Slack Key Violin

[Reposted from Neil's Blog: Urban Modes]

I forgot to mention this last time - the "slack key violin" tuning that we came
up with was (from the lowest string) G,D,G,D. It sounds really nice with the slack
key guitar for a number of reasons -

1. Many of the songs we played were in the key of G, and the tuning gave us a
very nice high open string on the fifth of the chord.

2. Having "matching octave" strings makes the instrument resonate in a way
similar to the sound of the slack key guitar.

3. Less tension on the upper two strings creates a mellower sound (also similar
to the sound of slack key guitar).

Of course, alternate tunings are very common in most fiddling traditions - this is
nothing new. But it was fun to experiment and find one that matched Jeff's playing.

That said, we only used it for one tune. But this is only the beginning of ETHEL's
Hawaiian odyssey...