Topic: St. Cecelia

[Lyle Lofgren]

Friday, Nov. 22, is St. Cecelia's day. She's the patron saint of musicians. Be sure to play a piece in her honor. If you do not, you will be cursed with such sensitivity to dissonance that you'll be unable to tune your guitar, and only you will be able to hear that it's out of tune. While you're incessantly tuning, your audience will leave, at least mentally. A couple of weeks ago, I attended an event where the guy on stage did this eternal tuning act. It was very painful. So be warned.

Lyle

[uncle bud]

Done. Although clearly I've missed it in the past, giving my fine tuning proclivities.

[One-Eyed Ross]

Oh, sure, NOW I read this....after years and years of not singing to her.

(Thankfully, I own one of them there fancy 'lectric do-dah thingies....it helps a bit).

[Lyle Lofgren]

Ross -- This guy I was suffering through while he tuned had one of those electronic tuners, too. The trouble seemed to be that his ear was more sensitive to discord than the device. If it wasn't the Curse of St. Cecelia, it was the curse of something.

Lyle

[Stumblin]

I use an electronic tuner too, very handy. But...
Is it just me, or does anyone else hate the sight of someone playing with the damn tuner clipped onto the headstock? I don't know why, but it just looks wrong and it really gets my goat. Take it off after tuning, I say.
Maybe I'll start a campaign, but not today, I've got other stuff to do.

[One-Eyed Ross]

Gotta admit, that bothers me, too...when I purchased mine, the lady at the store said "When you're done, you can just leave it clipped to the headstock"....which is the exact thing she said when she sold me a new capo...and said the same thing to a guy before me when she sold him a pick holder.  How big does she thing the head stock is?

[Lyle Lofgren]

One of my sons (the only one who plays guitar) has a tuning app on his smart phone. I don't know how well it ignores other noises (the first tuner I bought thought I would be interested in the tuning of the forced-air furnace / air conditioner), but at least there's no way to keep it clipped to the headstock.

Lyle

[CF]

I play in a string band/bluegrass act & bang the shit out of my guitar. We don't plug in but play around a single condenser mic. Leaving the tuner on the guitar is critical for someone like me who goes out of tune a lot. Before I could leave the tuner clipped to the head stock I'd have to run to the back of the stage & try to tune as fast as possible. Now I can just yak & tune & stay put.

[Stumblin]

Cheapfeet, I see what you mean.
Perhaps a tuner that fits discreetly out of sight of the fussier audience members is what's needed. Does such a thing exist?
By the way, sorry for dragging this thread off-topic.

[CF]

I picked up a cheapo tuner that stays on the headstock with the screen hidden on the back. Unfortunately, it sucks. It tends to tune the high E sharp & etc . . .

[Lyle Lofgren]

None of  this is off-topic. St. Cecelia is tolerant, as long as you pay attention to her.

Lyle