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Topic: Watchin the Strobe go Round-N- Round |
Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 1 Aug 2009 9:53 am |
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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. 
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Dave Harmonson
From:
Seattle, Wa
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Posted 1 Aug 2009 10:03 am
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I'm with you Stu, who cares about being in tune if there's pretty girls to watch.  |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Michael Haselman
From:
St. Paul
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Posted 1 Aug 2009 10:16 am
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If you can't trust your ear, steel guitar or fiddle or any other fretless instrument is probably not for you.
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Mullen RP D10, Peavey NV112, Hilton volume. Hound Dog reso. Piles of other stuff. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 1 Aug 2009 10:33 am
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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!
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Jon Light (deceased)
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 1 Aug 2009 11:03 am
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| 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. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 1 Aug 2009 11:11 am
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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? 
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Jeff Valentine
From:
Colorado Springs, USA
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Posted 1 Aug 2009 3:27 pm
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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 |
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Keith Junot
From:
Alaska, USA
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Posted 1 Aug 2009 7:42 pm
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| i think when the Bandleader called out the Key of the next song , he was referring to his tuner for a relative note ... |
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Bo Legg
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Posted 3 Aug 2009 4:12 pm
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| 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. |
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Jeff Valentine
From:
Colorado Springs, USA
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Posted 3 Aug 2009 4:29 pm
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| 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... |
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Jeff Hyman
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 3 Aug 2009 7:03 pm Re: Watchin the Strobe go Round-N- Round
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| 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. |
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Matthew Prouty
From:
Warsaw, Poland
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Posted 4 Aug 2009 7:46 am
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Jeff, he was using the strobe to check his intonation not to check to see if the guitar was in tune.
m. |
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Ron Randall
From:
Dallas, Texas, USA
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Posted 4 Aug 2009 1:11 pm
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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. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 4 Aug 2009 5:33 pm
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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.
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Jeff Hyman
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 4 Aug 2009 6:26 pm
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| 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. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 4 Aug 2009 6:29 pm
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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.
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 4 Aug 2009 6:43 pm
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| 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? |
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Chris Erbacher
From:
Sausalito, California, USA
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Posted 4 Aug 2009 6:48 pm
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| 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? |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 4 Aug 2009 6:54 pm
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Earnest,Not yet maybe in a couple of months?Sounded like a couple of alley cats in a duffel bag.
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Jonathan Shacklock
From:
London, UK
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Posted 5 Aug 2009 5:37 am
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| 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. |
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Ron Randall
From:
Dallas, Texas, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2009 7:28 pm
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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) |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 6 Aug 2009 4:07 am Re: Watchin the Strobe go Round-N- Round
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| 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. |
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Jeff Valentine
From:
Colorado Springs, USA
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Posted 6 Aug 2009 6:28 am
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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 |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 6 Aug 2009 7:32 am
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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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-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Doing so would inhibit one's playing more than help it, in my opinion. It sounds like obsessive behavior!