Talk:Slack tuning

Dear Author, Heavy Metal Bands are not the only people to use "slack tunings". Actually my research of this topic yeilds an entirely different set of facts dealing with "slack tunings". There are open tunings, alternate tunings, and and infinite amount of possible tunings for guitar. "Slack Key" refers to a set of different tunings used by a variety of musical styles, from blues to Hawaiian music. Tuning down a half step or even a whole step is not the true definition of "Slack Key". Please explore the real history of open tunings and their present usages. Heavy Metal is hardly "slack key". Alternately tuned yes. Harmony Central is a great resource for links concerning "slack key".

                                              fernhead30@yahoo.com

I always understood that McCartney's recording of Yesterday was one of the first recorded slack tunings, with the acoustic guitar tuned down a tone, so that he could finger the chords in G but produce the sound in F, which better suited his voice. If you play the chords in F, they don't sound nearly so good because you lose the resonance of the open strings that you get with G. Bluewave 12:46, 3 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed Deletion/ Merger[edit]

I believe that Slack tuning should be deleted, or possibly merged with Slack-key guitar. Slack tuning is normally used as an alternate term for slack key guitar, but the article on slack tuning is about drop tunings used in rock and metal. It cites no sources whatsoever, and either needs sourdes or should be deleted/ merged into Slack-key Guitar. Caoilte 3 August 2006

To repeat what I've written in the discussion page for "Slack Key Guitar," whatever rock players might call the practice of tuning down one or more half-steps, it has no relationship to the Hawaiian playing tradition called "slack key." You guys can figure out whether this term is an actual usage in the rock world or someone's oddball way of talking about the practice, but don't come knockin' at our little grass shack. (That's a joke, son. A joke.) FWIW, neither the Guitar School Online page pointed to in the External Links nor the "Scordatura" article seems to contain the word "slack." RLetson 05:26, 4 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]