| Trivial tuning | |
|---|---|
 Trivial tuning contains only one note, for example C. | |
| Basic information | |
| Aliases | Ostrich (D-D-D-D-d-d) |
| Interval | Unison |
| Semitones | 0 |
| Example(s) | C-C-C-C-C-C |
| Advanced information | |
| Repetition | Immediately |
| Left-handed tuning | Trivial |
| Associated musician | |
| Guitarist | Lou Reed |
 | |
| Lou Reed played the ostrich tuning D-D-D-D-d-d on The Velvet Underground's "All Tomorrow’s Parties". | |
| Regular tunings (semitones) | |
| Trivial (0) | |
| Minor thirds (3) | |
| Major thirds (4) | |
| All fourths (5) | |
| Augmented fourths (6) | |
| New standard (7,3) | |
| All fifths (7) | |
| Minor sixths (8) | |
| Guitar tunings | |
Theostrich guitar orostrich tuning is a type oftrivial tuning. It assigns one note to all strings, e.g. E-E-e-e-e'-e' or D-D-D-D-d'-d'. The term "ostrich guitar" was coined bythe Velvet Underground'sLou Reed after the pre-Velvet Underground song "The Ostrich"[1]by Lou Reed and the Primitives, on which he first recorded using this tuning, the first known commercial composition to make use of a trivial guitar tuning.[2]
The trivial tuning is aregular tuning based on theunisonmusical interval, which has zerosemitones. It assigns exactly onepitch class (for example D, A♯, F or B) to all guitar-strings, tuned to the same note over two or three octaves.[3]This creates an intense, choruseddrone music, and interesting fingering potential. Amongalternative tunings for theguitar, the trivial tuning is aregular andrepetitive tuning. It is its ownleft-handed tuning.[4]
To create a trivial D tuning from a standard guitar tuning:
1d ----- * downtuned to d (from e to d) 2d ----- * uptuned to d (from B to d) 3D ----- * downtuned to D (from G to D) 4D ----- * left at standard 5D ----- * uptuned to D (from A to D) 6D ----- * downtuned to D (from E to D)
The term "ostrich guitar" was coined byLou Reed in 1965 after the song "The Ostrich" by Lou Reed and the Primitives, on which he first used this tuning.[5][6]John Cale, a collaborator withavant-garde composerLa Monte Young, recognised the similarity between Reed's guitar tuning and Young's work involvingdrone music when he was hired to play Reed's song "The Ostrich" as part of a fabricated touring group.[7]
Reed and Cale (who would playviola,keyboards andbass) began to collaborate and investigate the connections between ostrich tuning and drone music, as the band introduced new members (such as guitaristSterling Morrison and percussionistAngus MacLise, another student of La Monte Young) and they became known asthe Velvet Underground. Cale had composed and recordedLoop in 1964, but which became the first EP released under this band name, composed of drones played on an electric viola, and the combination of both Cale's viola and Reed's guitar tunings would be an early hallmark of their work. Reed used ostrich tunings on the 1967 albumThe Velvet Underground & Nico on the songs "Venus in Furs" (appearing at the end of the song) and "All Tomorrow's Parties",[8] which also included Cale playing drones on viola.
According to an interview with drummerMoe Tucker inWhat Goes On?, Reed's ostrich guitar was a guitar that had itsfrets removed, and was stolen shortly after the album sessions.[9]
Sethares, Bill (2001). "Regular tunings".Alternate tuning guide(PDF). Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin; Department of Electrical Engineering. pp. 52–67.2010Alternate tuning guide, including a revised chapter on regular tunings. Retrieved19 May 2012.
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
