Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

Hi Folks!
My last semester here in school and I have to say, its quite an interesting one. Taking two excruciatingly boring classes but my poetry class saves me from insanity with my semester long poetry project which I am so very thrilled about.

It is an incredible chance to get myself together and build a more substantial piece of work since my vigor for writing has been in remission for some time now. Been writing a few pieces for this project that I'm feeling okay about. Coming up with some innovative ways of presenting my work at the end of the semester. Its going to be one large piece of artwork, photgraphy, sound and poetry, and I just had to share with all of you since I've been missing in action for so long, been a dejected and wretched artist for so long and finally some hope to really write again...

For you musicians out there, I have a question for you: what is the lowest note you can hit on a piano and what the lowest chord you can strike on a guitar?

Good luck to you and your project!!!!
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BMW 340

well lowest guitar chord would have to be a variation of the E. prolly i guess an e-minor. unless you want to say that the lowest possible 2-string combination is a chord, which would be A-E, which is an A5 at its most basic structure.

unless you want to tune down to a low D. like my boy keith richards.

The lowest note you can hit on the piano is an A, 3 octaves and 2 whole notes below middle C.

All the best with your project, Lucy!

Good to see ya around here!

hey Lucy, good to see your face

yeah, that's the first rule of writing--do it every day--keep the hand moving.

firsty,
I didn't know that Kieth Richards tuned his guitar down. Of course Hendrix did it down to a left-handed Eb.

yes, keith uses open tuning, Es to D, B to A. anyway, open tuning, with the is it 5th sus-9 to get the chord variations in

brown sugar
start me up
cant always get what you want
waiting on a friend
satisfaction
everything else they play.

actually, no. wait. i mean, yeah, he plays down to D. but he also plays 5-string, no low E, which inspired his original open tuning.

firsty,

the open tuning thing is an old trick for musicians and composers who are not great musicians. Like I said, Hendrix tuned his guitar down and Irving Berlin could only play in one key, so he had a piano built which had a lever on it that would shift the sound board so that he could change keys to adapt to the singers. The little plastic keyboard that I play has a handy button that transposes for you.

Most folk instruments are open tuned or tuned to a particular chord. I was in Jamaica one time playing with a traditional reggae band. The bass box (it's like a giant kalimba) was tuned to G, so all the tunes were in G.

I played with a jazz harpist who used a mexican gut stringed harp and he retuned it for every set so we could change keys.

As a flute player, I can play in any key, but some of them are a nightmare utility-wise.

I wonder if Richards tuned around to match Jagger's vocal range or just to make it easier for him to play?

i had my guitar strung like richards for a while. no low E, capo, open tuning. it's fun because you can really rock out and vary the chords without much effort. but it gets boring. the legend as keith would have it is that he broke the low E, couldnt afford a new one, so adjusted his chords and tuning to compensate. you can prolly hear that chord change in most stones songs. the entire melody of "get what you want" is done with 2 chords, mostly just hitting a finger here and there to make it sing. the "start me up" opener is easy - just G then hitting the 7 and hi 2. tweak on the traditional blues riff. 1-5, 1-5-7...

richie havens of course played open tuning in his famous woodstock appearance, just power chords by moving one long finger up and down the neck. i saw up close a few times, used to come around to hoboken music festivals. amazing performer and singer.

did we just hijack a thread?

best wishes, Lucy!
Post something here when you finish it, sí?
saludos,

Arcadia

** no idea about musical notation **