Question regarding chords and tunings

@FretDancer69 6142 wrote:

Hey guys, i have a question that might be kind of stupid but i still don’t get it anyway and ive seen it in many occasions. Ok here it is.

In this song we have the G chord which we all know is this one:

And its all good until, i tell you that the song’s tuning is 1 half step down! And they still label the chord as G. Is that really correct? I mean, i know that shape is G when the guitar is in Standard Tuning, but can it still be a G if all the notes are one half step below? Including the open strings that are strummed. Sorry if this is a stupid question but ive seen it a lot of times and with other common chords too..

Thanks..

Hey FretDancer, 🙂

First of all, there are NO stupid questions, just stupid answers! (LOL!) 😉

OK, your question is an excellent one actually! Here’s how I see it:

What your dealing with regarding non-standard guitar tunings are actually two different sets of definitions! I don’t know how familiar you are with certain orchestral/band instruments, but let’s take the trumpet for example. The trumpet is, what is called a transposing-instrument. That is to say, that a “B-Flat” trumpet is essentially the equivalent to a guitar that is tuned down a whole-step!!! Believe it or not, they are essentially the same in that regard. Let me further explain with actual “note-examples.” You see, if you were reading a trumpet-chart, (again B-Flat trumpet) and you came upon a “C-Natural Note,” when you play a “C-Note,” a “B-Flat Note” actually comes out of the instrument! That’s why it’s classified as a transposing instrument. Now let’s go back to our (beloved) guitar! If all of your strings were “tuned-down a whole-step,” and you came upon a “C-Natural Note” in your music (ya, like a guitarist can read, right?!? – LOL!) But seriously, you play a “C-Natural Note” on your guitar that has been tuned-down a whole step.” What’s the absolute pitch (note-name) that comes out of the guitar? It’s just like the trumpet, the answer is “B-Flat!” So just like the trumpet is a transposing instrument (down a whole-step from what is notated,) the guitar that is tuned-down a whole-step, is also technically a transposing instrument! 😎 Well, they still sound different (timbre) and guitar is polyphonic, (chords possible) whereas trumpet is monophonic (no chords possible, by itself!)

OK, so we covered the concept in general terms. Now onto your specific example:

You cited the scenario whereby an open “G-Major” chord is presented on guitar. In guitar terms (regardless of your instrument’s concert-pitch,) you are playing a “G-Major” SHAPE, right? So, you wouldn’t ever think of that fingering as anything BUT a “G-Major” chord because of your familiarity with it’s shape/fingering, correct? So amongst guitarists, (like say if you had two guitarists in your band, and both of you are tuned down a half-step (I would HOPE! – LOL!) So you and the “rhythm-guitarist” (after all, we’re all lead-guitarists here at Infinite Guitar, right?!? – LOL!) Anyways, you two guitarists would refer to that open “G Major” chord as a “G-Major” chord! HOWEVER, if you have to deal with say a piano-player who happens to be playing a real piano (NOT a sampling synthesizer with a transpose function on it!) then you’d have to refer to that chord as an “F-Sharp Major” chord, because that is the chord’s correct absolute-pitch name! Get it??? 😮

Now HERE’S where it gets REALLY confusing! (LOL!) :confused:

If you’re in a drop-tuning, say like standard-pitched “Dropped-D” tuning, and you were to play a “one-finger-barred” power chord at the 5th position. Based on the “transposing-instrument rationale, you might think that the lowest note in this chord should be referred to as an “A-Natural Note,” correct? WRONG! :rolleyes: In this case, you go by the absolute-pitch’s note-name, which is “G-Natural.” Therefore, the correct chord name, (as shown in the example below,) is “G5”:

G5

E1

I guess the rationale here is that since only one string is tuned differently, then it’s NOT that hard to keep track of and to name by it’s proper “absolute pitch-name.” :rolleyes:

See, if you learned a nice instrument like Piano, you’d never have to deal with this stuff! (LOL!) Then again, think of all the quirky and cool sounds and techniques you’d miss out on if you played piano and NOT guitar (string-bending, vibrato, slide-guitar, whammy-bar, harmonics, feedback, alternate-tunings, etc.) Try any of THAT stuff on your grandma’s grand-piano! (Piano is VERY cool & musical in it’s OWN brilliant way though!) 😎

I hope this helped?!?

Lemme know if there’s anything here you didn’t follow!

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

@FretDancer69 6148 wrote:

We guitarists call those chords shapes (in different tuning) as if it were in standard tunning? Is that what you said: YES! That’s exactly correct, but only when ALL STRINGS are tuned-down the same amount (like a half-step, or a whole-step, etc! That way all common “standard-tuned” chord & scale shapes, remain unchanged! 😉

And yes, I actually do have a piano and recently started playing again after like 5 years of no playing. And you said exactly what i was telling myself while i was playing!:D No cool stuff, vibrato, bends, etc. Actually when i was holding a note on the piano for a long time I actually did like a vibrato motion on the key haha i laughed at myself:D.

Now, only to make sure if i understood this: :p

You say that the lowest note would be G. Since we are playing a barre on the 5th which the lowest would be A, but you said we were 1 whole step down, so thats why its G right? Is that what you were trying to say? : Look CLOSELY at the Dropped-D tuning that I had notated in my last message. NOT ALL strings are down a whole-step in Dropped-D tuning! Only the lowest-pitched 6th string is down a whole-step. That being said, YES! That’s why the 5th-fret note (in that tuning) is correctly called a “G” note.

The confusing aspect of this is that if you tune ALL-STRINGS down-a whole-step (see example shown below) and then you play a standard-shaped power chord in the 5th-position, that chord would be referred to as an “A5,” (NOT a “G5” like as in the Dropped-D example from the previous message):

*******A5****** Even though the “absolute-pitch” of this chord yields a “G5”
D1

---

A2

---

F3

---

C4

---

7

---

G5

---

7

---

D6

---

5

---

(Obviously the 5th-position “A5” power-chord is REALLY a “G-rooted” power-chord in terms of it’s absolute-pitch.) However, just like in your initial/original question/example, (with the open-G major chord) we ended up referring to that chord as “G-major,” NOT by it’s correct absolute-pitch name of “F-Sharp major.” 😎

It seems like you’re on the right track from what you ascertained from above.

I’m sorry if I managed to confuse matters, but I wanted you to see that the “conventions” used in notated guitar-music ARE NOT consistent! There are exceptions, based on the context and specific nature of the “guitar-tuning in question.”

Let me know if you have any further questions, general, specific, or otherwise! 😀

~Bill Meehan~