Any tips on how to tune the guitar to match your voice?
- Thread starter itchy_go
- Start date
fenderrules
New member
i think a capo will do =)
sleepykitty
New member
i dont think need to tune the guitar differently..
why not just play in a different key?
why not just play in a different key?
thor666
New member
Yeah, just either of the methods suggested. A capo is useful here even if it reduces the number of playable frets - the capo changes the tone of the guitar by itself.
Anywhere from Standard to Eb to D standard tuning should give you all the ranges you need. Just transpose the song when you need.
Anywhere from Standard to Eb to D standard tuning should give you all the ranges you need. Just transpose the song when you need.
this is a errrr silly question. u have to play the chords which is whatever ur singing and den the sound will sounds alright.. y would you wan to tune the guitar to ur voice! i mean oh gosh this is lame...
a guitar has it own set of tuning. if you tune the guitar to ur voice wont the way ur playing on the frets change to?!
whats he asking about?!
a guitar has it own set of tuning. if you tune the guitar to ur voice wont the way ur playing on the frets change to?!
whats he asking about?!
forgive me if i'm wrong, but it does sound like you are a beginner at guitar itchy. I'm not saying i'm a pro but i'll tell you what i know...
Anyway, if you mean that you can't sing as high as the key of the song requires you to, then what you have to do is to bring the key of the song down. for example, if the key is in G and the chords are GCDC, you play in the key of F and play FBflatCBflat, this is called transposing. if you want to play higher, if the song is too low... following the same example, you can play the song in A. there are 2 ways of doing this, by playing totally different chords, like ADED, or put a capo on the 2nd fret, and still play GCDC (with the capo as point zero). In effect, you are playing ADED. I dunno how to explain this properly but try it with your guitar and hopefully you understand. the capo helps to quickly up the key of the song and also help you to play less barre chords. do a google search and i think you'll find better topics.
hope that helps
Anyway, if you mean that you can't sing as high as the key of the song requires you to, then what you have to do is to bring the key of the song down. for example, if the key is in G and the chords are GCDC, you play in the key of F and play FBflatCBflat, this is called transposing. if you want to play higher, if the song is too low... following the same example, you can play the song in A. there are 2 ways of doing this, by playing totally different chords, like ADED, or put a capo on the 2nd fret, and still play GCDC (with the capo as point zero). In effect, you are playing ADED. I dunno how to explain this properly but try it with your guitar and hopefully you understand. the capo helps to quickly up the key of the song and also help you to play less barre chords. do a google search and i think you'll find better topics.
hope that helps
Thanks thor and qwerty for the helpful advice...I'm not really a beginner per se but I've never had any proper "schooling" so I hope you forgive my lack of proper terminology.
qwerty, you mentioned transposing..is there a way to avoid that and using a capo? I could just tune the guitar to a certain key that matches my voice right?
zenguan, you are a dumbass. Next time, if you don't comprehend something, don't post a reply ok? I purposely made the topic title as clear as possible just to avoid idiots like you...guess you're dumber than most. :roll:
qwerty, you mentioned transposing..is there a way to avoid that and using a capo? I could just tune the guitar to a certain key that matches my voice right?
zenguan, you are a dumbass. Next time, if you don't comprehend something, don't post a reply ok? I purposely made the topic title as clear as possible just to avoid idiots like you...guess you're dumber than most. :roll:
Crawldaddy
New member
Hmm.
You can always play around with alternate tunings, which do make playing guitar and singing at the same time a little easier. But I only advice you to play around with them once you master the basic tuning EADGBE.
Vocal training is also very important when it comes to singing and playing guitar at the same time. Normally I would figure out the guitar bits and make sure that I know them pretty well before I attempt to sing and play the guitar together.
The thing about playing guitar to match the voice is to first figure out what key you are comfortable singing in before transposing the song's chords into the key you are ok with.
Do bear in mind that transposing songs into your 'comfort key' is not the best way to grow as a singer. It might also take away the spirit of the song.
You can always play around with alternate tunings, which do make playing guitar and singing at the same time a little easier. But I only advice you to play around with them once you master the basic tuning EADGBE.
