Watchin the Strobe go Round-N- Round

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 1 Aug 2009 9:53 am

I went to see a friend of mine play few weeks ago and noticed his eyes were glued to his Peterson Strobe-O-Flip,he was checking his pitch after he hit a note?then he would move the bar until it was right with the strobe?What am I missing here? do other players do that? I usually watch my left hand or pretty girls.

Dave Harmonson · Post by **Dave Harmonson** » 1 Aug 2009 10:03 am

I'm with you Stu, who cares about being in tune if there's pretty girls to watch.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 1 Aug 2009 10:07 am

do other players do that?

No. There's no need to constantly look at the tuner while playing, unless something is wrong with the guitar.

Doing so would inhibit one's playing more than help it, in my opinion. It sounds like obsessive behavior!

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 1 Aug 2009 10:16 am

If you can't trust your ear, steel guitar or fiddle or any other fretless instrument is probably not for you.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 1 Aug 2009 10:33 am

I had to watch a tuning meter once to play alto recorder in a session. It's too easy to go sharp on that instrument if you're not careful.

Sometimes the stage environment doesn't give you a good balance for reference pitch. For example, on one outdoor gig all I could hear was the fretless bass, drums and vocals. For some strange reason the rhythm guitars weren't in my monitor mix. I could have used a visual pitch reference on that gig!

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 1 Aug 2009 11:03 am

b0b wrote:.....on one outdoor gig all I could hear was the fretless bass, drums and vocals......

I'd have used the drums for reference.

Was your guy high, Stu? That strobe can be awfully compelling.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 1 Aug 2009 11:11 am

Jon,I'm not sure if he was buzzzed or not,At first I thought he was watching a DVD,He hasn't been playing long but has a very good guitar "Mullen",I assume that he thinks this will make him play more in tune? or maybe he is just spacing out on the Strobe spinning?

Jeff Valentine · Post by **Jeff Valentine** » 1 Aug 2009 3:27 pm

That sounds like a pretty risky way to take your attention away from the music. The only time it would maybe be helpful is if everyone else in the band was rock solid in tune, and how often does that happen....

-Jeff

Keith Junot · Post by **Keith Junot** » 1 Aug 2009 7:42 pm

i think when the Bandleader called out the Key of the next song , he was referring to his tuner for a relative note ...

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 3 Aug 2009 4:12 pm

Them strobe tuners are so expensive he was probably just keeping an eye on it. He'd be better off watching the people standing near the stage, nobody in the band would know how to use a tuner.

Jeff Valentine · Post by **Jeff Valentine** » 3 Aug 2009 4:29 pm

I recently did a recording session and a guitar player in the other band borrowed my stroboflip tuner because he was convinced it was better than his. I use one of the steel sweetener tunings and wasn't there to tell him how to switch it over to equal temperament. Yep, you guessed it.... He played his portion of the session that day with a compensated steel guitar tuning...

Jeff Hyman · Post by **Jeff Hyman** » 3 Aug 2009 7:03 pm

Stu Schulman wrote:...he was checking his pitch after he hit a note?then he would move the bar until it was right with the strobe?

I don't understand moving the bar. Tuning with a Strob-O-flip is with open strings (or harmonics). Right? I've got to tell you, my Strobe-O-Rack is a blessing when the G# breaks and needs fine tuning in the middle of the next song.

Matthew Prouty · Post by **Matthew Prouty** » 4 Aug 2009 7:46 am

Jeff, he was using the strobe to check his intonation not to check to see if the guitar was in tune.

m.

Ron Randall · Post by **Ron Randall** » 4 Aug 2009 1:11 pm

Way back in the '50s, our school band instructor had a Conn strobe tuner. Each of us had individual practice time using the strobe, to learn how to play on pitch.
Trumpets, trombones, clarinets, saxaphones, violins, bass.

Lots of ways to use a strobe.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 4 Aug 2009 5:33 pm

Ron,If the Strobe is set to the E9th setting Vs. the Just Intonation setting the left hand would not be in the same place that's what confuses me.

Jeff Hyman · Post by **Jeff Hyman** » 4 Aug 2009 6:26 pm

Matthew Prouty wrote:Jeff, he was using the strobe to check his intonation not to check to see if the guitar was in tune.

Doesn't harmonics accomplish this too? I think I'm missing something.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 4 Aug 2009 6:29 pm

He had tuned the guitar to the strobe when he got to the gig...He was checking to see if his left hand "Bar Hand" was in tune with the strobe.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 4 Aug 2009 6:43 pm

Stu Schulman wrote:He was checking to see if his left hand "Bar Hand" was in tune with the strobe.

So was he in tune?

Chris Erbacher · Post by **Chris Erbacher** » 4 Aug 2009 6:48 pm

hey jeff...so when the guitar player borrowed your strobe to tune his guitar and ended up doing his tracks with a sweetened steel tuning...how did his parts come out? could he tell that he wasn't tuned ET?

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 4 Aug 2009 6:54 pm

Earnest,Not yet maybe in a couple of months?Sounded like a couple of alley cats in a duffel bag.

Jonathan Shacklock · Post by **Jonathan Shacklock** » 5 Aug 2009 5:37 am

Steve Howe (Yes) tells an anecdote* in Andy Volk's book about having a tuner set up on stage to get the last sustained squeal of a particular lap steel solo in tune so it didn't throw the rest of the band off when they came back in. I can maybe see it helping in a one off situation like that. *I didn't say it would get him laid.

Ron Randall · Post by **Ron Randall** » 5 Aug 2009 7:28 pm

Stu

I don't know the answer to your question. Perhaps someone else will.

The strobe units will tell you what pitch is being played at that moment. The pitch is measured in Hz and cents. It is very accurate.

One has to decide if that pitch is "right".

I find it useful to sing or whistle a pitch and see how long I can hold it. (not long)

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 6 Aug 2009 4:07 am

Stu Schulman wrote:I went to see a friend of mine play few weeks ago and noticed his eyes were glued to his Peterson Strobe-O-Flip,he was checking his pitch after he hit a note?then he would move the bar until it was right with the strobe?What am I missing here?

Of course, it goes without saying he never hit a chord, or used vibrato. If he was a race driver in the "Indy 500", he'd probably be using a G.P.S. unit to navigate his way around the track.

Jeff Valentine · Post by **Jeff Valentine** » 6 Aug 2009 6:28 am

Chris,

I haven't heard the cuts of the guitar player after using the sweetened strobe tuning yet. They'll certainly be a little out, but I'm not sure whether he did alot of strumming or lines that morning or what. I just think it's funny that he used it and didn't notice it was a little out. Tuners are a great tool, but so are the ears......

-Jeff

admin · Post by **b0b** » 6 Aug 2009 7:32 am

Luckily, a guitar doesn't have any G#, C#, D# or F strings.

E, A and B are probably pretty close. What's the Peterson setting for the D and G notes? Are they noticeably sharp of ET?

Back to the steel player watching the strobe... I hope he didn't leave it set to the sweetened JI tuning of the open strings. That would certainly mess him up once he started playing up the neck in different keys.

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Watchin the Strobe go Round-N- Round

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