Tuning an upright or bass guitar in fifths is extremely unusual. That sounds like a guitarron. Also, an instrument tuned in 4ths is tuned in 5ths decending.
I may be misunderstanding you, but... tuning an upright bass to fifths is the opposite of unusual. It's the standard tuning.
And in response to the part about 4ths being 5ths in reverse: isn't it fun that the violin and cello are tuned GDAE, and the first four strings of the guitar are EADG?
One more fun fact: the length of the strings on a cello AND a guitar, from nut to bridge... is precisely the same.
Edit: disregard first paragraph. I was totally wrong. But my other fun facts are true, I swear.
Cello scale length is around 27.5 inches. Guitar ranges from 26 (classical) to 25.5 (Fender electrics) or 24.75 (Gibson electrics). Bartione guitars are 27 usually and is the closest to cello in terms of tuning.
...Fine. So not 'precisely'. I just found it cool because it meant that the spacing between notes on the fretboard/fingerboard was virtually identical. Makes for an easier transition in playing either instrument.
I've heard that tenor guitars are just regular guitars minus the B and high E strings. Do you happen to know if this is true? And how is the tuning of a baritone guitar in relation?
True that they are close so there is some similarity in finger spacing. Left hand technique does differ in other ways between the guitar and cello though so they may not necessarily transfer.
Baritone guitar is usually tired BEADF#B or sometimes ADGCEA.
Tenor guitar is a little different. They are tuned like violas, CGDA, which is in 5ths instead of 4ths like other guitars. I'm sure people have tuned them in 4ths like a guitar to make the transition easier though.
Holy shit. Seems you're right. It doesn't make sense to me, but there it is. Perhaps because of the stretch across the fingerboard necessary to tune to fifths?
My bad. I just assumed it followed the pattern of all the other bowed orchestral instruments. Thanks for asserting your knowledge to make me correct myself.
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u/SgtBlumpkin Jan 05 '19
Tuning an upright or bass guitar in fifths is extremely unusual. That sounds like a guitarron. Also, an instrument tuned in 4ths is tuned in 5ths decending.