Vocal training is also very important when it comes to singing and playing guitar at the same time. Normally I would figure out the guitar bits and make sure that I know them pretty well before I attempt to sing and play the guitar together.
The thing about playing guitar to match the voice is to first figure out what key you are comfortable singing in before transposing the song's chords into the key you are ok with.
Do bear in mind that transposing songs into your 'comfort key' is not the best way to grow as a singer. It might also take away the spirit of the song.
thor666
New member
You can physically tune the guitar to your tastes, but there's a limit to how much you can do that.
For example, if you look at Guns n Roses stuff, instead of using the standard EBGDAE tuning, they tune a semitone down - Eb Bb Gb Db Ab Eb.
Or take Motley Crue, they tune down 2 semitones. D A F C G D.
The strings you buy are usually meant for standard tuning though, so you can't tune them too tight - they'll snap. On the other hand, if you tune them too loose, you get another set of problems - they can become too flimsy to play.
There's also intonation problems once you tune down/up too much. In general though, I think 1 or 2 semitones is negilible. I find that increasing your guage by 0.01, and tuning down 2 semitones works well - kind of a compensation.
The other suggestion qwerty said has in fact, nothing too much to do with the guitar. It's got to do more with theory - Say if you were playing G D C D, instead of tuning down your guitar, instead you play a lower note(s) relative to the chords you were supposed to play. That is known as transposing. To go 2 semitones down the G major chord would be going G major -> F# major -> Fmajor. Play that and you'll have -almost- the same effect as tuning down 2 semitones.
How to know which note to go down? Look at the chromatic scale:
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C .....
Try singing a bit lower or higher everytime you transpose lower or higher respectively, and you should be able to find an optimal range.
Beyond this, there's also odd open tunings (you can google this one), and there're also subtle differences in each approach that you use, but that's far too much for me to type out here. Try them out, let your ears discern the differences.
Cheers
Raymond
For example, if you look at Guns n Roses stuff, instead of using the standard EBGDAE tuning, they tune a semitone down - Eb Bb Gb Db Ab Eb.
Or take Motley Crue, they tune down 2 semitones. D A F C G D.
The strings you buy are usually meant for standard tuning though, so you can't tune them too tight - they'll snap. On the other hand, if you tune them too loose, you get another set of problems - they can become too flimsy to play.
There's also intonation problems once you tune down/up too much. In general though, I think 1 or 2 semitones is negilible. I find that increasing your guage by 0.01, and tuning down 2 semitones works well - kind of a compensation.
The other suggestion qwerty said has in fact, nothing too much to do with the guitar. It's got to do more with theory - Say if you were playing G D C D, instead of tuning down your guitar, instead you play a lower note(s) relative to the chords you were supposed to play. That is known as transposing. To go 2 semitones down the G major chord would be going G major -> F# major -> Fmajor. Play that and you'll have -almost- the same effect as tuning down 2 semitones.
How to know which note to go down? Look at the chromatic scale:
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C .....
Try singing a bit lower or higher everytime you transpose lower or higher respectively, and you should be able to find an optimal range.
Beyond this, there's also odd open tunings (you can google this one), and there're also subtle differences in each approach that you use, but that's far too much for me to type out here. Try them out, let your ears discern the differences.
Cheers
Raymond
ok what raymond has said is great. hope it helps.
but I'm more interested in is why you would want to tune the guitar instead of transposing. As it is, the guitar is not tuned to any particular "key" per se. I suspect you are doing it because
1) you are unsure of how to transpose
2) you want to be able to sing all songs? i.e in a certain key.
First of all you must know that even though you have tuned the guitar down, the resulting key may still be too high for you and you still will have to transpose. I'm only guessing here, maybe if you would like to tell us why you want to change the tunings instead of transposing we could help you easier? I must say though it looks and sounds difficult, transposing is not that hard. I transpose songs down all the time when I'm playing them for fun alone cos I have a low voice and I can't reach the higher notes
but I'm more interested in is why you would want to tune the guitar instead of transposing. As it is, the guitar is not tuned to any particular "key" per se. I suspect you are doing it because
1) you are unsure of how to transpose
2) you want to be able to sing all songs? i.e in a certain key.
