The funny thing is, Fripp almost never gets mentioned in lists of the greatest guitarists in rock. But really, along with Jimi, Fripp is one of the very few guitarists to actually extend the sound of the guitar, with his unique riffs and solos, rhythms, and tunings that allow him to plays things almost impossible to play on a regular tuned guitar. No wonder he requires band support from other brilliant technical musicians who can "keep up", like Bill Bruford.
@@Muzikman127 FRlPP HAS C0VERED A L0T 0F GR0vND. (EX: he plays the crazy s0l0 0n B0WlE's "FASHl0N") (F0RGlVE my glltchlng APPLE keyb0ard!) MAYBE START WlTH 1973's LARKS T0NGvES lN ASPlC?
Tom Waits once said: "The problem with playing the same instrument all the time is, your hands always fly to the familiar chords." I was reminded of that here. Excellent video...
Chords are like words, the same words can be put together in original or unoriginal ways, the problem is not being stuck on the same chords but rather on the same chord TRANSITIONS which is exactly what alternative turnings provide, an opportunity to explore alternative transitions once the chords are learned. There is no need to tune strings to 12 equal ether, open strings may be tuned to just intervals for example., pure fifths or fourths or thirds or minor thirds that can be moved to any fret, something a keyboard could not do in the same simple way.
RIGHT, @Christopher Caldera! Use of quotes is reserved for when you are quoting someone, @Alex! He actually said: "I don't expect to necessarily get in the mind of Robert Fripp in this lesson, ..." Try listening again at ruclips.net/video/0Jt1VClGZfQ/видео.htmlm37s
The new standard, or "Crafty tuning" because it's what Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarist use, can be remembered as : Crafty Guitarists Don't Always Eat Good.
I would think that perhaps part of the inspiration of Fripp's New Standard Tuning would be that violin family instruments, including violas and cellos, and mandolin family instruments, including mandolas and mando-cellos, are all tuned in fifths, so in classical music and traditional folk, that type of tuning is already used by many musicians, just not necessarily guitarists. Also, you get an extended range instrument, both on the top and the bottom, all while using a standard instrument.
I'm so happy you guys are creating videos relating to Robert Fripp, my favorite guitarist, and someone I could spend a lifetime trying to be half as good as!! Wildly influential, and I think criminally under-appreciated today. In a fair universe his name'd be on the tip of people's tongues right along with Hendrix. Please, please, please explore this man's work more!!! I will keep my eyes-and ears-glued, promise! 😍
Thank you for explaining and giving examples of how unusual this tuning sounds. I had never heard of Fripp until I heard David Sylvian's Gone to Earth. I have never heard such beautiful and unexpected playing. Thank you again for being one of the best at giving us a window into his style.
In order to tune in Fifths, C, G, D, A, E, B simply use Octave4Plus Fifths tuning strings and the High B String is a .006 string so for a High B stick to a .006 (or less) so that way you'll minimize tension.
This one of the only one if not the only one of this series (and most musical instruction videos i have seen) i have learned anything of importance (for me and my music) from. I kind of already knew it, because i play bass and keys and use each other's shapes on each other, but I never really thought of tuning the bass differently than fourths in order to get even more shapes. He's completely right though, you go back to shapes you are comfortable with and while you may experiment, it's difficult to find new patterns that feel good if you are not forced to. Great way to be creative. I bought a bass recently to flip, but I think I might keep it and try tuning in fifths.
Lots of bass players tune in fifths, fewer chords. You can use a B string to get that low C. You may have to adjust your relief some after it settles in.
Will be meeting Fripp and seeing him perform at the Count Basie Theatre this July and I truly can't wait... what an incredible guitar player and even more fantastic composer... he is unmatched!
Just brilliant. Tuned my acoustic, just to try it, and straight away playing around the whole neck. Such a beautiful tuning. I think I now need to have one electric guitar just in that tuning.
Being honest, I've recently tuned a guitar down to c standard and it's unlocked some insane amount of new playing possiblities, so I literally think doing something new in general will breed new ideas
Lower tension on the strings and lower notes, this is a big part of how Black Sabbath's sound came to be. It's not a fancy tuning but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea
For most of us, it’s just a matter of rewiring our brains’ expectations of pitches via hand shapes. The player in this video seems to totally get it. Well done and thoughtful.
Very happy to see this, Reverb. I'm beggining to get into different tunings and stuff, so I'm glad you showed this. Also, I love when Joe is in your videos, he's very good :)
Fripp dreamed this tuning up because it was more logical. (all chords (normally) have fifths, so why not tune a guitar in fifths...) It was *not* done in order to take your same ole tired EADGBE licks and repurpose them. That's the opposite usage as intended! (mostly unmusical sounding since "random" outside notes are picked up) With this tuning... all normal chords, major and minor, including 7th chords are made easier, because longer fingers go to thicker strings and shorter fingers go to thinner strings. In normal tuning, many times the longer fingers have to pick up notes on closer strings, while the shorter fingers have to reach up for notes on further strings... Take out some graph paper and draw some chord forms.... you'll soon see that forming chords is suddenly 100 times easier. Even if you can't finger a Maj, Min, Maj7, Min7, and Dom 7 chord with ease in standard tuning, you'll be able to play all of these chord types from ANY root note within a week!
More importantly, scales lay out in pairs of 4-note patterns and are uniform across the bottom 4 strings. Scale playing is about 12,000 times more logical in NST.
The NST is not more logical for the guitar. A fifths tuning is perfectly logical for short scale melodic instruments like the violin and the viola, but it is uncomfortable and hindering for a counterpoint instrument like the guitar. It makes difficult to play what is simple, so I would never call it "standard".
When i heard mid-70s King Crimson about 25 years ago as a teenager it blew my mind. Changed my idea of what rock music could be. Fripp is one of the greats.
The New Standard Tuning was designed for ensemble playing, with particular attention to the hocket. I'd love to see this tuning find its way out of Crafty Guitarist circles and find an application in the sort of dance music that Jojo Mayer had been doing. I would love to hear the guitarists in Deerhoof adopt this tuning and have at it. &c &c. Thank you Reverb. Thank you Joe.
have you seen the videos of aussie band KING GIZZARD and the LIZARD WIZARD..... from their album with MICROTONAL guitars on it? Check it out. WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF NST? What does it do that Fripp prefers, that regular tuning can't do?
