And why wouldn't it work without the capo? Ed Martin has addressed the lute size (and the ever elusive but false "G"eeness obsession of 20 -21st century lutenists) succinctly and completely. I would only add that one reason for the use of tabulature is precisely BECAUSE the "G" pitch was but one of many legitimate pitches for lutes and vihuelas, and learning all the transpositions necessary from one arbitrarily selected default pitch was unworkable for most players. As a professional player years ago, I did learn to read double-staff notated music for lutes in G. As a previously trained classical guitarist it wasn't hard to read staff notated A lute- just pretend to play a guitar with a 7th, high "a" string. Having bass viol experience made reading "D" bass lute from staff workable. But the pain in the butt factor is obvious- that's why a system that essentially uses a blueprint of what goes on on the fingerboard is so all inclusive and wonderful, at least for solo music reading pleasure and learning. The important thing, of course, is that you are playing. Just don't restrict your options for chimerical reasons.
>I don't know.. I put a capo on the 3rd fret of my guitar and got the >relative tuning of a Ren. Lute.. it seems to work with the tabs Im >reading. >-- > Joshua E. Horn > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
