The idea behind 4th / inverted 5th is that no matter which side you will go you will have the same note letter.
Also using the 5th on the bass side let’s you cover quite a range of notes without a stretch.

Hi aphternune, welcome to the forum and thanks for the mention!

I'll partially but not fully agree with Boaz

Sometimes people ask me about using mirrored 4ths and wonder if they should start learning the Stick with that tuning. I typically suggest starting with one of the more common tunings that use bass in inverted 5ths due to the established methodology/repertoire and unique musical concepts that are possible with such a tuning (which the instrument was originally designed for). I would say that bass in 5ths is a bit more comfortable/ergonomic (avoiding some finger scrunching for particular chords).

If you use mirrored 4ths you're on your own to a greater extent. I developed my own bass side approach based on specific kinds of music and influences I wanted to adapt to the Stick (closed voice acoustic guitar sounding chords and fills, easier translation of keyboard music, particular melodic approach to bass lines, etc). It's ended up being a fruitful journey and the tuning offers it's own set of unique accompaniment possibilities. If you've got a decent grounding in basic music theory to draw from or are trying to read piano scores, that would weigh more heavily towards using mirrored 4ths to start, if the sound and idea of the tuning appeals to you.

I will say that I find the top bass string quite important for full sounding chords (to the point that if I could have 7 bass strings, I'd want an even higher pitched bass string rather than add a low B).

I don't feel like mirrored 4ths has limited my ability come up with complete sounding solo arrangements, and in fact lends itself to things that wouldn't be possible with 5ths. They are different kinds of musical languages with their own strengths and compromises. One of them has been explored and built upon to a greater degree in the past few decades.

(I’ve read some vigorous debates on tunings here in the past. This is just intended to present my thought process, since I had to go through the tuning choice recently. YMMV.)

Stick players are an adventurous lot - if they weren’t, they wouldn’t likely be dropping a couple thou on a relatively-arcane instrument with little existing repertoire and educational material.

Looking at tunings, I read through Rob M’s article on Mirrored 4ths. I admit that the more “scalar nature” of Mirrored 4ths has its strong appeal for me, related to its application to Baroque Classical (even though my primary interest in Classical is a few generations past Baroque).

For me, the big reason why I chose to stay with Classic tuning initially is pragmatic: the Stick is known to have a somewhat-steeper learning curve, and what little educational material exists is predominantly in Classic tuning, with MR coming in second. Past that, I thought that it would be useful to learn the instrument in its “original form” - to see what “the big deal” was first. If I do decide later to switch tunings, I figure that I’d have “learned the rules before I chose to break them”. The good thing with the latter Sticks (wooden ones definitely, Railboard to a slightly-lesser degree) is that switching the tunings is pretty simple.

The one other big thing that I’ve picked up is that playing a Stick means getting comfortable transcribing material or writing your own. The stuff that’s out there for other instruments won’t translate directly, including sonically, and even if it did, in most cases one would be giving up the increased range and “span” of the Stick in the process.

Having said that, my take FWIW is that if you’re up for blazing a trail on a tuning that’s pretty-much your own, then go for it! It would be interesting to see what you find out.

My take: you're getting a twelve string and you want to play bass lines. Try DBR. And I go one step more by tuning the melody UP a half-step which gives you a somewhat "matched" tuning relationship. And from the lowest melody string up the string sets match the "Classic" tuning w/ the melody an octave lower. Yes I lose an octave in melody but I don't miss it in my chord choices (and I'm not much of "going for the high note" soloist). Also, it gives a lot of bass redundancey so you can mess with timbres, not to mention play incredibly fast/complex/wicked lines. I ordered my 12-string in '08 tuned DBR and have tried every tuning except mirrored 4ths. I even tried Classic again - first Stick is an Ironwood where you had the choice of Classic tuning. (joke - no adjustable bridge). And your tuning choice is not a marriage, you can try anything, although going mirrored 4ths is gonna commit you to an entirely different vocabulary opposed to all the other tunings, and, I have to add...THE MAGIC OF BASS FIFTHS

Actually the original reason I was replying to this post was Greg Howards Song Arrangement Post is EXCELLENT

Are you sure you purchased a Tarara Grand? I recall that the wood was not preferred for 12-string instruments.

I know that those are available for 8 and 10 string models.

Exciting to hear - I too love video game music. There's a bit of Chapman Stick, Tony actually, in Starcraft 2's Terran theme music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAS8KivZX5s

Check it at 2:00, you can hear Tony noodling and what can be nothing other than a Chapman Stick - amen! I'm a huge Starcraft fan, so it was a trip tracking this down on Reddit of all places lol...

Wishing you good thoughts during your StickWait. May it be brief and filled with ample time to say farewell to the instruments formally know as your favorite instruments (RIP).

You know, I have been playing my Railboard almost exclusively for the past year (Tuned in RMR) and I thought I would have forgotten everything on my Mirrored 4ths tuned Grand, and nope - I have forgotten nothing. I wonder if my brain just considers them to be "different" instruments, even though they are both "Sticks". I suppose that any tuning "gets the job done" but I will say that something always really bugged me about not being able to "get it done" using Emmett's 5ths tuning concept.

Could it be an unwillingness on my part to compromise ? I don't know. But I will say this - the more tunes you learn (Even if it's a massacre) and create, the better you will be at playing.

As far as prep work, I'd say that devising a system of efficient scoring/notating/arranging would be super helpful. Also, decide on a tuning and maybe grab Guitar Pro 7 or Finale or something and start arranging for the instrument in your desired tuning and see where that goes?

Anyways, good luck man - you got this!

Man, I hope that this isn't the case. Otherwise, it looks like there are at least two of us who will be in for a "surprise" of some kind.

When I switched pickups on my order, the only options available were tarara and ash - neither of which are listed on the website as options for Grand.

WOW GENE
i didn't know that

that's my all-time favorite game-when i use to play ..

@ Boaz: Yeah, I'm sort of willing to lose those things in favor of smoother bass lines. I just don't see myself having to jump everywhere when playing more scalar bass parts. Just a preference.

@ robmartino: Hey Rob! Good to see you here.
Hmm.. Good points. Maybe I should try 5ths tuning and see what I like about it and move to mirrored 4ths later? I just don't want to be "stuck" with the tuning. Is it really difficult to change tunings and re-setup the stick?

I also had an idea of having the 2 top strings be a fifth apart, making a sort of "hybrid" bass side. This would widen the range and maybe bring back some of that 5ths tuning comfort/ergonomics. Thoughts?

@ AnDroiD: That does sound cool. But I actually want to be a "going for the high note" soloist. Lol Maybe for a second Stick.

@ earthgene: Yes, it is a Tarara Grand. At the time, I was very disappointed to see that it wasn't available online and now had to choose an alternative. So I called Jeff for some more information on the other woods and it turned out that they actually had 2 grand sized pieces of Tarara left! Holy ---- was I lucky!
Haven't played Starcraft (maybe I should?) but that is so cool they got Tony on the soundtrack.
Thanks for the kind wishes. RIP my former favorite instruments Lol

@ Jayesskerr: Thank you for the advice. Definitely going to build my repertoire as I wait. And that's cool that your brain (might) see your Sticks as "different" instruments. Should bring some peace of mind when switching between tunings.