A-D-G-C-E-A
• OVERVIEW •
A high-strung, Nashville-style reshuffle of the ‘Standard’ 5>5>5>4>5 sequence – the whole guitar is raised up by a perfect 4th, and 1-2str are then lowered an octave from there (in relative terms: akin to capoing at 12fr, but only across 6-5-4-3str).
Developed by Australian fusion virtuoso Frank Gambale as part of a quest to capture his bandmate Chick Corea’s distinctive piano voicings – apparently via “messing with a Nashville tuning patch on a Roland VG-88”. He calls it a “revelation”, opening up close, keyboard-like chords and new 4, 5, and 6-note shapes.
Pattern: 5>5>5>(4)>5
Harmony: Am7(11) | 1-4-b7-b3-5-1
• TUNING TONES •
Raag Jog: exploring different ways the electric guitar can support a Dhrupad-ang nomtom (syllabic improvisation)…
Jun 28
Raag Kafi: Electric guitar improv around the adha bandish ‘Aaj Khel Shaam Sang Hori’
Jun 22
Raag Jog: some sawal-jawab (‘question-answer’) fun with Marc Clayton on tabla
Jun 15
Some tintal improv around a wonderful Durga bandish I’ll be playing at @mehfilspace @the_rose_hill in Brighton on Thu 11th June! with vocalist @ashwinbaligaofficial and @marc_plays_tabla
Jun 10
Come see me play some bendy raga-guitar at @mehfilspace @the_rose_hill in Brighton on Thu 11th June! with vocalist @ashwinbaligaofficial and @marc_plays_tabla
Jun 5
tomato can jungle/DnB (distracted while cooking)
May 23
A great Jaunpuri gat from Senia-Shahjahanpur sarod legend Pt Buddhadev DasGupta, full of fast bends and slides (originally released for Joep Bor’s 1997 Raga Guide, in many ways a precursor to my own raga index)
May 6
just for fun…I had to defend the honour of my main instrument against my second instrument (many thanks to @mountainhead for the original video, as well as some tasty bends) – still no match for the surbahar’s meend range though!
May 4
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(From ‘Around the World in Eight Ragas’: my show with Ashwin Baliga & Marc Clayton at Mehfil Space on 11 Jun 2026) @ashwinbaligaofficial @marc_plays_tabla @mehfilspace
#dhrupad #raga #indianmusic #icm #worldmusic
(From ‘Around the World in Eight Ragas’: my show with Ashwin Baliga & Marc Clayton at Mehfil Space on 11 Jun 2026) @ashwinbaligaofficial @marc_plays_tabla @mehfilspace
#raga #indianmusic #icm #worldmusic #ragaguitar
(From ‘Around the World in Eight Ragas’: my show with Ashwin Baliga & Marc Clayton at Mehfil Space on 11 Jun 2026) @ashwinbaligaofficial @marc_plays_tabla @mehfilspace
#raga #indianmusic #icm #worldmusic #ragaguitar
https://therosehill.co.uk/event/the-mehfil-space-presents-around-the-world-in-8-ragas/
‘Around the World in 8 Ragas’: exploring cross-cultural melodic forms (e.g. scales that turn up independently in Japan, India, Mali, etc)
#indianmusic #raga #icm #brightonmusic #ragaguitar
https://therosehill.co.uk/event/the-mehfil-space-presents-around-the-world-in-8-ragas/
‘Around the World in 8 Ragas’: exploring cross-cultural melodic forms (e.g. scales that turn up independently in Japan, India, Mali, etc) – including this piece, a famous Bhairavi bhajan by Pt. Bhimsen Joshi (Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada)
#bhajan #raga #indianmusic #brightonmusic #ragaguitar
#drumming #percussion #dnb #jungle
Raag Jaunpuri: a late morning raga, likely originating in the Sultanate-era music of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh (as per Subodh Agrawal: “The rulers of Jaunpur were keen patrons of the arts, and the last one – Sultan Hussain Sharqi – was himself a distinguished musician; it is probable that the Jaunpuri flavor of Asavari was developed by him, or under his patronage“). Rajan Parrikar elaborates on its “Asavariant” status, noting that some (including Omkarnath Thakur) see it as essentially indistinguishable from Shuddha Re Asavari, while others consider Jaunpuri to follow more ‘rounded’ melodic motions…
#sarod #ragaguitar #stratocaster #worldmusic #jaunpur
#sitar #guitar #raga #bends #ragaguitar
• SOUNDS •
In Gambale’s words: “I love to hear piano chords…after a lot of work and research, I found this new tuning. I think it’s an important discovery: chords that were impossible with regular tuning are now possible“. Used for the first eight tracks of his 2003 Raison D’Etre album (Foreign Country, Cachination Bittersweet, Table for One, Nouveau Vignettes 1-3, Ka’anapali), as well as plenty of works since.
