Mnemonic for GDAE?

Subject: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: greg stephens
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 04:50 AM

This is probably in another thread, but I couldn't immediately find an answer. Does anybody know a good mnemonic for fiddle tuning...GDAE? And while you're at it, a nice one for guitars..EADGBE? There seem to be plenty of wellknown ones for the music staves, but not for these tunings.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: peregrina
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 04:51 AM

1) G'day is how I remember GDAE
2) Eddie ate dynamite good bye Eddie

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Zen
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 05:05 AM

As those are the standard tunings... they would seem to me to be very easy to remember in their own right, even for complete beginners. As much so as a mnemonic? Or do you find it useful in teaching? Just interested and asking... (:>)

Zen

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: danensis
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:50 AM

God Damn All Englishmen
EADGBE - Easy Backwards God Damn All Englishmen

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,Ian cookieless
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:57 AM

Go Dip An Egg
Egg And Dripping Go Beautiful E

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: greg stephens
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 08:01 AM

Zen: I think mnemonics always make things easier to remember. All Cows Eat Grass and Get Big dates FRom America have always stuck easily in my mind. And I was talkinmg to a fiddle teacher about to give a beginner's lesson to a nine-year old and discussing the lack of a suitable mnemonic that either of us can recall. Sentences are instantly memorable, GDAE and EADGBE sound like gibberish the first time you hear them.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: greg stephens
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 09:52 AM

danensis: are you sure about that God Damn All Englishmen? I thought it was Goddam Danes Are Everywhere.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: open mike
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 09:57 AM

what;s GBDFA?
It has an "E" in front of it..
Didn't the moody Blues have an album or song called:
Every Good Boy Deserves Favor--note on the lines and
FACE are the notes in the SPACES on the Treble Clef...
Now what are the notes on the bass clef?
but the best one i hear from a young friend who took guitar lessons
was Ever Acid Dealer Gets Busted Eventually

I have not heard one for G D A E

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Peace
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 09:59 AM

Well, ferret won't work. Too many letters.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Midchuck
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 10:41 AM

When my children were still children, I got interested in DADGAD tuning and played in it a lot of the time.

I got some gratuitous suggestions that I should try BADDAD.

Peter

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Old Roger
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 10:47 AM

I always used this for guitar

Every Amateur Does Guitaring By Ear
It amused me a bit

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 10:49 AM

1 - 6 on guitar: ee by gum, don't ask Elvis

Stu

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Peace
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 10:50 AM

"Every Amateur Does Guitaring By Ear"

Sooner or later that will hurt the neck. May I suggest flat picks instead?

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 10:59 AM

GDAE

Gaw'Dammit All to 'Ell.

~S~

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Skivee
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:07 PM

Ganglial Dendtrites Acknowledge Endometriosis?

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 03:21 PM

I have always called the fiddle tuning "EADG". Am I wrong?

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 03:21 PM

God Doesn't Actually Exist.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: open mike
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 04:03 PM

that is the most memorable yet..
and Giok, it depends if you go
from low note to high or the
around way other.....<------

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 04:08 PM

Every Atheist Disappoints God

G ¦¬]

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: webfolk
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 05:40 PM

God Did Almost Everything

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,Fiddlelady
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 05:43 PM

Great Dentists are expensive

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: greg stephens
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 05:52 PM

John Giok: Goid doesnt actually exist. Excellent, that will be rmembnered for a long timer. Nice one, did you just invent that?

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: meself
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 06:24 PM

The one I use for kids is: Good Dogs Are Everywhere.

Now isn't that much nicer than all that foul language and blasphemy?

(Buncha cynical #@%&#s!)

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Escapee
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 06:36 PM

Every American Dog Gets Bones Easily
SKP

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: skipy
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 06:48 PM

Eat A Damn Good Breakfast Everyday
Skipy

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: open mike
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:17 PM

blasphemous?!
hey, what you got against dentists, dogs and ferrets?

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 09:20 PM

I learned standard guitar tuning as Every American Daughter Gets Babies Easily. Politically incorrect, easy to remmember. I remember fiddle and mando tuning as the reverse of bass tuning (or bass strings on a guitar) -- GDAE vs EADG.
- Phil

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 04:50 AM

Yes Greg, all my own work.

G

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,micheller0630
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 02:15 PM

GO DANCING AT EDINBURGH

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,ifhudhfjdh
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 02:32 PM

guitar damages are expensive

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 03:46 AM

EADGBE - Every Awful Day Goes By Endlessly

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 04:33 AM

Great Danes Are 'Eavy

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jun 12 - 11:48 PM

For guitar?

How about "Emily Always Does Good Bug Eating." :P

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,GMGough
Date: 18 Jun 12 - 01:52 AM

Good Donkeys Adore Eggs,

but what it means and where it came from I don't know.
I learnt it in Somerset as a schoolboy in the 60s.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Megan L
Date: 18 Jun 12 - 03:40 AM

Get drunk and eat

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Tootler
Date: 18 Jun 12 - 04:12 AM

My daughter used Elephants Are Dark Grey

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: ossonflags
Date: 18 Jun 12 - 09:00 PM

Elvis And Dylan Got Big Egos

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 Jun 12 - 03:28 AM

Grieve! Dylanophiles Alienated Ewan!

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 19 Jun 12 - 04:10 AM

Back a long time before political correctness existed, but when people (in public) were more polite, my grade school taught the way to remember key names for the sharped keys as:

"Go Down And Eat Breakfast."

And on the same "theme," the keys with flats in them were:

"Fat Boys Eat Apple Dumplings."