@@jonbongjovi1869 Yes, I know King Gizzard's microtonal stuff. Mr Fripp's New Standard Tuning extends the range of the guitar, with E going down to C; A going down to G; D staying the same; G going up to A; B going up to E; and E going up to G. "What does it do that Fripp prefers, that regular tuning can't do?" Listen to The League of Crafty Guitarists. CHEERS
@@ericmalone3213 Oh. When I got my first guitar at 17, the FIRST thing I did was change the standard tuning, so my highest note was HIGHER than other guitars and the low was LOWER than other guitars, cuz i hated the REDUNDANCY on a 6 string guitar. (If i could, all my electric guitars would be 4 strings, but they cover the same low-to-high notes of regular 6 strings. You don't need all that waste in there! My electronic uke is my fave! FOUR STRINGS. Keep it super simple! ) (My low note ["E" string] was 5 notes / frets LOWER than Drop D, so whatever that is!) I gather NST also goes lower and higher than other 6 strings in normal tuning, from what you say. (I refuse to learn the letters of the strings.) I saw the League of CG with Fripp in the 1980s (or was it 1990s?) and it was pretty stunning if you're in the same room....but i never noticed any pitches or such that seemed unusually low or high. Of course, Fripp COULD just have more frets put on the higher strings! EX: Michael Angelo Batis (sp?) has a guitar with like 28 frets (!) and Uli Jon Roth has one around that many, too. DOESN'T NST WARP & TWIST THE NECK? ARE THERE ANY OTHER ADVANTAGES FOR FRIPP or other guitarists? (I get that cellists and others should use NST for the same shapes they already know....)
@@ericmalone3213 HA: musicians who know Ovation guitars.......get their minds blown when they see my main axe: ruclips.net/video/S_vxQOH051U/видео.html 2 BIGGEST LESSON I learned accidentally, that we should tell all guitarists: 1) GO 3/4 guitar! Easier to play! Lighter. More Fun. Etc! Takes up less room, etc! (Unless ya have really big hands.) I think that's one reason Chris Squire is my fave bassist ever: BIG DUDE, so that Rickenbacke bass was a toy in his hands! Thank goodness 3/4 guitars are all over the place now and even in most Guitar Centers. SMARTEST decision of my entire life, other than... 2) PRACTICING every day OUTDOORS was smarter than all other decisions I will ever make....COMBINED, holy smokes. (EX: I got paid the FIRST day I owned a drumkit and started practicing in a home depot lot, with my Ludwig JR kit! Funny and small. Sounds great! Neil Peart and Buddy Rich didn't get paid their first day! or their 500th day! I get paid EVERY DAY to practice! And pretty girls all yell out that they love me!) AND my profit margin is 100% - 200%, while U2 and Metallica's profit margin is like 4%! THEY HAVE TO TOUR (which is insanely inefficient)...cuz they ONLY PREACH TO THE CONVERTED. (OOOF!) I play to every human with eyes and ears! (My audience is 99% BIGGER than all the biggest pop and rock acts....COMBINED! every child of every race hears and sees my avant instrumental stunts! every uptight banker hears it! every person who doesn't know much music hears MY music!) I never run out of paying customers! Plus, they pay me $20 for 1 MINUTE of music (!!) as they're passing by! Not bad!! No one ever paid Led Zep MORE than the ticket price! But most of my tips are over the price of passing by! ($1 is The Normal Tip. Most of my tips are more than that! I get $50s and $100s pretty frequently too!!) PLAY OUTDOORS PLAY OUTDOORS PLAY OUTDOORS! Plus it makes everyone smile! I make strangers DANCE every day, walking down sidewalks in public. It's magical! I control their bodies and minds!! When couples walk by and the gal starts dancing to my loopstorms, I want to say to the dude "Ha! I just MIND-CONTROLLED YOUR GF'S BODY!! SHE IS FEELING ME INSIDE HER RIGHT NOW!"
Fripp/King Crimson have always been outside of the "box" . . which is why they are STILL not in the Corporate Profit Rock 'n Roll Hall of (record sales) Fame.
Violin, viola, and mandolin are tuned in 5ths, but they have a very short scale length. This tuning can be usable when playing chords, or melodies with large jump intervals, but not scales or linear lines. You can play scales on the higher fret positions, but in lower frets you have to stretch your fingers wide to reach all the notes in the scale.
As a tenor guitar player (in both CGDA and GDAE) I love this tuning for the six string (or twelve really--why be limited?). I tuned an old SG 6 string to this on my own I had a while back--didn't realize Robert Fripp tuned this way.
For me the benefit of fifths tuning is a regular tuning with easy chord voicings. I prefer all-fifths, and compared to NST, I would even prefer removing the high G string and only playing with 5 strings in fifths. I'm a big fan of Fripp and the NST idea was a big inspiration for me to try the fifths tuning. I also play very short-scale guitars that have just become more common in the last couple years, which is great for all fifths
1 - My Mandofingers love this! 2 - I have been thinking of converting a 12 string to a 10 string 'cittern' which would be tuned CGDAE in unison pairs. Essentially the bottom 4 strings are a Mandocello and the top 4 are an Octave Mandolin. This is the same, but with the high G added. If you look around here you'll find videos of some 12 strings converted to this 10 string setup.
Just make sure the neck on the 12 is really well braced. I caved mine across the top of the sound hole and sheared off the neck block when I tried to convert mine to a bass mando cello guitar with 6 double courses.
Fun too, on standard tuning, to pick a chord, say, any major chord, then play all the first inversions of it that your fingers can manage to semi-comfortably 'twister' on the neck, then the second inversion. Then find which open strings 'drone' well with it. Nothing like Fripp's NST, but fun and ear-opening just the same.
