
Thanks for a great answer actually 🙂 makes sense that the disorientation can be liberating or inspiring in the writing process, when your goal isn't trying to recreate exactly, in stead you want to deliberately come up with something different than you would've in standard tuning.
I'm gonna try to get used to working from the bottom up and letting the high notes ring out 🙂
I love this song so much (this and "yes man" have been on repeat), and its been super fun learning this. Thank you so much for the tabs!! Your work always inspires me and leaves me in awe :)
Just something small about the tabs - I was wondering if the note right after the seventh fret harmonics should be played on the first or second fret of the fifth string? Right now it says the first fret, but I think you've played it differently in your videos. Thank you :)
I love this song. Thanks so much for the tabs. I'm going to give it a go!
Hey Emma. I love your work. I filled in a form a while ago to be able to have lessons from you. Are you still thinking of doing this? It would be an absolute honour. Best of luck with the new single. Can’t wait to add it to my playlist!
I took just a couple students when I first put that form out, and the experiment went quite well! I am going to open things back up for more people after the summer is over (September, probably?) so keep a look out on here. Just getting my sea legs with all this!
Ah ok. Thanks for the reply. Best of luck with everything. I’m sure you’re super busy as it is. It would be amazing to get some insights from such a talented player like yourself! Hope you’re still enjoying The Good Wife 😊
I see False Alarm is in the same tuning as your cover of The Gold that I tried my hands on a few days ago. Coming from a jazz/funk/rock background, I'm noticing how at a loss I am when it's not standard tuning (or drop-D) in terms of where things are. And I don't mean the exact note/chord names, but I'm so used to thinking about the relationship between chords and scales as shapes on the guitar, like a 2-5-1 or the pentatonic scale with add blue notes or something.
How do you handle this? Do you (consciously or unconsciously) invest the time to get as familiar with that tuning as you are with standard tuning? Or do you work with it as a standard-tuning with some deviation? (That's what I do in drop-D)
Great question!! I tune to odd things to disorient myself. I enjoy having to “feel around” for something cool. Although I have an extensive theory background, I find that I make cooler things when I let my ear take over in that way!
Over the years, though, I’ve gotten quite familiar with FACGCE and open D (DADF#AD) and can find my way around quite well. I know what certain things sound like and how to reach for them in these tunings and I do tend to think of it in those numbers (1, minor 2, 3, etc).
One other element that I love about these tunings is how the ringing open strings encourages you to write with that sound and in the “key” of the tuning. This makes for some interesting sounds sometimes and it’s another reason I love them. This way, I’m thinking about chords more from the bottom up (usually, what power chord am I playing on the bottom) and not in terms of scales. It’s like the low strings are controlled and the higher strings just ring out and do what they want until I feel like using them.
Not a perfect answer but I hope that helps!! And great ear- I was writing this song around the same time I came up with my arrangement of The Gold, so they are quite paired in my mind.
Thanks for a great answer actually 🙂 makes sense that the disorientation can be liberating or inspiring in the writing process, when your goal isn't trying to recreate exactly, in stead you want to deliberately come up with something different than you would've in standard tuning.
I'm gonna try to get used to working from the bottom up and letting the high notes ring out 🙂
I second this query, would love to know. Great music and thanks for any and all tab shares you offer! 🙌
I love this song so much (this and "yes man" have been on repeat), and its been super fun learning this. Thank you so much for the tabs!! Your work always inspires me and leaves me in awe :)
Just something small about the tabs - I was wondering if the note right after the seventh fret harmonics should be played on the first or second fret of the fifth string? Right now it says the first fret, but I think you've played it differently in your videos. Thank you :)