A closer look at the N-Tune Onboard Tuner in practice
The N-Tune onboard tuner aims to simplify
the tuning process affordably, and without
requiring permanent modifications to your
guitar. With true bypass design available in
either a 250k or 500k ohm pot (for single-coil
pickup or humbucker-equipped guitars), the
N-Tune is basically a DIY kit that allows you to
put a +/- 2 cents accurate tuner right on your
guitar that operates using the volume knob:
pull it up for silent tuning; push down to play.
The kit requires nothing more than standard
soldering tools to install.
I put it on a Squier Telecaster in less than half-an-hour. It is fully chromatic, easy to use, and
gives a little light show when you pull up the
knob. Since I wasn’t as focused on the task of
replacing the existing pot as I should’ve been,
I’ll offer one additional pointer from my experience
installing it: make sure there’s enough
room in the guitar’s control cavity for a 9V battery—
measure it, don’t eyeball it (like me), or
you’ll end up jury-rigging it to make it fit.
There are pluses and minuses to an onboard
tuner. If you’ve lost track of one tuner after
another, because you forget where you put
the thing down, or because somebody asked
to “borrow it for a sec,” this solves your problem.
You’ll always know where it is (provided
you’re not the kind who misplaces guitars),
and you can shrug blithely while pointing to
your axe if someone asks to use your tuner.
On the other hand, you can only tune one guitar
with it, and batteries don’t last forever.
While I’m not completely sold on the utility of
an onboard tuner, the makers of the N-Tune
did address the concerns I had about it. I’m
not crazy about having to open up the guitar
for every battery replacement, but Zero
Crossing estimates a standard 9V will provide
power for around six-hundred tunings, so it
wouldn’t be a regular chore.
Also, the kit inclues tuning rings in several
colors to suit different guitars—white, black,
parchment, Fender-Cream and Gibson-
Crème—but it’s not an unlimited choice. There
wasn’t a perfect fit (aesthetically speaking) for
the chrome barrel knobs on my Squire Tele, but
Zero Crossing informs me that they will offer
chrome and other metallic tuning rings in the
near future. If you like the idea of an onboard
tuner, N-Tune is sure worth a try.
Demonstrate a variety of drone guitar techniques and approaches.
Examine drone points of reference from an array of genres.
Learn how to use standard, drop D, and uncommon alternate tunings in drone contexts.
Playing a melody or solo with a “drone” means playing over just one note or, in some instances, one chord. Besides playing without any harmonic accompaniment, it is about as simple a concept as one can image, which also means the possibilities are endless. We’ll look at ways to use drones in a variety of contexts, from ancient to contemporary, blues to metal, traditional to experimental.
Drone in Standard Tuning
Being one of the simplest forms of accompaniment, droning is one of the oldest–before harmony there was the drone! Ex. 1 highlights the ancient nature of the drone with a Taqsim, an improvisation that frequently precedes the performance of traditional Middle Eastern compositions. For this example, you need only hit the open, low 6th string every now and then to keep the drone going. The melody uses notes from the E Phrygian Dominant scale (E–F–G#–A–B–C–D).
The blues is full of droning examples. Particularly in the playing of Lightnin’ Hopkins (“Big Mama Jump”), John Lee Hooker (“Bottle Up and Go”), and Big Bill Broonzy (“Hey Hey”). Ex. 2 is based on Lightnin’ Hopkins’ so-called “Dead Thumb Blues” approach. Just keep pounding out that low, open E string.
John Lee Hooker - "Bottle Up & Go"
Ex. 3 pays homage to Jimi Hendrix’s “Third Stone from the Sun.” Starting at 0:43 Jimi plays a lovely Mixolydian melody in octaves, with a bass line emphasizing the low E. In this case, we have a melody inspired by Jimi’s, with the low E string droning throughout, taking the place of the bass.
Ex. 4 also features a classic rock point of reference, in this case, the Rolling Stones’ “Moonlight Mile.” That timeless song, and this example itself, both feature droning open strings with a melody that moves up and down the neck. In the case of “Moonlight” the guitar riff became the basis for Jagger’s vocal melody, imbuing it with a pseudo-Eastern atmosphere.
An unexpected model emerges from the 1980s. Ex. 5 emulates the Police song “Contact,” with a second instrument doing the droning (the bass guitar plays G throughout). While the bass plays steady eighth-notes, guitar one plays four different arpeggio patterns, which imply different chords in every measure. Guitar two plays a simple, if syncopated, melodic line on top of both the drone and the arpeggios. Other Police songs that also feature one-note bass drones are “Reggatta De Blanc” and the highly disturbing “A Kind of Loving.”