Strangely enough, reminds me of Josh Homme for some strange reason lol! Maybe because hes a lot in the C standard tuning and is dwelling a lot in the beautiful desert with his sound lol!
love the idea. i change tuning and time signature all the time just to make new ideas. even if its simple, being a different thing is a major difference
Suburban Behemoth only thing is that its very much up to the player to discern what feels best rather than just looking up a chart and hoping it feels okay haha
Seems like a fanned fret guitar would work well for this tuning because of the bigger difference in string tension than standard EADGBE. It's (probably) a similar amount of tension across the board, but each string has been changed considerably, especially the highest and lowest strings. A high E _and_ G is pretty tight!
It's interesting to note that the string gauge that is recommended for NST is a set of 011s. Also, the original version of NST was an all fifths tuning, but Fripp had problems getting strings that could do the high B required by the tuning, so he ended up with the last two strings (from low to high) being a minor third apart instead. The tuning Frank Gambale developed recently seems more rational and can be picked up very fast.
A more sensible approach with string tension that I've seen is the OTHER Fourths Tuning ( FCGDAE ) that Tom Quale uses - in theory, "low extended violin." The win with either of these is that a scalar shape doesn't change, no matter where you play the root. Therefore, once you learn a pattern, you can start it on any string without relearning fingering.
Well done! It's so great to see a non Guitar Craft guy dive right in. I'm a (mainly) 4 stringed bassist who's messed around with BEAD, CGDA and other crazy iterations. Breaching plateaus and forcing yourself back to being a novice is as good a reason as any to try this fun stuff!
I think it would be better if it's used to get away from boxed playing and use your ear. Like you can't use what you are used to so you have to use your ears to figure out what sounds good. Rather than playing your old shapes and just have them sound different.
A much more useful idea in standard tuning from Warren Nunes: Take those familiar shapes and move them up to the next set of strings. Now figure out what chord you're playing.
the fact that you dont know what its going to sound like is because youre using shapes like you said. There is a discipline in learning an instrument whereby you see beyond the shapes and understand what is happening in a way that doesnt limit you to shapes. these are intervals and harmonic function. i imagine frik used this tuning because it is more versatile, and like you say reaches higher and lower than the typical tuning. i dont htink it is worth using this tuning only because things sound different when you use the same shapes. ive used this tuning (also from playing around on a violin i bought to try out) and it took me a few minutes to adjust and was able to play, knowing what sound was going to come next. this tuning will be utilitsed most effectively by an experienced musician who understand what it means to have a tuning stacked in 5ths
I play in this tuning but a step down (so A#,F,C,G,D,F). I'll put a capo on if I want a higher low note but man it's such a fun tuning! Oxbow plays in a similar tuning (C,G,D,A,B,E) that's also lots of fun to play in.
I like these videos. Simple and great interaction and information. Would you make one talking about the guitar part for Book of Saturday? I just really wanna watch you go into it thats all.
Ahhahaha. I got excited and paused the vid and grabbed my guitar and thru it in new standard because I've done it once ahahha but must have lucked out coz I def snapped my high E tuning it up to that G. So I unpause it and first thing he says is "do not just go grab your guitar and throw it in New Standard" . Great video man, you couldn't have said it better I def was curious about it after the first time I played in NS and it just worked out and made sense and great riffs. 😃
Interesting. I first heard this in the 90s when he released his CD. Certainly unique, although I don't love all the music I've heard created with this. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because it does make you think and try different ways to create things. Definitely worth check out, in my opinion.
Yes, it is worth to check out, but when you get used to it, also the New Standard Tuning becomes a habit, with all the bad consequences of any habit (repetitivness, mechanicity, etc.). You can think and create different things with the normal tuning too, it is a matter of awareness and musical ideas, not of tunings.
thank you for that warning about trying to tune your guitar this way. I got my E string all the way to D before I was wondering how much more she could take lol, thought it was about to snap.
For people looking for more information about this, about Fripp and more related music, you can check the documental Careful With That Axe, which you can find also here in RUclips.
Thanks for your lesson, it does actually open one’s mind 😁 I am considering tuning one of my guitars in the NST way and trying to imitate Robert Fripp’s style, this is probably going to be a difficult journey 🤔
@@sumumfachunk2591 I know, the Octave4Plus 5ths Tuned String set which is designed to be tuned C, G, D, A, E, B. So the gauges are 50, 44, 26, 11, 8, 6. Octave4Plus successfully went all the way up to B4 at .006 (a whole step above High A on a Tenor Guitar), & even higher to a C5 (a minor third above that Tenor Guitar/Banjo Open A). They're also working on strings designed to be tune even higher up to E5 (along w/ really thin wound strings like 10w, 9.5w, etc).
I don't know why this tuning is called "New Standard Tuning" since it's anything but standard. In general, I think alternative tunings are kind of novelties or quite limited. Open tunings, of course are designed with a certain key in mind. Using fifths as intervals might be good for soloing, but actually limits the amount of chord inversion you can play (simply because the large intervals make many inversion impractical or hard to play). There is a reason why a six-string instrument like a guitar is tuned mainly in fourths. For a violin or a mandolin it kind of makes sense since they only have four individual strings.
I have a Steinberger trans scale which is a 28 5/8" scale, I tune it F#(above bass guitar E) to F(Above guitar high e) in straight 5ths. My string gauges are 72-52-34-21-11.5-8. I used Daddario's tension calculator to come up with those gauges along with a little trial and error.
NST is really a compromised tuning to accommodate the limitations of strings and standard guitars. Having such a long scale length I can start my series of 5ths much lower than one could on a standard guitar.
If we wanted to maintain the fifths thing all the way without worrying about popping the highest string, we could do FCGDAE. That would maintain the range of a regular tuning while also getting into the 8 string register.
Except for the G on top, you're basically just in mandolin-family tuning. Any mandolinist or mandolist (or violinist, for that matter) could just ignore the top string and all the fingerings would be normal for them. I played around with an all-5ths guitar tuning for a long time: CGDAEB The top "B" is too high to get with steel strings, so I use a classical guitar, and I use 0.019 monofilament fishing line for the top string. Even that breaks more frequently than any of the other strings, but I can usually get a couple of weeks out of it before it snaps. And it's cheap enough to replace -- I get a 100 yard roll of monofilament for what a standard single string costs. :) I love the tuning: it's like having a mandocello, mandola, and mandolin in one instrument.
