Or put on any song by Metallica, they're all in E. Good metal key. Or go 'old school' and buy one of these:
What do you call those people that hang around musicians? Drummers How many guitar players does it take to change a lightbulb? Six. One to change the lightbulb and five to stand around and say "I could do that" or "I could do that better". How many Drummers does it take to change a lightbulb? Six. One to change the lightbulb and five to stand around and discuss how Neil Peart (or Steve Gadd or whoever) would have done it. (Thank you! I'll be here all week!)
"Purple Haze" is in E-flat. Jimi Hendrix used to tune a half step lower than standard, as Stevie Ray Vaughan often did.
Why do drummers rest their drumsticks on the dashboards of their car? So they can park in handicapped spots.
Unless you were a classical musician, perfect pitch would suck. Perfect pitch in a rock band would drive you crazy! What you really want is good relative pitch.
Sorry for the late reply. An E is an E but it might not stay that way for too long. Cheaper guitars produce a less cleaner sound and also have poorer hardware so they don't stay in tune as well. If you don't have a good ear its not going to be as easy to keep the guitar in tune by ear so you might as well use a plug in electric tuner.
Absolutely, I still don't have "perfect" pitch, but it's purdy darn relative...trained as a classical Opera singer, Bass-Baritone but found I liked Classic Rock and Texas country music much more. I cannot STAND an out-of-tune accustic and tune mine as close as my ear will allow--almost obssesively
Yeah, I'm not to the point of saying "man, that B flat is a quarter tone sharp!" or anything like that. I would be miserable. I guess it's more relative, thank goodness. But saying it's "perfect" gets more chicks. Well, at least in college it did.
LOL - drummers - can't live with them, but drum machines suck Even those with an excellent ear can't do better than an electronic tuner. My all time favorite is the stage tuner (just like a stomp box). When playing live it's particularly hard to get a perfect tuning by ear. The stage tuner allows you to tune up quickly and silently in between songs. Nothing worse than a guitar player who spends half the set tuning out loud by ear - and still gets it wrong. If you must tune by ear, learn to tune by chiming the fith fret to the seventh fret of the following string. It is much easier to hear (you can almost feel it) the strings becoming in tune as the sound audibly warbles till they are in pitch. This method works with all the strings except with G and B (4th and 5th) and incidently, where most severe tuning problems occur. Finally, if your serious about being in tune up and down the neck (and everyone should be), take your guitar to the local music store and have that baby strobed. I'm a firm believer that even beginers (perhaps especially them as you have enough of a handicap already and need not to be discouraged by a guitar that will not tune or play correctly) can't hope to play good music without first being in tune.
Staying in tune was why I switched to keyboards. But I believe the harmonic "warbles" you mention are actually called "beat frequency"....what we had to use before electronic tuners...
Thanks Gater, twas one of those time when the mind goes completely blank on a well known subject. I was still pounding brain on the proper terminology til you posted.
OK. Enough drummer jokes. What's the difference between a guitarist and a mutual fund? One matures. What do a vacuum cleaner and an electric guitar have in common. Both suck when you plug them in. What do you say to a guitarist in a three- piece suit? "Will the defendant please rise..."
Tuning fork is my vote. It won't break or run out of batteries. ....and we all know a drummer can't hear a pitch.
