FRETS Magazine Book Review By Richard Bamman August, 1987 Instant Portamento. Most bluegrass banjo players are familiar with Keith Banjo Tuners. The specially constructed “retune-while-you-play” gears allow you to play such Earl Scruggs classics as “Earl’s Breakdown” and “Flint Hill Special,” or mimic the slippery sound of a pedal steel guitar a la Bill Keith. David Guptill's new book, Tuner Techniques (Guptill Music, Box 521, Orange, CA 92856, $18.50 including audio cassette) is aimed at expanding the repertoire of intermediate and advanced pickers beyond the old standards. Guptill is particularly well qualified for this task, having won first place in a national contest for his arrangement of “Soldier’s Joy” using Keith Tuners. The spiral-bound, 72-page book contains 20 tasteful arrangements of standards bluegrass tunes (“Pig In A Pen,” “Home Sweet Home”), fiddle tunes, and the author's own compositions. All arrangements are presented in tablature, with clear instructions for the different tuner techniques. Most of the tunes require only one pair of Keith Tuners (second and third strings is the standard set-up), although several call for slips and slides on four strings. The accompanying audio cassette presents all of the tunes in slow and fast versions, as well as reference pitches for the different tunings used. As with Guptill's first book, Tunes and Variations For Bluegrass Banjo, the layout and art work are exemplary. A nice package for the banjo player looking for some inspiration. —Richard Bamman
	Bluegrass Unlimited Book Review By Fred Geiger September, 1989 Tunes And Variations For Bluegrass Banjo by David Guptill. Tuner Techniques by David Guptill. Available for $12.50 (book and cassette) and $18.50 (book and cassette) respectively from Guptill Music, P.O. Box 521, Orange, CA 92856. Both books spiral-bound. Need some new ideas for “Lonesome Road Blues,” “Salty Dog Blues,” “Little Maggie,” “John Hardy,” “Cripple Creek,” “Red Haired Boy,” “Salt River,” “Reuben’s Train,” or “Dusty Miller?” You’re likely to find something of interest in the 32-page “Tunes And Variations For Bluegrass Banjo” the first of two publications from Guptill Music. The tablatures—basic melodies followed by “up the neck” and other variations—are presented four lines to a page, making them visually stress-free. Also included is a Guptill original, “Saticoy Jig.” All the music is played slow, then fast, on th accompanying cassette. The second Guptill book to appear,“Tuner Techniques” is the more significant. Its 72 pages contain tablatures for 20 tunes arranged to feature the use of the Keith Banjo Tuners. These versions (played slow-fast on the cassette) will pleasantly surprise many banjoists with their creative employment of the tuners, for which, it is now obvious, there are many tunes just as appropriate as “Flint Hill Special” or “Home Sweet Home.” (“Cripple Creek” seems particularly tuner-friendly.) Guptill, who in 1982 won the first place in the “traditional tune” category of the New Twists Contests, a national competition featuring Keith tuner applications, begins with instructions on the adjustment of the Keith tuners for their special “bending” effects and as regular tuning pegs. He lists alternate tunings—three “D” tunings and a G minor tuning—and shows, with the aid of a chart, the intervals to which the tuners are to be set for each tuning. Arrows and other symbols clearly indicate the ways in which the tuners are to be manipulated in the music. The four “standards” included are “Cripple Creek,” “Pig In A Pen,” “Auld Lang Syne,” “On When The Saints Go Marching In,” (sic) and “New River Train.” Next come five fiddle tunes—“Soldier’s Joy,” “Turkey In The Straw,” “Sally Goodin’,” “Billy In The Lowground,” and “Cumberland Gap,”— followed by “Devil’s Dream,” and “Black Mountain Rag,” both of which start in G major and modulate to the G minor tuning. “Little Sadie,” (“Billy In The Lowground,” and “Cumberland Gap,” requires tuners on the first , second, third and fourth strings), which is in G minor. Six Guptill originals are presented, featuring tuner usage in a Scruggs/melodic context. Finally 40 tuner-powered licks, using from one to three tuners, are offered and readers are encouraged to use them as catalysts for their own ideas. The book’s appendix has useful tips on string installation and banjoists (particularly those who use tuners a lot) are urged to lubricate the nut-slots of their instruments with graphite from a sharp pencil to prevent string-sticking. An alternate way to get in tune, Guptill suggests, is to tune by intervals—a method that would seem to constitute good ear training. All you have to know are the first two notes of “Over The Rainbow” and “Auld Lang Syne” and the first two notes of the NBC theme. It works!—FG