(First, let me apologize for the length of the set-up for this. I hope the you find it worth wading through. I'm trying to show how funny it was, as well as including enough background to keep me from looking a total fool. Oh well, one out of two . . .
)
Jr, that reminds me of a really embarassing situation that happened to me a couple of years ago. I had been out of circulation for a number of years, and had just started playing again and had started a band. We started out as a project to help this chick singer/songwriter make a demo.
We started talking about going on as a band beyond that, but none of us wanted to just back up this chick (Randi). Two of us also wrote songs and wanted to do them. The chick wasn't much use except to do her material, as her guitar skills were pretty basic (at a live show, she had to have someone tune her guitar for her, and always paid a music store to change the strings). She ended up playing tambourine and doing some backing vocals.
She apparently got a big head about the whole thing (she was the star and we were her backing band
), and got into a run-in with the guy who had put the whole thing together (Tom), about playing her anti-drinking song at a private party where they specifically asked us not to play it. It got pretty ugly I guess, and he kicked her out of the band. Later, they talked and made up - after all, he had gotten her a demo (though I cringe to hear it now). As a peace offering, she bought him a tuner, but she was out of the band, no question.
Tom had a tuner, but now he gave the old one away and started using the new tuner. I had not previously used a tuner, being old school and all. I had a tuning fork. We had gotten into the habit of tuning to Tom, since he had the tuner.
This went on for a couple of months as we practiced to get ready to play out in this format. Some one of our friends told this metal player that we'd be interested in jamming. This guy had a nice new Peavey combo with a built-in tuner that had to be 50-100 watts with a couple of twelves. Unfortunately, in order to get the highly distorted ethereal tone he craved, he had to set it up in such a way that the amp produced only very low volume. He wanted to play through our p.a. to see what it would sound like at higher volume. Although we weren't really interested in doing any metal jamming, we let him plug in, and miked him.
I'm usually pretty good at picking up and playing along with about anything, but I couldn't for the life of me get anything to work with this guy. I let him go his way and just watched until he was done, so we could get back to practice (he had just dropped in out of the blue). I chalked it up to him playing some de-tuned stuff, and that huge grinding tone not leaving much room for other guitar parts. This was the first clue, but I didn't pick it up.
I have a blind friend (Chuck) who plays keys and tunes pianos who I've jammed with on and off over the years. He came over to jam with the band a few times during this period, and we found that we had to tune down to be in tune with his Rhodes. We asked him if he couldn't tune the thing up, as it was really flat. He said he hadn't tuned it for awhile, but he thought it was close to as sharp as it would go. He couldn't understand how it could be that far off and yet be in tune with itself, but he didn't make a big deal out it. We just tuned to him when he was there. When he wasn't around, we tuned to Tom's new tuner, which obviously couldn't be wrong. This was clue #2, but I still didn't get it, though it made me think, because Chuck has good ears, and though the Rhodes was old, it should still be able to be brought into tune. It became a joke that when Chuck came over we had to tune to him. Damn Chuck, you're a piano tuner! Can't you get that thing in tune?
About this time, we went into a little studio to do some recording. Tom went in and laid down his tunes, using his tuner. Then I went in and did my tunes and put leads on his stuff. Only when I went to play his stuff, I was way flat. This was disturbing, as my guitar doesn't usually go out that much, but I went ahead and tuned to him. But this stuff was finally starting to make an impression on me.
(I can't resist including this: We were using an old crummy Peavey bass we had borrowed at this time, but the engineer had arranged for us to use a friend's good 5-string. He said something about having had to tune it up quite a bit after he brought it home, and was surprised the the owner didn't keep it more in tune. When our bassist started using it, he found it still wasn't in tune with the recorded material, and he had to tune it up more. Somewhere in there, I asked whether it was equipped with a low B or a high C string. The engineer was sure it was a high C, because his tuner, which accomodated up to a six string bass, went to E first (or some similar logic), and not the low B. I wasn't that experienced with 5-strings, but I was sure I'd seen some with the low B - and maybe we should try tuning it that way. Well, in the process of getting it up to pitch, a string broke
!
Fortunately, we had the other bass with us, and pulled a string off that to replace it. I had to persuade these guys even then, that it should be tuned with a low B!)
At some point, I had to do leads on one of his and one of mine at the same session. On my tunes, I could tune to the studio tuner and be in tune with the recording. On Tom's stuff, I had to tune up most of a half tone. The engineer and I speculated that the studio tuner could be off, as it was old. Tom's tuner was new, and it was a more expensive model, so it should be right.
I played around with the studio tuner, noting that it could be set to other than 440, but that it went back to 440 when you switched it off. It looked to be ok.
The next practice, we were talking about the mystery of this tuning problem. I got an idea (finally). "Hey, Tom, let me see that tuner." I checked it out. It looked similar to the other one. I noticed a number on the screen, "446". That looked suspicious. I turned it off and back on. It still said 446. I tried calibrating it, and got it back to 440. Turned it off and on, still 440. Tuned it up again, it stayed where it was set even when power was turned off! Mystery solved. The thing had gotten out of calibration by accident, the button hit by mistake, or just Tom playing with it.
Tom is a good guy with a lot of energy, and you think he knows what he's doing. But he doesn't know anything about hertz or avis or any of that jazz. I explained it to him. His old unit was adjustable, but it defaulted to A440. This one was more sophisticated, and would accomodate players who habitually used alternate tunings. It was a nice present. I still call it Randi's Revenge. Come to think about it, she might've set it up that way on purpose - but no, she's not that smart.
So Tom is a constant source of amusement to this day. We actually thought he knew what he was doing, and we won't make that mistake again!
The thing is, I've been doing this stuff for longer than I like to admit
, though I hadn't been active (playing out) for maybe ten years or more at that time, and I make no claim to perfect pitch. My only excuse is that I wasn't used to using tuners, and didn't realize you could change the set point until I played around with one. The tuner has to be right, doesn't it?
Another surprising thing is that our bassist at the time was a performance major, and had extensive ear training, claiming to have near perfect pitch, but he didn't pick up on it. I'm thinking his claims were somewhat exaggerated.
I also remember now, when we were struggling with the 5-string bass in the studio, the string didn't break when it was tuned up a fourth. It was that last almost half step that broke it.
The postscript to this fiasco, which includes some completed recorded material tuned almost a half step sharp (on a cd we were already selling), is an article in the local paper on the Lodi Corn Festival, a summer celebration in a little town near here with a cachet somewhat less than the county fair. In the talent show, Randi (29) placed third, behind a nine year old playing the fiddle and an eleven year old singing "Cry". How's that taste, Randi?
Anyway, I no longer trust anyone else with my tuning. I've got my own tuner. Lesson learned. As my dad would say, I learned the hard way.