With the VG-99, you set each string tuning individually, so you don't have to stress the strings and change intonation every time you change settings.😗🧐😎
Odd I just saw a Tony Levin video where he talked about his Chapman stick and how he tuned it in fifths...isn't that what Fripp's done here ? Also I remember Adrian Belew saying how at first Crimson's music was difficult and how he had to "work it out" before he had it (sounded laborious) but then he finally saw that Fripp "did everything in fifths " and it was no problem after that and laughed. Am I remembering that correctly ?
I did look back at the Levin video and he said his Chapman stick was 12 string (most have 10) and the bass strings were tuned in fifths. The rest are guitar strings and are probably tuned in fourths like regular guitar tuning. Thanks for the nudge...should have done that in the first place. I thought I was onto something....
MusicManxxxxx 1 It's both. In fact you can tune it how you like but in the 80s the Stick was generally shipped with 5th on the bass side and 4ths on the treble side.
Interesting. I found a tuning used by Agustin Barrios (I don't know if he invented or not) that's almost become standard for me. I find it very easy to write new songs in. You simply tune both the 5th and 6th strings down a whole step: DGDGBE
Can we have a link to the blog post that specifically addresses the string gauges and scale lengths - I want to give this a try, but as it stands, there is no way that the high E will survive being tuned up to a G. Thanks!
Reverb It wasn't possible to have a High B String till today and if you wanna add a High B String an Octave4+ .006 High B will do the trick. Keep in mind you'll wanna change your Strings for this one so that way the tension isn't too much but this tuning is intended to broaden the range of your Guitar and treat it as if it was an Orchestral string instrument. Robert Fripp combined Classial Music with Rock by using Fifths tuning with a High G, not a High B cause that wasn't possible till Octave4+ used a .006.
The funny thing is, Fripp almost never gets mentioned in lists of the greatest guitarists in rock. But really, along with Jimi, Fripp is one of the very few guitarists to actually extend the sound of the guitar, with his unique riffs and solos, rhythms, and tunings that allow him to plays things almost impossible to play on a regular tuned guitar. No wonder he requires band support from other brilliant technical musicians who can "keep up", like Bill Bruford.
So what should I listen to by Fripp?
Guitar work on St. Elmo's Fire by Brian Eno
@@Muzikman127 his work with Bowie, David Sylvian, King Crimson.
@@Muzikman127 FRlPP HAS C0VERED A L0T 0F GR0vND. (EX: he plays the crazy s0l0 0n B0WlE's "FASHl0N") (F0RGlVE my glltchlng APPLE keyb0ard!) MAYBE START WlTH 1973's LARKS T0NGvES lN ASPlC?
PointyTailofSatan I reckon his most accessible work was with Bowie on Heroes and Scary Monsters.
Tom Waits once said: "The problem with playing the same instrument all the time is, your hands always fly to the familiar chords." I was reminded of that here. Excellent video...
He also said, "music is just a very interesting thing to be doing with the air". Love Tom Waits.
DavidRavenMoon - so true! Keith Richards' famous '5-string guitar' is in non-standard tuning AND has no Low E string. And sounds Epic.
"The problem with speaking the same language all the times is, your mind always fly to the familiar words"
This argument doesn't make much sense.
Tom Waits once said, "Grrr rrwaar rwwr brra graa geaa."
Chords are like words, the same words can be put together in original or unoriginal ways, the problem is not being stuck on the same chords but rather on the same chord TRANSITIONS which is exactly what alternative turnings provide, an opportunity to explore alternative transitions once the chords are learned. There is no need to tune strings to 12 equal ether, open strings may be tuned to just intervals for example., pure fifths or fourths or thirds or minor thirds that can be moved to any fret, something a keyboard could not do in the same simple way.
That tape machine on the left is stunned by his playing.
lmao
Hahahaha 🤣
Dying here.
LOL moment of my month 😂
This made me laugh out loud
"I can't really get into the mind of Robert Fripp,".
I don't think mere mortals could even fathom what the Crimson One thinks.
Don't misquote the man! He never said "can't" !
lol "angled camera bullshit" so true
Naah, my pet dog got ran over.
ima man ... you're in the wrong tuning, careful you dont break a string.
RIGHT, @Christopher Caldera! Use of quotes is reserved for when you are quoting someone, @Alex! He actually said: "I don't expect to necessarily get in the mind of Robert Fripp in this lesson, ..." Try listening again at ruclips.net/video/0Jt1VClGZfQ/видео.htmlm37s
Robert Fripp might just be the most innovative guitarist of all time.
The new standard, or "Crafty tuning" because it's what Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarist use, can be remembered as : Crafty Guitarists Don't Always Eat Good.
I would think that perhaps part of the inspiration of Fripp's New Standard Tuning would be that violin family instruments, including violas and cellos, and mandolin family instruments, including mandolas and mando-cellos, are all tuned in fifths, so in classical music and traditional folk, that type of tuning is already used by many musicians, just not necessarily guitarists. Also, you get an extended range instrument, both on the top and the bottom, all while using a standard instrument.
Crafty Guitarists Do Always Eat Good
Cocky Guitarists Don't Always Excite Girls
Crappy Guitarists Definitely Aren't Exceptionally Gifted
total sabotage of the Every Ass Does Get Beaten Eventually tuning
that we all know. I met Robert Fripp back in the 70's-very nice guy.
HAHA I'm cracking up over the EADGBE!
Crimson Guitarists Don't Always Expect Good
" A mind is like parachute.It doesn`t work if it is not open." - Frank Zappa.
Vesper. Now if he had said the mind is like a shroom. But no, Zappa was a tobacco addict, that's all he ever knew.
“Maybe I’m a rock.” - Frank Zappa
Vesper Nice!
Prof. Walter Kotschnig told Holyoke College students to keep their minds open-“but not so open that your brains fall out.”
@@Foxglove963 yes 'tobacco is my favourite vegetable' FZ
seriously one of the best videos I've seen online in a while. This lesson is as inspiring as any new pedal or amp I could purchase.
