> This isn't an answer to my question, I don't care which is older - that was > just a guess. I believe we know that the provenance of the lute was as a > melody instrument played with a quill plectrum. I don't know the provenance > of the guitar tuning. There is no provenance. Again, it is contained WITHIN lute tuning.
> The question was this, why the difference when they > are almost the same? Removing the first string isn't the solution, it is > merely a description (and then one has to have a seventh tuned a fourth > below the sixth to make the six strings - and now we'll just rename them > from 2 to 7 to 1 to 6, as we don't have a 1st anymore). That is trivial. You are wrong, it is not merely a description, but also the method by which it was obtained. > The question is this. The six strings of the Renaissance lute (neglecting > the lower strings) and those of the guitar are all tuned to fourths, except > one that is a third. The choice of where the third is is different between > them. Why? Did the guitar develop after polyphony? Is the tuning a matter of > ease of chording? After all the melody lute could have had a tuning by > sixths, sevenths or octaves. There is no difference in tuning between lute and and early guitar. You look at from the position of the 3rd in relation to the fingerboard, while you should be looking at the position of the fingerboard in relation to the 3rd. And YES, the presence of the 3rd is essential to finger a few notes simultaneously in harmony, otherwise you left hand will be screwed. > It would be a pretty good bet that the choice of fourths has to do with the > four fingers for melody work (can we call it monophonic?). And that the one > third course to course interval was practical in hand movement. So why the > difference as to where it is for guitar and lute. My guess, as one who plays > both, is that the shift made chording easier for harmony -and that the > guitar evolution came when polyphony was already extant, whereas the lute > stayed with the traditional tuning intervals that worked for melody. See above, and look in Roger Blumberg's (music theory as fingering) site http://thecipher.com RT >>> Given that the lute >>> tuning seems to be older (can't prove that, but it seems to be), >> It is not older. Guitar tuning is contained within Lute's (just remove 1st >> string). >> RT >> >> >> >> > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