First of all you must know that even though you have tuned the guitar down, the resulting key may still be too high for you and you still will have to transpose. I'm only guessing here, maybe if you would like to tell us why you want to change the tunings instead of transposing we could help you easier? I must say though it looks and sounds difficult, transposing is not that hard. I transpose songs down all the time when I'm playing them for fun alone cos I have a low voice and I can't reach the higher notes
thor666
New member
I probably wrote a lot of less than accurate stuff on that post but I'm hoping you can make sense of the general ideas I presented.
I'm not sure how to teach someone to transpose on the forum though (hence the poor writing on my post). I guess you can either google or find someone to teach you how to transpose on the guitar.
but I'm hoping you can make sense of the general ideas I presented.I'm not sure how to teach someone to transpose on the forum though (hence the poor writing on my post). I guess you can either google or find someone to teach you how to transpose on the guitar.
Thanks guys for all the great advice. It's good to know that I can come here for some guidance.
I do know how to transpose...the reason for my question is simple actually: I wanna be able to play songs with the correct chords but in a key that isn't torturous to my vocal chords.
I have played and sung before as I started jamming when I was 13 and during the years following that, I have always noticed a hit or miss type of situation in vocal performance due to the guitar key being too high or too low.
I'm trying to find a way to solve the problem once and for all.
qwerty said:ok what raymond has said is great. hope it helps.
but I'm more interested in is why you would want to tune the guitar instead of transposing. As it is, the guitar is not tuned to any particular "key" per se. I suspect you are doing it because
1) you are unsure of how to transpose
2) you want to be able to sing all songs? i.e in a certain key.
First of all you must know that even though you have tuned the guitar down, the resulting key may still be too high for you and you still will have to transpose. I'm only guessing here, maybe if you would like to tell us why you want to change the tunings instead of transposing we could help you easier? I must say though it looks and sounds difficult, transposing is not that hard. I transpose songs down all the time when I'm playing them for fun alone cos I have a low voice and I can't reach the higher notes
I do know how to transpose...the reason for my question is simple actually: I wanna be able to play songs with the correct chords but in a key that isn't torturous to my vocal chords.
I have played and sung before as I started jamming when I was 13 and during the years following that, I have always noticed a hit or miss type of situation in vocal performance due to the guitar key being too high or too low.
I'm trying to find a way to solve the problem once and for all.
Crawldaddy
New member
Hmm.
I have encountered trouble singing songs with different keys and styles. However I must say that loads of practise and listening to different people's singing styles have opened up my eyes and ears.. because you have to not only listen, but also watch them when they sing.
Ok not that I'm bragging, but 3 years ago i could not really sing well, but now I'm pretty sure that when I sing, people do not weep due to a bad hearing experience.
It's all about exposure and practise.
I have encountered trouble singing songs with different keys and styles. However I must say that loads of practise and listening to different people's singing styles have opened up my eyes and ears.. because you have to not only listen, but also watch them when they sing.
Ok not that I'm bragging, but 3 years ago i could not really sing well, but now I'm pretty sure that when I sing, people do not weep due to a bad hearing experience.
It's all about exposure and practise.
qwerty said:
Original chords. The ones that the original artist uses.
Let's say my guitar is perfectly in tune with a song from a Zeppelin album. I would have no problems playing the songs with the original chords, right? The problem comes when I wanna sing as I play along as the key of the song and my voice are totally mismatched. I would have to transpose, right? I don't want to transpose.
well i think first of all its important to note once more that the guitar is NOT tuned to any particular key per se. Its just standard and alternate tunings. the only key that can be too high, is the key of the song. the only way to know if you can reach the note, is of course to know your range and know the song well. thats where transposing comes in.
I think the short answer to your question is there is no way/shortcut to make sure that you can sing all songs properly. different songs are written for different voices and vocal ranges (different keys). So there is no shortcut to make sure you can sing all the songs comfortably 8) the only way is to transpose the song. Or train up your vocal range
I think the short answer to your question is there is no way/shortcut to make sure that you can sing all songs properly. different songs are written for different voices and vocal ranges (different keys). So there is no shortcut to make sure you can sing all the songs comfortably 8) the only way is to transpose the song. Or train up your vocal range