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A: Why not? It’s a bass! The tuning of a standard six-string bass is a good thing. Musicians all around the world already know this tuning so it’s easy for them to learn touch-style on a tuning they already know.

There is also the popular bass-strings tuning we call ‘Inverted Fifths’ which has some enthusiasts among touch-stylists. Yet you can still play the ‘Easy Touch-Style’ method in that tuning. Because this tuning is popular, upon request we will provide instruments with bass strings tuned this way, and the method book covers Inverted Fifths tuning as well as our standard tuning.

If you’re an existing bass player or guitar player taking up touch-style we suggest you try the standard ‘Bass Bottom’ tuning, because we think you’ll find it familiar, and it seems better for many types of music. And if you’re just starting out, we still suggest you try standard ‘Bass Bottom’ tuning. In our opinion, it’s much simpler, and faster to learn.

[Reprinted by permission from Megatar-FAQ at http://megatar.com/megatar-faq/]

Tags: Bass, Bass guitar, instrument, Music, Musical tuning

A new player called our office the other way, and wanted us to help him over the phone to tune his instrument. Well, we’re generally reachable during the day, but as regarding tuning the instrument, of course we probably won’t be able to hear the strings very well over the telephone, and we always tune with a meter which we will be unable to see over the telephone, so this didn’t seem very workable.

However, the gist of the question seemed to be that some strings felt too tight and some too loose. And I’m betting that this fellow is not the only one to ever have this question. So here are some guidelines when tuning up your new two-handed tapping guitar …

TIGHT STRINGS

Some strings are tighter than other strings. That’s a fact. If you mean *way* too tight, then that usually comes from accidentally tuning one of the strings an octave too high.

But if you are not really very familiar with tuning a guitar at all, and if you have a buddy who’s a guitar player and tunes up all the time, you might have him to help you of course. It’s pretty simple, but that doesn’t mean that it will seem familiar *to you* necessarily if you’re not familiar with guitar or bass tuning.

When you get the instrument tuned correctly, the strings will be playable.

So I would suggest rough-tuning by this method –

(a) Get the lowest bass (or melody) string tuned AT FRET TWO (double dots) by the meter. If you have it an octave too low, the string will be very floppy and will probably buzz. If you have it an octave too high, it will probably be really tight and stiff and hard to play. If you’ve got it at the right octave, then it will be comfortably playable — the bass strings will be comfortably playable around frets 2-5 and the melody strings will be comfortably playable around frets 12-15.

TOO FLOPPY? TOO TIGHT?

If you’re not sure what is ‘too floppy’ or ‘too tight’ then you could experiment and make it ‘too floppy’ on the right note and then make it ‘too tight’ on the right note and in between those two you should find the right note where it is neither too floppy nor too tight. If you do this on the *lowest* bass or lowest melody string it will probably not harm anything. Those lower strings have more latitude during tightening.

(b) Now rough tune up from the lowest bass (or melody) string by playing the lowest string AT FRET SEVEN (double dots). This should be the note of the next string at fret two.

(c) Tune by ear this way for the rest of the set of strings. Now they’re approximately correct.

(d) If you make an error of an octave during this process, then again the error-string will be so loose and floppy that it buzzes, or so tight it’s hard to play.

(e) Once you have the instrument approximately tuned this way, then use your tuner to fine-tune the individual strings.

(f) And as always, as when tuning any stringed instrument, always use the tuners to come *up* to the pitch you wish to hit, and do not use the tuners to come down to hit the pitch. It produces more stable setting of the string’s tension when you tune up than when you tune down.

Tags: loose strings, tapping guitar, tuner, Tuning

Not long ago, I received a letter from somebody questioning whether, with their busy life, and the impressive nature of touchstyle play, whether they could learn to play this method.

I tried to reassure him, but frankly I think the fellow was agonizing lots more than need be.

Pretty much nobody ever picked up an instrument for the first time, knowing that they could play it well. Pretty much no child ever sat down at the Steinway, and starting ripping out Brahms, with feeling and grace.

If course, there are some people who saw an instrument, and *decided* they were going to learn to play it. And generally speaking, these are the folks that for damn sure, do.

When I first heard a synthesizer I wanted to make that sound. My own story is far from rare.

No human can know the future. You cannot know that, in the future, you will have a certain woman, a certain income, a certain occupation, this or that certain skill, or that you’ll live in this or that town, or even that you’ll have all your teeth, toes, or wits. That’s just the experience of life. We cannot ever *know*.

But we can play the odds.

The odds are extremely high that you can play a two-handed tapping instrument, and play it well, and that (the real point here) you can create music.

Isn’t that the point? To create music?

Learning to play with the two-handed tapping method will permit you to create music, of almost any type. And it will get you there, compared to normal play on other instruments, rather quickly. And it’s fun along the journey.

It requires only two things –

1. Do you WANT to create music?
2. Are you willing to invest 20 minutes at least five or six times a week? (Or even better, every day.)

Many hundreds of musicians have picked up these specialty tapping instruments, and this learning method, and pretty much *all* of them, who were willing to invest a minimum learning time, can now create music.

Are they smarter than me, or you?

I don’t think so.

Do they want to create music more than you?

Probably not.

While we humans cannot predict the future, we can estimate the odds. And that’s all a human ever gets.

Do you *want* to have a rich life?

If so, then accept the fact that, while the future is not truly knowable for us, we can wisely play the odds.

And equally important … do you *want* to create music? Do you *intend* to create music? Do you *decide* to create music?

Your desire is more important than your initial skill. Your desire and your persistence are the keys.

If you want it, and if you persist, you’ll win.

Your odds are better in the touch-style world than elsewhere, because despite the apparent complexity of the instruments, this is an illusion, for we’ve developed a learning method that produces faster learning than trying to learn normal guitar or piano playing.

So it comes down to –

1. Do you *want* to win? Do you *want* to create music?
2. Will you, with no excuses, invest 20 minutes five or six times a week?

If you persist, it’s so simple. You’ll win.

How long will it take? Will you start “getting it” within a few days, a few weeks?

The real question is not whether lightning will strike you in two days or two weeks.

The real question is very very simple –

Do you like it? Do you want to create music?

I appreciate that you’re trying to keep an open mind when you think about taking on a new project, something as important and richly rewarding as learning to play music in a new and exciting way.

But, really, when it comes to what you *want* …. isn’t it wiser to absolutely refuse to keep an open mind?

Sure, when we’re tackled on the football field, we’ll tumble. And we might lose a game. There is chance in this universe.

But when it comes to the question — Must I give up football? — The answer lies purely and only in your heart … and what do you *want* to be true?

Hold to that, and your path in life will become blessed.