I play mostly in a similar tuning, but I tune from a low F to a high E so 5ths all the way. Really cool!
I'm so happy you guys are creating videos relating to Robert Fripp, my favorite guitarist, and someone I could spend a lifetime trying to be half as good as!! Wildly influential, and I think criminally under-appreciated today. In a fair universe his name'd be on the tip of people's tongues right along with Hendrix. Please, please, please explore this man's work more!!! I will keep my eyes-and ears-glued, promise! 😍
Thank you for explaining and giving examples of how unusual this tuning sounds. I had never heard of Fripp until I heard David Sylvian's Gone to Earth. I have never heard such beautiful and unexpected playing. Thank you again for being one of the best at giving us a window into his style.
Please do a Crimson-era John Wetton video! Why is there no love for one of the most vicious bassist of all time?!
John Wetton is my favourite bassist, so I agree! Such a thick and crunchy tone and amazingly aggressive style
In order to tune in Fifths, C, G, D, A, E, B simply use Octave4Plus Fifths tuning strings and the High B String is a .006 string so for a High B stick to a .006 (or less) so that way you'll minimize tension.
I tuned a ukulele to D A E B no problem
So cool! I am a big fan of Fripp and have been since the early 80's. I never knew how he got those note combos, I guess this explains it.
This one of the only one if not the only one of this series (and most musical instruction videos i have seen) i have learned anything of importance (for me and my music) from.
I kind of already knew it, because i play bass and keys and use each other's shapes on each other, but I never really thought of tuning the bass differently than fourths in order to get even more shapes. He's completely right though, you go back to shapes you are comfortable with and while you may experiment, it's difficult to find new patterns that feel good if you are not forced to. Great way to be creative. I bought a bass recently to flip, but I think I might keep it and try tuning in fifths.
Lots of bass players tune in fifths, fewer chords. You can use a B string to get that low C. You may have to adjust your relief some after it settles in.
Will be meeting Fripp and seeing him perform at the Count Basie Theatre this July and I truly can't wait... what an incredible guitar player and even more fantastic composer... he is unmatched!
Just brilliant. Tuned my acoustic, just to try it, and straight away playing around the whole neck. Such a beautiful tuning.
I think I now need to have one electric guitar just in that tuning.
Being honest, I've recently tuned a guitar down to c standard and it's unlocked some insane amount of new playing possiblities, so I literally think doing something new in general will breed new ideas
Lower tension on the strings and lower notes, this is a big part of how Black Sabbath's sound came to be. It's not a fancy tuning but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea
For most of us, it’s just a matter of rewiring our brains’ expectations of pitches via hand shapes. The player in this video seems to totally get it. Well done and thoughtful.
THE BEST VIDEO from Reverb so far
Yeah!
This was actually very informative, getting into theory. Nice job, Reverb!
but he didn't tell us WHY it was created, or WHAT advantage it gave Fripp!
To me that was the TOP question
Very happy to see this, Reverb. I'm beggining to get into different tunings and stuff, so I'm glad you showed this. Also, I love when Joe is in your videos, he's very good :)
Fripp dreamed this tuning up because it was more logical. (all chords (normally) have fifths, so why not tune a guitar in fifths...)
It was *not* done in order to take your same ole tired EADGBE licks and repurpose them. That's the opposite usage as intended! (mostly unmusical sounding since "random" outside notes are picked up)
With this tuning... all normal chords, major and minor, including 7th chords are made easier, because longer fingers go to thicker strings and shorter fingers go to thinner strings. In normal tuning, many times the longer fingers have to pick up notes on closer strings, while the shorter fingers have to reach up for notes on further strings...
Take out some graph paper and draw some chord forms.... you'll soon see that forming chords is suddenly 100 times easier. Even if you can't finger a Maj, Min, Maj7, Min7, and Dom 7 chord with ease in standard tuning, you'll be able to play all of these chord types from ANY root note within a week!
PurpleBulbous Hmmm. I think is more likely He learned... From the teachings of Gurdieff.
More importantly, scales lay out in pairs of 4-note patterns and are uniform across the bottom 4 strings. Scale playing is about 12,000 times more logical in NST.
He said he wasn't going yo get into Fripp's mind tho
He said he wasn't going yo get into Fripp's mind tho
The NST is not more logical for the guitar. A fifths tuning is perfectly logical for short scale melodic instruments like the violin and the viola, but it is uncomfortable and hindering for a counterpoint instrument like the guitar. It makes difficult to play what is simple, so I would never call it "standard".
Awesome. I've been using this tuning on the Variax. Opens up so many new possibilities..
✔️ Thanks to Joe for thoughtfully sign-posting the improbable Mr. Fripp.
When i heard mid-70s King Crimson about 25 years ago as a teenager it blew my mind. Changed my idea of what rock music could be. Fripp is one of the greats.
I had thought he always used this... never knew he developed it as late as 1983. It sounds so natural to the way he always played.
Yeah, I tried this tuning some years ago and string broke as soon as I started playing.
You need the thinnest strings for it to not break.
Most people using this tuning use different string guages; thin ones get thinner, thick ones get thicker. As he says, it also needs a special setup.
Fripp explained that, essentially, you just need to will it into tune, it won't break. 😉
Fripp uses a 9 on the high string
Same lol
04:17 That's some 2000's Radiohead in my ears. Nice!
The New Standard Tuning was designed for ensemble playing, with particular attention to the hocket. I'd love to see this tuning find its way out of Crafty Guitarist circles and find an application in the sort of dance music that Jojo Mayer had been doing. I would love to hear the guitarists in Deerhoof adopt this tuning and have at it. &c &c.
Thank you Reverb. Thank you Joe.
Eric Malone Haunted Shores
have you seen the videos of aussie band KING GIZZARD and the LIZARD WIZARD..... from their album with MICROTONAL guitars on it?
Check it out.
WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF NST?
What does it do that Fripp prefers, that regular tuning can't do?
