Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain_jovi
It's not a technique he's done to the classics yet, just a couple of songs off the new album. Basically were saying they keep the chord shapes the same, just tune the strings a half step down from the recorded version. Which has been pretty much what they've always done but in the past when a song was recorded in Eb its stayed in Eb live, not dropped another half step.
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Not really an expert in here, but as a guitarist and pianist I'll give my thoughts and simple explanations on why they keep the chord shapes while tuning the strings down.
If you are Richie or Phil or even David and have played the songs for decades in a particular tone, then it would be really difficult to "re-learn" it in another. They would have to move the riffs, the chords, hit the chords differently etc. So it's easier to play as always while having the instruments transposed down. About David, you can transpose the keyboard very easily for many steps.
Another reason is the way it sounds when you hit a chord in a fixed position. In HAND, Richie and Phil use a capo on the 2nd fret. This is essential because without this, if they played the chords otherwise, the sound will be not exactly the same. The notes of the chords would be the same but positioned on other strings and this makes a difference.
As for the songs that are played like the studio, I guess it's because Jon can still hit them this way. If he is struggling, he may drop it a little lower.
Listening to various artists lately, I hope they won't drop any song another step down (that means two). The songs sound differently and you can hear that something is slightly wrong.