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If you’ve been playing guitar for more than a few months, I am sure you’ve discovered that strings have a huge impact on tone. When it comes to acoustic instruments, this impact is even more pronounced. String materials change the tonal quality of the instrument. The strings you choose can add brightness, add warmth, and effect finger and fret board noise. Moreover, old grimy strings can make a $1,000 guitar sound like a $100 starter instrument.
Acoustic baritone guitars are no exception to this rule - they impact the tone of your acoustic baritone guitar. Moreover, with baritone strings costing more than standard guitar strings, you will want to do your research and get this expensive and tone-impacting purchase right without testing every brand under the sun. To that end, we’ve put together a profile of the 3 best baritone acoustic guitar strings for you.
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A Great Composition from a True Baritone Virtuoso
As guitarists and musicians, most of us are always on the lookout for ways to push the limits of our creativity and playing. Thankfully, the internet has made it easy to find lessons from master level musical mentors. In this post, we've dug up one such youtube session with solo instrumentalist and baritone artist Andy McKee.
Read on to watch Andy Mckee's performance of "Ebon Coast" and his short lesson on playing techniques and songwriting. After the video, we will highlight three takeaways for every baritone player.
In part one of our complete guide to alternative tuning for baritone guitar, we explored B and A standard tunings (perfect fourth and perfect fifth standard), multiple open major chord tunings, and Pat Metheny’s, “Half Nashville” baritone tuning.
Well, I hope your tuning pegs are rested, because we’re back with another tour de force of peg-twisting alternative tunings for your baritone. If you are ready to spark your creativity, expand your sonic horizons, and get out of that musical rut, let’s dive into our first tuning.
In the Spring of 1999, I stumbled across an issue of of Guitar Player Magazine. The cover feature was entitled "15 Days to Better Chops" and the article guaranteed "dramatic improvement in playing" in 15 days with just 15 minutes of practice a day. I plunked down about $4.95 for the magazine. The article lived up to the guarantee and I have considered it to be some of the best money I ever spent.
Baritones: the Magic is in the Tuning.
When you get right down to it, a lot of the magic of the baritone guitar is in the tuning. The reason one creates music on a baritone is because of the deep and rich tones created by playing in a lower register.
Sadly, the average baritone player never ventures beyond standard tuning and thus never experiences the instrument's full potential. However, if you're reading this article, you are not the average baritone player. So, check the batteries in your chromatic tuner. Its time to twist some pegs and adjust some strings. Here is part one our complete (or, nearly complete) guide to traditional and alternative baritone tuning.
Nashville tuning may not be something you typically associate with the baritone guitar. However, in this video, virtuoso Pat Metheny beautifully demonstrates what his half Nashville alternative tuning can offer to baritone players.
You could spend a lifetime trying to copy Pat's musical styling. Fortunately, emulating this tuning takes minutes.
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