@@jonbongjovi1869 Yes, I know King Gizzard's microtonal stuff. Mr Fripp's New Standard Tuning extends the range of the guitar, with E going down to C; A going down to G; D staying the same; G going up to A; B going up to E; and E going up to G. "What does it do that Fripp prefers, that regular tuning can't do?" Listen to The League of Crafty Guitarists. CHEERS
@@ericmalone3213 Oh. When I got my first guitar at 17, the FIRST thing I did was change the standard tuning, so my highest note was HIGHER than other guitars and the low was LOWER than other guitars, cuz i hated the REDUNDANCY on a 6 string guitar. (If i could, all my electric guitars would be 4 strings, but they cover the same low-to-high notes of regular 6 strings. You don't need all that waste in there! My electronic uke is my fave! FOUR STRINGS. Keep it super simple! ) (My low note ["E" string] was 5 notes / frets LOWER than Drop D, so whatever that is!)
I gather NST also goes lower and higher than other 6 strings in normal tuning, from what you say. (I refuse to learn the letters of the strings.)
I saw the League of CG with Fripp in the 1980s (or was it 1990s?) and it was pretty stunning if you're in the same room....but i never noticed any pitches or such that seemed unusually low or high.
Of course, Fripp COULD just have more frets put on the higher strings!
EX:
Michael Angelo Batis (sp?) has a guitar with like 28 frets (!) and Uli Jon Roth has one around that many, too.
DOESN'T NST WARP & TWIST THE NECK?
ARE THERE ANY OTHER ADVANTAGES FOR FRIPP or other guitarists?
(I get that cellists and others should use NST for the same shapes they already know....)
@@ericmalone3213 HA: musicians who know Ovation guitars.......get their minds blown when they see my main axe:
ruclips.net/video/S_vxQOH051U/видео.html
2 BIGGEST LESSON I learned accidentally, that we should tell all guitarists:
1)
GO 3/4 guitar! Easier to play! Lighter. More Fun. Etc! Takes up less room, etc!
(Unless ya have really big hands.)
I think that's one reason Chris Squire is my fave bassist ever: BIG DUDE, so that Rickenbacke bass was a toy in his hands!
Thank goodness 3/4 guitars are all over the place now and even in most
Guitar Centers. SMARTEST decision of my entire life, other than...
2)
PRACTICING every day OUTDOORS was smarter than all other decisions I will ever make....COMBINED, holy smokes. (EX: I got paid the FIRST day I owned a drumkit and started practicing in a home depot lot, with my Ludwig JR kit! Funny and small. Sounds great! Neil Peart and Buddy Rich didn't get paid their first day! or their 500th day! I get paid EVERY DAY to practice! And pretty girls all yell out that they love me!)
AND my profit margin is 100% - 200%, while U2 and Metallica's profit margin is like 4%!
THEY HAVE TO TOUR (which is insanely inefficient)...cuz they ONLY PREACH TO THE CONVERTED. (OOOF!)
I play to every human with eyes and ears! (My audience is 99% BIGGER than all the biggest pop and rock acts....COMBINED! every child of every race hears and sees my avant instrumental stunts! every uptight banker hears it! every person who doesn't know much music hears MY music!)
I never run out of paying customers! Plus, they pay me $20 for 1 MINUTE of music (!!) as they're passing by! Not bad!! No one ever paid Led Zep MORE than the ticket price! But most of my tips are over the price of passing by! ($1 is The Normal Tip. Most of my tips are more than that! I get $50s and $100s pretty frequently too!!)
PLAY OUTDOORS PLAY OUTDOORS PLAY OUTDOORS!
Plus it makes everyone smile!
I make strangers DANCE every day, walking down sidewalks in public. It's magical! I control their bodies and minds!! When couples walk by and the gal starts dancing to my loopstorms, I want to say to the dude "Ha! I just MIND-CONTROLLED YOUR GF'S BODY!! SHE IS FEELING ME INSIDE HER RIGHT NOW!"
Fripp/King Crimson have always been outside of the "box" . . which is why they are STILL not in the Corporate Profit Rock 'n Roll Hall of (record sales) Fame.
DrRussPhd or they sold less records cause they suck
@@Ottophil yeah dude, that's definitely true, good job.
Hugh tube Robert fripp is one of the most arrogant and full of themselves musicians who ever lived
Mr Fripp wasn't even aware there was a box to begin with
@@kitchenmaster43 and it works, so, who cares? I don't
Violin, viola, and mandolin are tuned in 5ths, but they have a very short scale length. This tuning can be usable when playing chords, or melodies with large jump intervals, but not scales or linear lines. You can play scales on the higher fret positions, but in lower frets you have to stretch your fingers wide to reach all the notes in the scale.
The Frippaccino
As a tenor guitar player (in both CGDA and GDAE) I love this tuning for the six string (or twelve really--why be limited?). I tuned an old SG 6 string to this on my own I had a while back--didn't realize Robert Fripp tuned this way.
For me the benefit of fifths tuning is a regular tuning with easy chord voicings. I prefer all-fifths, and compared to NST, I would even prefer removing the high G string and only playing with 5 strings in fifths. I'm a big fan of Fripp and the NST idea was a big inspiration for me to try the fifths tuning. I also play very short-scale guitars that have just become more common in the last couple years, which is great for all fifths
Try playing message in a bottle by the police with this tuning it’s way easier
If I have to pee at night, I dont get up, I just a have a 2liter bottle next to my bed.
It's easy to play using drop D tuning.
Very inspiring! Just realized how versatile stuff Reverb uploads!
I tuned a guitar like this after 8 mins of practicing, I could breathe underwater.
1 - My Mandofingers love this!
2 - I have been thinking of converting a 12 string to a 10 string 'cittern' which would be tuned CGDAE in unison pairs. Essentially the bottom 4 strings are a Mandocello and the top 4 are an Octave Mandolin. This is the same, but with the high G added.
If you look around here you'll find videos of some 12 strings converted to this 10 string setup.
Just make sure the neck on the 12 is really well braced. I caved mine across the top of the sound hole and sheared off the neck block when I tried to convert mine to a bass mando cello guitar with 6 double courses.
Fun too, on standard tuning, to pick a chord, say, any major chord, then play all the first inversions of it that your fingers can manage to semi-comfortably 'twister' on the neck, then the second inversion. Then find which open strings 'drone' well with it. Nothing like Fripp's NST, but fun and ear-opening just the same.
