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Everything you didn’t know you wanted to know about guitar tuning: fresh perspectives from Malagasy mythology to modern science, via jazz, Joni, Jimi, and more! (Open-access, ad-free resources)

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[under construction: out 2022!]

Despite being a universal guitaristic experience, tuning rarely gets the attention it deserves. Few instruments give more freedom to choose a ‘starting canvas’: unlike a piano, horn, or drum, the guitar can move fluidly between tunings, opening up fresh geometries and spaces of the imagination at every turn. Many facets of learning are unique to these zones…

The ‘World of Tuning’ explores how we can get the most out of our peg-twisting rituals. Stemming from my Guitar World lesson series, the project explores new tuning horizons from multiple musical angles: practical, harmonic, historic, social, scientific, spiritual, and so forth. We take a global view, incorporating ideas from a worldwide variety of stringed traditions – India, Mali, Hawaii, Madagascar, Indonesia, and beyond…

—Project Contents—

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• Menu: 100+ Altered Tunings •

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13 peg-winding heroes • 26 divine Indian drones • Global instrument tunings • Joni Mitchell’s stringed canvas • Alpha-melodic word games • Tales & quotes • Megatable: analytics • Glossary: tuning terms • Feedback & future • Double-siding: capo-harp hacks • James Taylor’s ‘stretched’ puzzle • Tuning by ear • Overtonal scales • Microtonal guitars • Social, spiritual, & scientific

Everything here will stay perpetually open-access and 100% ad-free. Mainly, I hope these pages will bring creative joy, and catalyse fresh questioning around what we – and the guitar – are truly capable of.

 

How can we best utilise our tune-up time? Why don’t we choose our starting notes as we do our chords? What can we find in the guitar’s under-explored microtonal capabilities? And which global traditions offer unique insights?

• Menu of Altered Tunings (100+) •

In-depth database: ‘Palate expander’ of 6-string tunings from around the world – with notes, songs, origin tales, etc (see Tag List):

—SEARCH TUNINGS—

Search for:

Std. | Drop | Open | Interval | Global | Artist | Misc.

• Altered-tuned artists: 13 innovators •

Prominent peg-twisters: A haphazard selection of global guitarists who have twirled at their headstocks to great effect…

Joni | Drake | Hedges | Pahinui | Page | Martyn | Mongrain | McKee | Gomm | Howard | D’Gary | Sonic Youth | MBV | More

• Global instruments: intriguing tunings •

Worldwide configurations: Look to global tunings for new inspiration – Indian sitars, Malian koras, Balinese gamelan, etc

Sitar | Kora | Santoor | Hang | Hardingfele | Gamelan | Tabla | Jaltarang | Well-tuned piano | Jaw harp | Palaeolithic flutes | Vocal cords | More

• Tanpuras: 26 divine Indian drones •

Longform drones: Heighten your overtonal awareness and inject psychedelic jam texture – HQ tanpura samples in all keys

Sa-Pa | Sa-ma | Alternates | Role | Mysticism | Origins | Build | Mechanics | Today

• Joni Mitchell’s 6-stringed canvas •

Lesson article: How does Joni’s ‘colour palette’ approach to tuning and songwriting draw from her lifelong passion for painting?

Early sparks | Hejira | Dulcimers | Joni’s paintings | This Flight Tonight

• ‘Alpha-melodics’: well-tuned words •

Linguistic layouts: What do spelling-derived tunings reveal? Beautiful BAGDAD, crunchy CABbAGE, dissonant DECADE…

Alphabet-melody | Guitar games | Challenge | Examples | Global word-music

• Tuning tales, quotes, & musings •

Direct insights: A slap-dash selection, from mosquito romance and wolf-howl illusions to death-legends of the Norwegian fiddle

Guitarists | Global traditions | Science & nature | Microtonalism | Misc.

• Glossary: tuning terms & definitions •

Conceptual clarity: Solidify your vibratory understanding with plain-term definitions, analogies, audio clips, & more

e.g. Anti-Pythagorean | Beau Geste effect | Binaural beats | Consonance | Hz | Imperfect root | Inharmonicity | Lefty involution | Magic temperament | Maqam | Meantone | Nada brahma | Non-octave scale | Overtone | Paucitonality | Pitch | Raga | Tetrachord | Tritave | Tuning | Undertone | Wolf fifth | Xenharmonic

• Megatable: hidden interrelations •

Comparison spreadsheet: Analysing all 100+ Menu tunings – intervals, tensions, Hz, etc. Please peer-review my DIY science!

Megatable | Basic dimensions | Generative fields | Other calculations

• Feedback: ideas & corrections •

Submit feedback: Help ‘tune’ the World of Tuning – send in your ideas, suggestions, corrections, etc (all credited!)

Also hit me up for online lessons!

[…coming soon…]

• [‘Double-siding’: a DIY harp-capo hack] •

Dark sides of the strings: Tune to DADGAD, capo at 11fr, and pluck on ‘both sides of the bar’ for some ethereal 12-string magic

Accidental discovery | Two-sided fretboards | DADGAD cp.11 | Capo/tuning combos | Third bridge guitar | Global instruments | Questions

• [James Taylor’s string-stretching puzzle] •

Tuning puzzle: Can we accurately reach his microtonal ‘stretch’ without a tuner? And what is ‘inharmonicity’ all about?

Stretched tunings | What is inharmonicity? | The puzzle | Solution: basic beating | Solution: beat pairing | Evaluation | Practicals | More

• [Tuning by ear: the best methods] •

Self-reliance: How to mix chords, melodies, harmonics, & fretmatches – and warm up your ears, hands, & musical mind

Why tune by ear? | Overview | Fret-matching | Melodic phrases | Chordal checks | Natural harmonics | Combinations | Considerations | More

• [Overtonal scales: invisible geometries] •

Natural harmonic sequences: Uncovering the hidden patterns of the ‘fretless fretboard’ via my ‘overtonal scale explorer’

Invisible fretboards | Techniques | Exploration methods | Overtonal scale sequencer | Discoveries | Global natural harmonics | Expanding the search

• [Microtonal guitar: the infinite spaces] •

Off-grid intervals: How can we harness the guitar’s expansive microtonal capabilities? Between the frets, around the world…

What is microtonality? | Necessary imperfection | Stretching | Sweetening | Going fretless | n-edo | Çoğulu’s designs | Quarter-tones | Overtones | Raga sruti | Meantone | Freestyle | In the studio | Ear training | More

• [Tuning: the ‘impatient meditation’] •

Multimedia essay: Examining tuning from multiple perspectives: Vedic myth to modern neuroscience via anti-colonial Andean folk

Tuning through time | Hawaii to the Himalayas | Nada brahma | Ritual dimensions | Global tuning metaphysics | What’s the point? | More

Open-access, ad-free pledge: This was mainly a labour of love/obsession – and it’s not really ‘my’ knowledge anyway (…I’m basically just the messenger/database admin). If you want to support me, hit me up for online lessons (Passion projects don’t, as yet, pay all the bills!)

• George Howlett | Rāga Junglism •

— guitar & global music —

Gettin’ hype with my guru-ji: Pt. Shivnath Mishra