Originally Posted by
JeffD
I would like to think it is not the case, and would not be for The Complete Musician, but for me, what instrument I came from limits my playing on the instrument I land on. I am a mandolinner through and through, and have a conception of the fretboard for mandolin, or at least fifths tuning, ingrained in my brain. It would be a huge effort, feeling like a backwards step, to seriously consider really learning a different fretboard. (As proven by my half hearted attempt to make progress on standard guitar.) So when I want a deeper sound, I gravitate to fifth tuned deeper instruments. And I play them mandolinishly.
But I think you are seeking something different, more like what decision would one make without any prior instrument bias?
There is a natural fit for these kinds of things, in my over thinking of this.
My thinking is that the tonal distance between strings should match about a full spread hands breadth. So one covers all the notes reachable on one string without shifts, before moving up to the next string.
So for example: a regular guitar: The frets are far enough apart that chromatic playing (one finger one fret) is the norm, and a full hands breadth is around a fourth. So the strings are tuned in fourths.
On a mandolin the frets are closer together, and diatonic playing is more normal (one finger two frets more or less), and a full hands breadth is around a fifth. So the strings are tuned in fifths.
My thoughts are that departures from these require accommodations. So an instrument like a tenor guitar or an octave mandolin, tuned in fifths, the frets are far enough apart to make it more comfortable to play chromatically, yet after going the full hands breadth there are more notes on that string to get before going up a string. Or one could try and play diatonically and streeeeatch those fingers. Or, of course, play chords.
I have a tenor guitar, tuned in fifths, and I wrestle with these two options all day. Of course I could become a chord monster, which a lot of tenor guitar players are.
I hope that helps somewhat, or at least adds some ideas to the pile.
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