Hi all,

Just seen a song that says it has to be played in "Sawmill tuning".....what does that mean?

Any idea why they call it that?

Thanks,

Calv.

Probably because there was once a song "Sawmill" that was played in that tuning.  From open G, simply raise your second string one step so that second fret 2nd string matches 1st string open.  gDGCD, or aEADE (for A modal).  It's also called G modal and it's also called "mountain minor"

Is that the same as the fiddlers' "Dead Man's" tuning?

Jason meant raise second string up one half step from B to C from G tuning; from C# to D in A tuning.

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Originally posted by mbanza

Jason meant raise second string up one half step from B to C from G tuning; from C# to D in A tuning.

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Yea, one half step (sorry)....one fret

I like the term Sawmill, even though I have no idea where it came from. 

G Modal tells me that it's in G, but what does "modal" mean?  We can play in a mode with this tuning?  Which mode?  There are at least 7 of them.

Mountain Minor indicates that it's in a minor key, not neccesarily with a gDGCD tuning.  I do like to play in G Minor tuning gDGBbD for a few tunes.

quote:

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Originally posted by Jim Yates

I like the term Sawmill, even though I have no idea where it came from. 

G Modal tells me that it's in G, but what does "modal" mean?  We can play in a mode with this tuning?  Which mode?  There are at least 7 of them.

Mountain Minor indicates that it's in a minor key, not neccesarily with a gDGCD tuning.  I do like to play in G Minor tuning gDGBbD for a few tunes.

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Most people do indeed use the Sawmill term, I mention the others because occasionally one hears those as well

All music is of one mode or another:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode

Sawmill tuning (gDGCD or aEADE) is very common tuning in Old-Time banjo music. It is one of three or four "standard" Old-Timey tunings. It is used for tunes such as Shady Grove, Pretty Polly, Cold Frosty Morning, Betsy Likkens, Cluck Old Hen, Cuckoo and some other hundreds of well known traditional tunes.

I agree that modal is not a good term to use, as pointed out which mode? (Ionian is modal as well).

For the most part though, modal refers to either 1. anything minor (thinking in just major minor terms) or 2. anything in Dorian or 3. Anything Dorian, Aeolian or Mixolydian, or 4. anything non major scale or 5. anything in that gDGCD tuning.

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Originally posted by Jason Wilkerson

quote:

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Originally posted by Jim Yates

I like the term Sawmill, even though I have no idea where it came from. 

G Modal tells me that it's in G, but what does "modal" mean?  We can play in a mode with this tuning?  Which mode?  There are at least 7 of them.

Mountain Minor indicates that it's in a minor key, not neccesarily with a gDGCD tuning.  I do like to play in G Minor tuning gDGBbD for a few tunes.

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Most people do indeed use the Sawmill term, I mention the others because occasionally one hears those as well

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Jason,  I realize that the other terms are used and when I introduce this tuning to a student I mention "mountain minor" and "G modal" so that the student will know what people are talking about when they mention it.  Kinda like why I mention The Little Beggerman, The Old Ragadoo and The Old Soldier With The Wooden Leg when I introduce The Red Haired Boy.

Another way many people think about "modal" is that it is neither major nor minor. i.e. the 3 is missing. In this case the 3rd scale degree of the G major scale is B which has been replaced with the C. I've also heard this tuning called Gsus4.

Rick

quote:

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Originally posted by Jim Yates

quote:

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Originally posted by Jason Wilkerson

quote:

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Originally posted by Jim Yates

I like the term Sawmill, even though I have no idea where it came from. 

G Modal tells me that it's in G, but what does "modal" mean?  We can play in a mode with this tuning?  Which mode?  There are at least 7 of them.

Mountain Minor indicates that it's in a minor key, not neccesarily with a gDGCD tuning.  I do like to play in G Minor tuning gDGBbD for a few tunes.

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Most people do indeed use the Sawmill term, I mention the others because occasionally one hears those as well

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Jason,  I realize that the other terms are used and when I introduce this tuning to a student I mention "mountain minor" and "G modal" so that the student will know what people are talking about when they mention it.  Kinda like why I mention The Little Beggerman, The Old Ragadoo and The Old Soldier With The Wooden Leg when I introduce The Red Haired Boy.

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I didn't know that Red Haired Boy was known by other names

The Red Haired Boy also goes by An Giolla Ruadh which (I believe) is Irish for Red Haired Boy.  It also goes by Gilderoy, apparently invented by an Englishman trying to pronounce An Giolla Ruadh.

Some of these are songs as well as tunes:

There was an old soldier and he had a wooden leg

And he had no tobacco so tobacco he would beg...

I am a little beggerman a begger I've been

For three score or more on this little isle of green...

I'm a hearty Newfoundlander ; Michael Chaser is me name

I was born on Green Island; I'm a fisherman by trade.

I liked me job of fishing so a man I quickly grew

With my hands in the pockets of me old ragadoo...