Talk:Ostrich guitar

D or A#?

The IMDb entry says he tuned all of the strings to D, but the 33⅓ book for The Velvet Underground & Nico claims A#. Pele Merengue 21:49, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Meaningful article?

What an absolute waste of space this is. No, really. I mean that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.167.255.155 (talk) 00:53, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for that insight. 66.87.6.233 (talk) 22:59, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Really? I'd never heard of ostrich tuning before, and this article gave me a definition and brief history--exactly what I needed. Of course it should be expanded if anybody has reliable additional information, but I would hardly label it a "waste of space." 67.201.198.86 (talk) 20:07, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Paul Gilbert

Paul Gilbert used EEe tuning (each an octave apart) on the songs "Three E's for Edward", "Get Out of My Yard" and (if I'm not mistaken, and possibly in a different key) "Let the Computer Decide". During the 2009 Mr. Big reunion tour there is a duet with Paul Gilbert and bassist Billy Sheehan (using the drummer and singer as human capos, a gimmick also used in the GOOMY intro), both of whom are tuned to DDd (iirc). That seems notable to me. --unsigned by 86.182.17.170, 13 March 2011

Insufficient info

It's certainly a lazy article. Sounds like it's written by someone who heard this or that about it but doesn't really understand it.

• How about a section explaining what's the point of this so-called ostrich tuning. Or is it just a gimick? Six strings with the same note? Then what's the point in having six strings?
• Was he just a really amateur guitarist who only was familiar with one string?
• Does it affect the timbre of the strings?
• A lot of us sont play guitar and need some clarity.
• Are there any precedents for odd tunings.

If you're going to right the article, you have to do the work.
--PJinBoston (talk) 18:45, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

This is a community effort. If you have input, you can contribute to the page. You bring up some interesting areas for developing this page, but in a very negative way. To add light on the question 'What's the point?', a trivial tuning is often used to play chords using the lower three strings, while the upper three strings remain open. This is related to the 'drone' heard in certain non-western musical systems, which is what intrigued John Cale, a classically trained avant-garde musician studying under Lamont Young, experimenting with drones, when he first heard Lou Reed play in a trivial A# tuning. It seems odd that you would describe this tuning as 'odd' itself, just for falling outside of traditional classical structure. It would be as odd as calling the 'blues third' odd for not adhering to classical scale theory - yet I guarantee you utilise them! Ethdhelwen (talk) 09:42, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, well I'm sure you're familiar with the fact that "classically trained avant-garde musician"ship can often be a turn-off for regular people. It's not that we are necessarily as narrow-minded as you imply, resenting anything "falling outside of traditional classical structure", but that we simply find it to be unenjoyable noise. Traditional music has evolved the way it has for reasons, you know...

Anyway: As I already stated below: If you really want to walk that way, you better make sure to get your theoretical foundations in order. Otherwise it simply reads like a pile of pretentious crap, or looks like "a lazy article".

Also, dear Ethdhelwen, please refrain from deleting old discussion threads and useful information like that there's already been a vote on the meaningfulness of the article.

--BjKa (talk) 12:35, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Usage

The only song on the Velvet Underground and Nico that clearly uses the Ostrich guitar is "All Tomorrow's Parties". "Venus in Furs" has a bridge that uses chords that are impossible to play on a guitar with unison tuning. It is also in Db. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andrewsnee (talk • contribs) 00:12, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

Pretentiousness

Now, when you really want to get so deep into the academical theoretics as all that "left-hand-involute" stuff you just can't be as imprecise as the article is at the moment: Of course "E-E-e-e-e'-e'" is not "its own left-handed tuning", as obviously that would have to be "e'-e'-e-e-E-E". Otherwise it will sound much different, even if you just strum the open strings, let alone the difference in fingering if you actually tried to play anything more substantial on a guitar like that. --BjKa (talk) 12:08, 24 January 2017 (UTC)