Ace. Those scales just burst in Crimso colors with shades reminiscent from the ECM label in the 70's & 80's. Thanks for sharing this.
Strangely enough, reminds me of Josh Homme for some strange reason lol! Maybe because hes a lot in the C standard tuning and is dwelling a lot in the beautiful desert with his sound lol!
It's the Lydian tonality he mentioned in the video, Homme does that as well a lot of the time while soloing.
Jie Lee I was thinking the same thing.
as a fan of both i can see some overlap how they are creating a sinister yet beautiful sound.....
love the idea. i change tuning and time signature all the time just to make new ideas. even if its simple, being a different thing is a major difference
You can always get your strings from a company like Kalium Strings, who can choose the proper gauge string for your scale length and tuning.
Suburban Behemoth only thing is that its very much up to the player to discern what feels best rather than just looking up a chart and hoping it feels okay haha
Seems like a fanned fret guitar would work well for this tuning because of the bigger difference in string tension than standard EADGBE. It's (probably) a similar amount of tension across the board, but each string has been changed considerably, especially the highest and lowest strings. A high E _and_ G is pretty tight!
The similarities in shape with some of Joni Mitchell's later and unique tunings, like Edith and the Kingpin, are interesting.
Nashville tuning gives a nice fresh sound with familiar shapes if you've got a spare guitar and some old strings lying about
Sam Lee What are the strings tuned to?
+Joseph Bastidas g o o g l e
I gotta write that down
@@oldtimetinfoilhatwearer Where is the O note?...I got the E and the G is easy enough, but a bit confused about that L note as well.
@@gplito o = open string
It's interesting to note that the string gauge that is recommended for NST is a set of 011s. Also, the original version of NST was an all fifths tuning, but Fripp had problems getting strings that could do the high B required by the tuning, so he ended up with the last two strings (from low to high) being a minor third apart instead.
The tuning Frank Gambale developed recently seems more rational and can be picked up very fast.
Wow that tuning makes the notes really Ring.
Sounds like some of the QOTSA stuff...when he plays the pentatonics.
Sorry...I mean QOTSA...it was a typo...I edited it.
@Wadsmitter
I don't think Josh Homme took anything from King Crimson.
@@profd65 yeah, if he did his music would sound a lot better
@@joshstiehl1170
Or at least a lot more pretentious.
@@profd65 Touché
A more sensible approach with string tension that I've seen is the OTHER Fourths Tuning ( FCGDAE ) that Tom Quale uses - in theory, "low extended violin." The win with either of these is that a scalar shape doesn't change, no matter where you play the root. Therefore, once you learn a pattern, you can start it on any string without relearning fingering.
Thanks for sharing! Fretless bass/keyboard player here.
Well done! It's so great to see a non Guitar Craft guy dive right in. I'm a (mainly) 4 stringed bassist who's messed around with BEAD, CGDA and other crazy iterations. Breaching plateaus and forcing yourself back to being a novice is as good a reason as any to try this fun stuff!
I think it would be better if it's used to get away from boxed playing and use your ear. Like you can't use what you are used to so you have to use your ears to figure out what sounds good. Rather than playing your old shapes and just have them sound different.
Takes a lot of strenght but, yes :)
But using the same shapes is the whole point. If you're going to try and play the same notes, why even bother changing the tuning?
A much more useful idea in standard tuning from Warren Nunes: Take those familiar shapes and move them up to the next set of strings. Now figure out what chord you're playing.
That was super cool. Thanks!
The best songs I've written were on a left-handed guitar and I'm right-handed, so I totally get this. Very interesting.
the fact that you dont know what its going to sound like is because youre using shapes like you said. There is a discipline in learning an instrument whereby you see beyond the shapes and understand what is happening in a way that doesnt limit you to shapes. these are intervals and harmonic function. i imagine frik used this tuning because it is more versatile, and like you say reaches higher and lower than the typical tuning.
i dont htink it is worth using this tuning only because things sound different when you use the same shapes. ive used this tuning (also from playing around on a violin i bought to try out) and it took me a few minutes to adjust and was able to play, knowing what sound was going to come next.
this tuning will be utilitsed most effectively by an experienced musician who understand what it means to have a tuning stacked in 5ths
The scales sound like Majoras Maks songs in that tuning.
I play in this tuning but a step down (so A#,F,C,G,D,F). I'll put a capo on if I want a higher low note but man it's such a fun tuning! Oxbow plays in a similar tuning (C,G,D,A,B,E) that's also lots of fun to play in.
I like these videos. Simple and great interaction and information. Would you make one talking about the guitar part for Book of Saturday? I just really wanna watch you go into it thats all.
Ahhahaha. I got excited and paused the vid and grabbed my guitar and thru it in new standard because I've done it once ahahha but must have lucked out coz I def snapped my high E tuning it up to that G.
So I unpause it and first thing he says is "do not just go grab your guitar and throw it in New Standard" .
Great video man, you couldn't have said it better I def was curious about it after the first time I played in NS and it just worked out and made sense and great riffs.
😃
Interesting for sure
I forgot about this Joe dude, he was coolx
Interesting. I first heard this in the 90s when he released his CD. Certainly unique, although I don't love all the music I've heard created with this. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because it does make you think and try different ways to create things. Definitely worth check out, in my opinion.
Yes, it is worth to check out, but when you get used to it, also the New Standard Tuning becomes a habit, with all the bad consequences of any habit (repetitivness, mechanicity, etc.). You can think and create different things with the normal tuning too, it is a matter of awareness and musical ideas, not of tunings.
Just curious, what is the signal chain? Tone is awesome!!! Are the pickups on the LP aftermarket?
0:32 *pauses video and tunes guitar accordingly..
*Continues watching until 1:04 😑
Oh snap
@@youwaisef Literally
anddd my hand is bleeding
thank you for that warning about trying to tune your guitar this way.
I got my E string all the way to D before I was wondering how much more she could take lol, thought it was about to snap.