Reggatta De Blanc
Drop-D Drones
Drop-D tuning (as well as other alternate tunings), allows players to get some tonal variety into their drones. Ex. 6 was inspired in part by the call-and-response, instrumental section of “Within You, Without You,” the Beatles’ take on Indian drones (Indian music is perhaps the most well-known of the droning genres). This example is unique in that the 6th, 5th, and 4th strings all drone throughout, creating a D power chord. This illustration also imitates sitar performance by playing the melody on only one string, while moving up and down the neck.
Ex. 7 demonstrates one of the most useful aspects of playing with a drone, the ability to change keys. In this case, the drone is maintained by alternating the bass with the thumb, between the 6th and 4th strings, which are both tuned to D, though an octave apart. While the thumb drones the bass, the melody in the first few measures plays notes from the D major scale, specifically the major 7 (C#), root (D), 3 (F#), and 6 (B). After this melody is performed twice, the key changes to the parallel minor, D Natural Minor, wherein all but the root note are replaced with flatted pitches, b7 (C), b3 (F), and Bb (b6). Don’t let that theory overwhelm you. Instead, actively listen and let your ear tell you that you’ve clearly gone from the major (happy or bright) to the minor (sad and dark) mode. It is the simplicity of the one-note drone that allows for the smoothness of this key change.
Uncommon Alternate Tunings
Arguably, the easiest way to get your guitar droning is to perform in alternate tunings. One can hear this approach in everyone from Robbie Basho to Glenn Branca, Sonic Youth to My Bloody Valentine, and many others. The Velvet Underground were among the first to get such milage out of unusual tunings, specifically their “Ostrich Tuning,” which entails tuning all the strings to the same note (although in different octaves).
Ex. 8 is a tribute to Velvet Underground’s droning “Lady Godiva’s Operation.” My example uses the tuning C–C–C–C–C–C. For more on this tuning check out my lesson “Punk-Rock Madness: It’s More than Power Chords.”
Lastly, no droning lesson would be complete without a mention of the drone metal scene. There are several bands to reference here, going back decades. For Ex. 9 I have chosen to allude to Sunn O))) and the piece “It Took the Night to Believe.” This is a radical piece with the low 6th string tuned down to A—that’s ridiculously low! You might consider putting on heavier gauge strings for this style. This example also features tremolo picking, which isn’t too challenging when you’re playing one note, but it can be tricky to maintain tone and consistency when the second melodic note is added in measure 9. Practice this piece slowly and find yourself a nasty distortion/fuzz pedal to round out the sound.
Drone On
As you can hear, there are endless possibilities when it comes to droning. And although the idea may have been around for thousands of years, new approaches are still being developed and deployed (I didn’t even discuss drones in the classical realm, though there are many examples, or Krautrock). I hope this lesson will inspire you to invent some of your own methods.
The latest in EHX's 9 Series is designed to turn guitar tone into a string ensemble synthesizer.
The Electro-Harmonix STRING9 String Ensemble is designed to transform guitar tone into nine different orchestral and string synth sounds and requires no special pickups, MIDI or instrument modifications. Using the same technology powering all EHX 9 Series pedals, the STRING9 creates fully polyphonic tones that pay tribute to some of the most iconic string synthesizers, and now features EHX’s signature Freeze effect on 3 of the presets.
Features
Symphonic: Recreates the sound of a large symphony orchestra and features an octave down effect on the lower range of the guitar
June-O: Emulates the Juno analog string synthesizer sound
PCM: Sound of a small studio string section sampled by a vintage PCM keyboard
Floppy: Emulates sound of an Orchestronoptical disc playback sampler
AARP: Emulates the classic ARP Solina string synthesizer
Crewman: Emulates the Crumar Performer analog string and brass synthesizer
Orch Freeze: Orchestral sound with a Freeze effect
Synth Freeze: String Synthesizer sound with a Freeze effect
VOX Freeze: Mellotron choir and strings sound with a Freeze Effect
Electro-Harmonix STRING9 String Ensemble (EHX Pedal Demo Bill Ruppert)
The STRING9 String Ensemble comes equipped with an EHX 9V power supply, is available now and features a US Street Price of $259.50. More info at www.ehx.com.
