Alternate tunings

[nathan_fhtagn]

I was struck with an odd thought last night as I was running some errands: What if I were to tune my 5-string violin so that it went A D G B E (the same as the top 5 strings on the guitar)? It was an intriguing idea, with a bunch of pros and cons

Comments

[heliophobe]

I have no experience with this (my violin still only has 4 strings), but I am really interested to hear what happens with this when you try.

[jasonfifi]

as a guitarist that uses double stop tunings, i don't suggest it. yes, 3rds and 4ths become easier, and in my opinion octaves become easier as well, but if you're good at reading for violin, it wouldn't have a lot of benefits.

the 4ths/3rd tuning of a guitar is great when you have frets, or when you want to play multiple parts at once... but it doesn't translate well to bowed instruments.

a guitar tuned in 5ths makes sense because of the range, even though it's more difficult to finger 3rds(quite a stretch sometimes).

that said, give it a shot. you don't have anything to lose, really.