Two tech questions

OffHeGoes29

First question reguards tuning....

Whats the difference between E, e, e' for example? I know my tuner has "b" and "#" for flat and sharp, but how does that translate to the above example?

Second question is the care of strings. I bought some new strings and they are already getting scally and dirt deposits underneath the string. I saw some verious types of cleaners Musicians Friend, any help would be great.

Once again, thanks for helping the new guy.

xtremehardy388

OffHeGoes29 wrote:

First question reguards tuning....

Whats the difference between E, e, e' for example? I know my tuner has "b" and "#" for flat and sharp, but how does that translate to the above example?

Second question is the care of strings. I bought some new strings and they are already getting scally and dirt deposits underneath the string. I saw some verious types of cleaners Musicians Friend, any help would be great.

Once again, thanks for helping the new guy.

E= Low E
e= Little e
e'= could mean sharp...it all depends.

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Get GHS Fast Fret to use on the strings...that stuff is phenomenal. I just bought Kyser Klassics Dr. Stringfellow fretboard cleaner (though lizard spit is also a good cleaner) today and it's seemingly working well. It's a good rule of thumb(no pun intended but if it makes you laugh, I get two points) to wash your hands before you play.

kitfoo

I think xtreme took care of the tuning question. Now, about the strings...if you can, always wash your hands before you play. That way you reduce the risk of dirt and oils building up on the strings and frets. There are a myriad of products out there that clean strings. I usually just wipe them down with a clean rag, and sometimes use a little Fender finish enhancer. Seems to keep them from getting slimey. When you change your strings, make sure you wipe the fretboard down before you put new strings on. That will get rid of all that gunk built up on the frets. A lot of people use a little lemon oil on the fretboard as well.

who's_pearljam?

Yup! Wash your hands before you play, but also just use a soft rag and wipe the strings down every once in a while while you're playing, and when you're done, too.
If you pinch the string in the rag so you wipe the bottom of it, you'll get some of that gunk off the bottom, too.
If you watch a guitar tech on stage with any major band, you'll see them wiping down the fretboard and strings when they have the guitar for a few minutes. Less gunk, more resonance.
Other than that, if you play a lot, or you play pro, you'll be changing strings more often regardless, because they do wear out.

I have a friend who takes off his bass strings and boils them every once in a while. He's been doing it for years! That's an old trick and it works but I never could hear the diff with guitar strings.

westsidepie

OffHeGoes29 wrote:

First question reguards tuning....

Whats the difference between E, e, e' for example? I know my tuner has "b" and "#" for flat and sharp, but how does that translate to the above example?

Second question is the care of strings. I bought some new strings and they are already getting scally and dirt deposits underneath the string. I saw some verious types of cleaners Musicians Friend, any help would be great.

Once again, thanks for helping the new guy.

Actually, the different Es are symbolic of the octave the note is in. This is an older system where middle c is listed as c', the octave below middle c is c, and the octave below that c is C. All the notes between a pair of Cs get the same mark, so the pitch e' is the e above middle C. The new way of indicating the octave of a pitch was created by the society of acoustical engineers. In this system, middle c is C4, the octave below C3, the octave above middle c is C5. Roland and Yamaha, however, both list middle c as C3 on their midi keyboards.

westsidepie

sorry for the double post.