Tuxedo Twins

Vaughn McMillan

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ABQ NM
A while back I got a good deal on a used black Fender Stratocaster. I've really enjoyed playing it. But the guys I'm playing with do about half of their songs with the guitar tuned to "E" and the other half tuned to "E flat". As a result, I was having to change the tuning of the black Strat during each break. (At least we tend to group all the "E" songs together in different sets than the "E flat" songs, but it's still a hassle.)

Meanwhile, I've had a nice Ibanez RG550 for 25 years or so, and have barely used it at all. It's a great guitar and very desirable, but just not for the styles of music I tend to play these days. So yesterday after work I went to the local Guitar Center and did a bit of horsetrading. Not only did they give me top dollar for the used Ibanez, they knocked $100 off the price of a new Strat. I ended up bringing home a new Strat for about $100. (MSRP is $680, although it's commonly discounted down to about $500.) Now I can leave one in "E" and the other in "E flat" and do something other than re-tune my guitar during the breaks.

Here's what the new one looked like when I got it home...

White%20Strat%20New%20600.jpg


Since I had a set of black pickup covers and knobs handy, I decided to set it up as the negative image of my black Strat. Now I have the Tuxedo Twins...

Tuxedo%20Twins%201%20-%20600.jpg


The white one will be the "E" guitar and the black one will be "E flat", since we all know E flat on a piano is a black key. ;)
 
And they talk about lathe people being on the dark side and in the vortex???...

Man, ain't that the truth! But then again, a lot of hobbies are that way. Doesn't matter if your hobby is in the shop, the shooting range, or the stage...they all need tools. ;)
 
Search> quote:
" A suit is ideal for formal occasions and is mostly worn at work during the day. A tuxedo (or tux) is a form of dinner jacket, and more appropriate for semi-formal evening events or black tie events."

Yep, sounds about right...Will play for food! :D

They sure look classy side by side! :thumb:
 
Vaughn you have me wanting to take a extended trip down South just to be a groupie (well not quiet in the groupie sense :rofl:) and follow you around to the places you end up playing at. Man I have been starved of live music. I don't really care how good or bad a band is, I just like hearing people that can play do so live and seeing them get into it.
Linda and I have extremely opposite tastes in music ....I can tolerate her likes but she thinks mine are just noise. :rofl:

Hey for those of us less creative and musically adept, how about one of you guitar men putting up a you tube of the E versus E flat and edumacating the likes of me. ;)
 
...Man I have been starved of live music...

...Hey for those of us less creative and musically adept, how about one of you guitar men putting up a you tube of the E versus E flat and edumacating the likes of me. ;)

I was also starved of live music until I moved back to Albuquerque. Hard as it is to believe, good live music was nearly impossible for me to find in LA. (Or at least the part of LA I was living in.) The famous rock clubs like the Roxy and the Whiskey A-Go-Go seldom had anything worth the 40 minute drive to see. I went to the Hollywood clubs enough times to learn that most of the bands playing there are really and truly horrible. There are also live concerts with established artists, but quite frankly, I don't think any act is worth $100 - $200 per seat to go see. Plus, there's inevitably the monster traffic jam getting to and from the concert. But here in ABQ, I can find decent live music most nights of the week, and usually all it costs me is the price of a Coke or two. Plus, there's a good chance I know one or more member of the band. (And in some cases, I was one of the band members' guitar teacher.)

The difference between E and E flat isn't noticeable to most folks. For example, virtually all the songs Van Halen has recorded are with the instruments tuned to E flat, but you wouldn't know anything's different just by listening. Playing in E flat lowers the key of a song slightly, sometimes making it a bit easier to sing. From a guitar player's standpoint, playing in E flat means the strings are slightly looser, and thus easier to press down and bend. (That's why Eddie Van Halen tuned to E flat.)

The guys I'm playing with keep their acoustic guitars tuned to E flat. Mike, the other guitar player, uses a capo - the little bar that clamps onto the strings to change the guitar's key - on the songs that are played in E. (Capos are primarily to make playing chords easier. For single-note lead stuff, it's easy to simply move your hand position up or down a fret or two as needed.) Unfortunately, putting a capo on an electric guitar usually causes tuning issues, so I don't like to use one. Jeff, the bass player, doesn't use a capo, because like a lead player, he just changes the position of his fingers to change keys when needed.
 
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