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You are here: Home / Ask a Teacher / Play in A Flat or Retune?

Play in A Flat or Retune?

Teacher: Vi Wickam

Should I play in Ab on a recording, or retune my violin up or down to play in an open key?

From: Casey Penn

Vi,

I hope you don’t mind a question. In a live situation, I get by all right playing in the key of Ab, though I kind of have to adjust here and there to stay on pitch. I’m going to be recording two songs in this key. Would you suggest staying in Ab, or tuning up/down to play it in an open key instead?

Thanks! I want to do what I can to nail it. It’s not an overly complicated part.


Best,
Casey


Hi Casey,

I know lots of country songs have been recorded in Ab with the fiddle tuned down a half step so that the A string is Ab. If you are substantially more comfortable in A than Ab, it  might be worth trying to track your parts with your fiddle tuned down and then in normal tuning and see what turns out sounding better to you.

If you have 2 fiddles, it is even easier because you can get one good and in tune in Ab in advance before you go into the studio and you can practice the parts both ways.

Ab is one of the trickier keys to play in, and I have only gotten comfortable with it in the last few years. And, I’m still more comfortable in G, D, and A than I am in Ab. J

There isn’t a right or wrong answer here, it’s only a matter of seeing what works better and going with that. There is nothing wrong with recording it tuned down a half step, and performing it live with standard tuning.

Thanks,

Vi

About Vi Wickam

Vi Wickam of Loveland, CO has been performing fiddle and writing music since before he could read. Along with his brothers and dad, The Wickam Family Band performed regularly on Blinky’s Fun Club, a nationally syndicated TV program.

Vi’s fiddling can be heard on numerous CD recordings, including two of his own. He’s played with many different bands throughout the United States, and even briefly in England.

Among his fiddling honors, Vi has won the Colorado State Championship twice, and been a finalist four times at the Grand Masters’ Fiddler Championship. He has judged fiddle contests throughout the US, and directed regional and state level fiddle contests.

Join Talent Forge to learn tunes from Vi.

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