SlipLive

in the state of mind article, brad makes mention of his "dropped-C tuning thing'... anyone know what that is? is it just the low E dropped to C, or is it a full alternate tuning?

Maybe he's referring to the "Poor Boy" tuning?

I had that written down somewhere, but I can't find it now.

CGCGCE

or some variation of....

yeah, i think you're right caleb. I think he uses it on "Hello I'm a Monster" as well...

ahh... cool
thanks!!

Im not techie, but if you have a steel string, won't messing with the tuning often eff up your truss rod/neck/guitar?

It really depends. I think brad has been using a steel string with a slotted head, the tuners looking like a nylon string guitar. these guitars apparently do better with open and alternate tunings. If you're super nervous about bridge/top damage i.e. pulling, warping of top, do the tuning two or four whole steps lower and capo the 2nd or 4th fret.

you might need higher gauge, heavier strings for this. These DO put more stress on your axe. if the gauge is too low, the strings will kind of just flop around and be very sensitive to buzzing and 'wapping' and quiet.

it is definatley CGCGCe. "Song", "portrait of a scientist" (capo 4th), "heart shaped box", "cut from the cloth", "predicting the rain", "reddish moon", "poorboy", tons of it... "sarah through the wall"... etc etc etc

at one of brad's first solo shows that never was released, he opened with landlord, then the rest of the set until the last few songs was mostly in that tuning with his nylon string. i think that was in 2003. it was right around if not the same night they had that gear stolen.

550000 (low to high) is like an F

x24000 is like Am

x002400 is like G

the middle part of portrait goes (something) like this in the alternate tuning...

--------------------------------------
-2---2----2--------------------------
-0------------------4---2----0-------
-5---5---5--5-4---------------------
-3------------------------------------
-----3---0----------4---2---0-------

that's not perfect, don't kill me, i think i mightve posted a better version awhile back.

anyway, its a great tuning, although it can be limiting.

- john

thanks for the info, john!

i love alternate tunings myself (big fan of joni mitchell).
my most recent song was written using F# F# C# C# F# C# (just made it up after changing my guitar strings).

now i want to play around with this one...

would you happen to know the fingering/chord structure for monster, then? anyone? that's one of my very favorites of brads...

(this thread perhaps should be in the lyrics/tab section, eh? relevance...)