Greetings! At the very moment guitar recordings are going on and therefore it`s reasonable to take the tuning into consideration. In a normal case there wouldn`t be much of worth to write about but this time a little changes take place.
So as usual for us, the tuning starting from the lowest string is A-D-A-D-G-H-E. This is normal dropped-D tuning with seventh string being A. The tuning remains the same as earlier but one thing is different now: the reference frequency of A-note, instead of pitch standard 440 Hz, is now 432 Hz. Around A4, regarding the next higher or lower note this 8 Hz difference is not even half way, in fact it is approximately 1/6 of a pitch change on that high. So we are talking about slightly noticeable difference in the pitch.
This 440 Hz vs. 432 Hz confrontation is very controversial, more opinion-like than widely scientifically proven phenomena. The wildest conspiracies (theories?) claims that 440 Hz has been used for torturing people during wars and it has some kind of irritating effect on brains which helps to control people and therefore all that we hear from TV and radio would be tuned in 440 Hz. Even though it has been standardized already in 1953 by International Standards Organization it is still a standard reference tuning frequency nowadays and very commonly used especially in popular music.
It`s been studied that 432 Hz resonates with water and therefore it sounds more natural than 440 Hz. Its benefits has been widely discovered especially among the people of natural healing due to its relaxing effect. There is a lot of stuff about it on the internet, just searchengine it. Anyway, by no means neither 432 or 440 is only reference frequency used in the world. There has been a lot of different frequencies during the whole music history depending on the time period, music and most importantly the instrument as each instrument resonates in its own characteristic way. But 440 Hz just seems to linger especially in mainstream music. And really, I can`t deny it as a player, it is handy as all the music is in the same "tune".
So why to choose "a tuning" that has been noticed to have a relaxing effect for music that is not usually associated with relaxedness and furthermore with all kinds of conspiracies (theories?) surrounding it? And the answer is: because it fits to the theme, to try something new, to see if anyone notice the difference, to see if it affects on the music, to draw attention and just to annoy. But most importantly, it sounds and feels different, mystical I might say. And as listened for a quite long time now, regardless the possible placebo effect, it just sounds better.
- JK