For people looking for more information about this, about Fripp and more related music, you can check the documental Careful With That Axe, which you can find also here in RUclips.
Very cool to see this featured here
Thanks for your lesson, it does actually open one’s mind 😁 I am considering tuning one of my guitars in the NST way and trying to imitate Robert Fripp’s style, this is probably going to be a difficult journey 🤔
Changing tunings is the best way out of a rut that I know of
I ignored the advice and snaped my high e
Ya might wanna change your strings all together with strings designed for this tuning.
@@RockStarOscarStern634 What are some strings designed for this type of tuning?
@@sumumfachunk2591 I know, the Octave4Plus 5ths Tuned String set which is designed to be tuned C, G, D, A, E, B. So the gauges are 50, 44, 26, 11, 8, 6. Octave4Plus successfully went all the way up to B4 at .006 (a whole step above High A on a Tenor Guitar), & even higher to a C5 (a minor third above that Tenor Guitar/Banjo Open A). They're also working on strings designed to be tune even higher up to E5 (along w/ really thin wound strings like 10w, 9.5w, etc).
@@RockStarOscarStern634 Damn, thank you for this.
"Whatever you do, don't do this."
"Don't you tell me what to do!"
*snapping intensifies*
I don't know why this tuning is called "New Standard Tuning" since it's anything but standard. In general, I think alternative tunings are kind of novelties or quite limited. Open tunings, of course are designed with a certain key in mind. Using fifths as intervals might be good for soloing, but actually limits the amount of chord inversion you can play (simply because the large intervals make many inversion impractical or hard to play). There is a reason why a six-string instrument like a guitar is tuned mainly in fourths. For a violin or a mandolin it kind of makes sense since they only have four individual strings.
in 2010 RF suggested to rename the tuning to Guitar Craft Tuning. Since it was not new anymore, and never became standard.
every tuning has its pros and cons. new tuning=new music.
What's the link to the blog?
What gauge are you using for the 1st string? 0.09? 0.08? It's easier to pull off this tuning from a short scale guitar, I think.
Fripp himself uses 10-52s
I have a Steinberger trans scale which is a 28 5/8" scale, I tune it F#(above bass guitar E) to F(Above guitar high e) in straight 5ths. My string gauges are 72-52-34-21-11.5-8. I used Daddario's tension calculator to come up with those gauges along with a little trial and error.
NST is really a compromised tuning to accommodate the limitations of strings and standard guitars. Having such a long scale length I can start my series of 5ths much lower than one could on a standard guitar.
Let's just go Lou Reed and tune every string to D.
Andy Prokopyk ぬ
If we wanted to maintain the fifths thing all the way without worrying about popping the highest string, we could do FCGDAE. That would maintain the range of a regular tuning while also getting into the 8 string register.
Excellent sounding guitar Joe
✌️🎶💕✌ another video on how to setup & pick strings, please!
Yes...what blog and where?
I think Ernie ball slinky top heavy bottoms will work, you can go onto the new standard tuning Wikipedia page and see the string gauge for them.
This is inspiring, thank you!
Except for the G on top, you're basically just in mandolin-family tuning. Any mandolinist or mandolist (or violinist, for that matter) could just ignore the top string and all the fingerings would be normal for them.
I played around with an all-5ths guitar tuning for a long time: CGDAEB
The top "B" is too high to get with steel strings, so I use a classical guitar, and I use 0.019 monofilament fishing line for the top string. Even that breaks more frequently than any of the other strings, but I can usually get a couple of weeks out of it before it snaps. And it's cheap enough to replace -- I get a 100 yard roll of monofilament for what a standard single string costs. :)
I love the tuning: it's like having a mandocello, mandola, and mandolin in one instrument.
With the VG-99, you set each string tuning individually, so you don't have to stress the strings and change intonation every time you change settings.😗🧐😎
Thanks so much for this video! I've been needing this!
The man is a genius.
Stanley Jordan tunes to perfect fourths e a d g c f. Top two strings tuned up 1/2 step.
Learn about the string gauges on “the blog”....
What blog?
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i once tuned my tele to 5ths, very interesting sound for sure
Odd I just saw a Tony Levin video where he talked about his Chapman stick and how he tuned it in fifths...isn't that what Fripp's done here ? Also I remember Adrian Belew saying how at first Crimson's music was difficult and how he had to "work it out" before he had it (sounded laborious) but then he finally saw that Fripp "did everything in fifths " and it was no problem after that and laughed. Am I remembering that correctly ?
Eastman D i believe the chapman stick is tuned in 4ths if I’m not mistaken.
I did look back at the Levin video and he said his Chapman stick was 12 string (most have 10) and the bass strings were tuned in fifths. The rest are guitar strings and are probably tuned in fourths like regular guitar tuning. Thanks for the nudge...should have done that in the first place. I thought I was onto something....
MusicManxxxxx
1
It's both. In fact you can tune it how you like but in the 80s the Stick was generally shipped with 5th on the bass side and 4ths on the treble side.
Shapes ! Of things be on my mind
Very cool! Gonna have to try this out
Definitely gonna try this out!
Cool , gonna give it a try. Thanks
Interesting. I found a tuning used by Agustin Barrios (I don't know if he invented or not) that's almost become standard for me. I find it very easy to write new songs in. You simply tune both the 5th and 6th strings down a whole step: DGDGBE
What are the advantages of this tuning?
I learned on a guitar missing the D string and i tuned it to CG CEG. It help me learn super fast
Can we have a link to the blog post that specifically addresses the string gauges and scale lengths - I want to give this a try, but as it stands, there is no way that the high E will survive being tuned up to a G.
Thanks!
Awesome video!
I’ve thought about trying this for Metal with all the strings tuned down a step and a half. 🤔
Reverb It wasn't possible to have a High B String till today and if you wanna add a High B String an Octave4+ .006 High B will do the trick. Keep in mind you'll wanna change your Strings for this one so that way the tension isn't too much but this tuning is intended to broaden the range of your Guitar and treat it as if it was an Orchestral string instrument. Robert Fripp combined Classial Music with Rock by using Fifths tuning with a High G, not a High B cause that wasn't possible till Octave4+ used a .006.