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Layouts from around the world: India, Iran, Mali, Congo, Ecuador, Hawaii, Madagascar, Papua, & elsewhere [17 tunings]
Std. | Drop | Open | Interval | Global | Artist | Misc.
(Also see Menu, Tags, & Homepage)
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—Ali Farka Touré—
• G-A-D-G-B-E •
A bass-raiser made famous by Mali’s master of the Islamic folk-blues…
—Atta’s C—
• C-G-E-G-C-E •
Some call Leland ‘Atta’ Isaac’s layout the ‘holy grail’ of Hawaiian harmony…
—Bağlama / Saz—
• G-G-D-D-A-A •
Double-course Anatolian lutes with frets made of fishing line…
—C6 (‘Mauna Loa’)—
• C-G-C-G-A-E •
Balanced slack-key stabilities, named for Hawaii’s eternal volcano…
—Carnatic (‘Drake’s Drone’)—
• B-E-B-E-B-E •
Nothing but B & E tones, explored by Prasanna in South India…
—Charango—
• G-G-C-E-A-E •
Learn about the liberatory tuning politics of this cute Andean lute…
—Haja’s Bb—
• Bb-F-C-F-Bb-C •
Deep-wound electric resonances from a modern Malagasy innovator…
—Jack’s Chikari (‘Sitaristic’)—
• Ḋ-Ḋ-D-G-B-E •
A sitar-like re-stringing by fellow Indo-Strat searcher Jack Jennings…
—Kabosy (‘Leonard’s C’)—
• C-G-D-G-B-D •
Transglobal links from Madagascar’s DIY box-lute tradition…
—Keola’s C (‘Wahine’)—
• C-G-D-G-B-E •
Keola Beamer’s melodious mix of 5ths, 4ths, and 3rds…
—Mi-composé (‘Elenga’)—
• E-A-Ḋ-G-B-E •
The wild life of ‘Jhimmy the Hawaiian’ in 1950s Congo…
—Orkney—
• C-G-D-G-C-D •
Multi-continental convergences from Steve Baughman…
—Oud (Arabic)—
• E-A-Db-Gb-B-E •
Syrian variants of a guitar ancestor, similarly stacking 4ths…
—Oud (Turkish)—
• E-A-B-E-A-D •
An alternate layout from the world of the fretless Islamic lute…
—Papuan Four-Key—
• F-Bb-C-F-A-C •
Fresh narrowness from an astonishingly diverse island…
—Rakotomavo—
• Bb-F-C-G-C-E •
Modern fusions of jazz and the Malagasy valiha tube zither…
—Zen Drone (‘Dulcimeric’)—
• D-A-D-A-A-D •
Pedagogic-friendly geometries from P.T. Sudo, a genuine guitar monk…
Search the Altered Tunings Menu (100+): type in notes, artists, adjectives, intervals, sequences, etc. Also see Tag List:
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—TUNINGS MENU—
George Howlett is a London-based musician, writer, and teacher (guitars, sitar, tabla, & santoor). Above all I seek to enthuse fellow sonic searchers, interconnecting fresh vibrations with the voices, cultures, and passions behind them. See Home & Writings, and hit me up for Online Lessons!
“An intrepid guitar researcher…”
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