Some of the kids seemed to be able to remember other phrases for either the sharps or flats, but not both directions at the same time. "Attaching" both to the same idea of "eating" got most of them to the point of remembering them both (at least 'till the afternoon bell rang and they went home and washed their brains).

Of course the order is reversed when you increase the number of flats, from the order as you add sharps, but with the "neutral" key of C in between, flipping either one lets you remember the entire circle of fifths (which was an advanced subject not discussed until fifth grade, IIRC).

Some of the other phrases are rather cute, but this pair should be generally acceptable for teaching to young children, even in "formal" contexts - although political correctness by now may have made it - or soon will make it - impolite to refer to "fat boys" in any context. Maybe you could substitue "fluffy" for "fat," like several of my acquaintances do(?).

John

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Jun 12 - 02:32 AM

Gerard Depardieu's Amazing Erection....or would awesome be easier to remember? Either way, its quite visual.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,Sambo
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 12:09 AM

Gosh! Dinosaurs Are Extinct!?

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 02:36 AM

If anyone can't remember 4 notes they should give up playing.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: BobL
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 03:44 AM

From my piano teacher in the 1950s:
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (notes on stave lines in treble clef)
Great Big Dogs Fight Anything (ditto, bass clef)

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 04:06 AM

Great Dane's Arse Explosion

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 07:52 AM

Of course, for ukes it's "My Dog Has Fleas" which has nothing to do the the names of the notes...

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 09:04 AM

Key signatures (1 to 7 sharps)
Go Down And Enter By Force, Crash!
(1-7 flats)
Fly B.E.A. Don't Go Cambrian (for those who remember the old British airlines)

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Stanron
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 12:14 PM

A mnemonic for GDAE is not needed if you know a smidgen of music theory. The strings are a fifth apart. A fifth is an interval of five notes, inclusive. GABCD, five notes, is a fifth. DEFGA, five notes, is a fifth. ABCDE, five notes, is a fifth. All the strings are a fifth apart. All you need to remember is the lowest string, G.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 04:21 PM

When I was quite young (maybe 7?) a guitar teacher in a local day camp taught us: Every American Doll Goes Berserk Eventually.

Over the years, I've heard Doll replaced with Dog, but I still can't get the original mnemonic out of my head.

GDAE? All I have to do is think of the state of American politics and God Damned A**holes Everywhere is the only thing that comes to mind...


Jay

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,ripov
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 06:56 PM

I dunno what I keep pressing!

Anyway - the names (and the pitch) are totally irrelevant - the strings are tuned a perfect fifth apart if you use "the new Italian tuning", or sometimes an equal tempered fifth if you use a crap tuner. Otherwise the standard is fifth - fourth - fifth, for example G,D,G,D (called A,E,A,E, but that's not really kind to the fiddle).
The most important thing is that all instruments are set to the same pitch - so much as it may grieve you, you tune to the melodeon, because it can't conveniently be tuned . If there's two of them god help you!

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: meself
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 11:54 PM

"The strings are a fifth apart. A fifth is an interval of five notes, inclusive. GABCD, five notes, is a fifth. DEFGA, five notes, is a fifth. ABCDE, five notes, is a fifth. All the strings are a fifth apart. All you need to remember is the lowest string, G."

Yeah, that's what I told a six-year-old the other day at his first lesson. In fact, three times I told him - and he still didn't get it. I finally told his mother not to bring him again.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Joe_F
Date: 17 Jan 18 - 08:50 PM

FACE
Every Good Boy Does Fine
AkEG
GoodBye Dear Father Alas

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,Tom
Date: 18 Mar 20 - 12:50 AM

God Damn All Enemies

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Stanron
Date: 18 Mar 20 - 01:28 AM

I just remember the letters. It's easier.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Mar 20 - 02:38 AM

Goddamnawfuleverything....,

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Mar 20 - 03:24 AM

Of course, for ukes it's "My Dog Has Fleas"

very appropriate considering the literal translation of Ukulele is jumping flea

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: Gordon Jackson
Date: 18 Mar 20 - 03:39 AM

When the OP, all those years ago, first posed the question, did he need a mnemonic when he typed in GDAE, or did he - in an amazing feat of memory - actually manage to remember those four letters all by himself? If he did indeed need a mnemonic, what was it? Are you still around, Greg?

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 18 Mar 20 - 05:28 AM

Some things you always remember; i.e. GDAE, EADGBE. Oh! ..... and the the mnemonic for the resistor colour code, taught to us at the very end of a physics lesson, more than 50 years ago and which I’ve never had to use - “Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls Bashful Virgins Getting Worried”.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 18 Mar 20 - 06:41 AM

Of course in the days before digital tuners you didn’t necessarily need to memorise the sequence of a notes in a tuning, because you tuned the instrument relatively string to string. You would use a pitch pipe, piano key or harmonica key note to tune one of the strings then tune the neighbouring strings relative to that one, largely at the fifth for guitar, seventh fret for mandolin and tenor banjo, but for fiddle without frets you needed pitch pipes for each string. Some might think that all sounds like hard work, but it meant you learnt where the main notes were on your fretboard, certainly the first half dozen frets on each string, which I get the impression many are not aware of these days.

Subject: RE: Mnemonic for GDAE?
From: GUEST,cienne Paul
Date: 04 Jan 22 - 07:47 AM

Open strings on the Violin
GDAE
G been the lowest pitch open string
E been the highest pitch open string.
Mnemonic for the open strings are
G- Good
D- Dogs
A- Are
E- Everywhere
GOOD DOGS ARE EVERYWHERE