- Tuning demo – Frank Gambale (2023):
“Mr. Gambale…seems so born to his instrument that it is simply part of his armature. His solos each had the same quality: unbelievable speed and clarity, attained through his sweep-picking technique, in which [the] picking hand scarcely seems to move. The band steamed through each tune” (NY Times)
If its octave-shufflings are discounted, ADGCEA also matches the main tuning of the Mexican guitarrón (‘large guitar’): a giant, fretless mariachi instrument which helped to inspire the acoustic bass, via the attentions of a Mr. Ernie Ball. In his words, “I always thought that if there were electric bass guitars to go with electric guitars, then you ought to have acoustic basses to go with acoustic guitars. The closest thing…was the Mexican guitarrón…so I bought one down in Tijuana and tinkered with it…”
- Mariachi Guitarrón Solo – Chino @ MiVidaStrings (2012):
“This [guitarrón] has a distinctive timbre…warm and colorful. The large hollow-body, with the convex back, enhances the lower frequencies, thus producing a rich bass…The strings are of heavy gauge, and the tension is firm. An exceptional and specific left-hand technique is required to depress the strings…” (from West Music’s Guitarrón Overview)
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• NUMBERS •
| 6str | 5str | 4str | 3str | 2str | 1str | |
| Note | A | D | G | C | E | A |
| Alteration | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | -7 | -7 |
| Tension (%) | (-) | (-) | (-) | (-) | -55 | -55 |
| Freq. (Hz) | 110 | 147 | 196 | 262 | 165 | 220 |
| Pattern (>) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | – |
| Semitones | 0 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 7 | 12 |
| Intervals | 1 | 4 | b7 | b3 | 5 | 1 |
- See my Tunings Megatable for further such nerdery: more numbers, intervallic relations, comparative methods, etc. And to any genuine vibratory scientists reading: please critique my DIY analysis!
• RELATED •
—Associated tunings: proximities of shape, concept, context, etc…
- Nashville (this +7): the more prolific transposition
- Mi-composé: only octave-jumping a single string
- Terz: raised arrangement based on a tiny guitar
• MORE INFO •
—Further learnings: sources, readings, lessons, other onward links…
- Gambale’s guitar: more on the tuning on the GearPage forum – and also see interviews with Rick Beato, Troy Grady on picking, and Abstract Logix (“…his much-talked about new tuning invention will enable guitar players to play piano type chords…and play four chromatic notes simultaneously”), as well as a Live4Guitar profile (“Playing melodically through chord changes is one of the funnest things about music…I see harmony and theory in terms of colours, the more colours on the palate, the prettier the picture I can paint…”)
- MIDI tunings: other guitarists, including Joni Mitchell and John McLaughlin, have also tried MIDI-guitar setups, allowing them to change tunings at the press of a button (Joni used a Roland VG-8, compared to Frank’s VG-88): check out a patch demo from Fishman Transducers (“You can create multiple patches in alternate tunings, and call them up instantly…you can play a song live, with sections in 5 different tunings on a single guitar, and switch seamlessly between them”)
Header image: Frank Gambale sweeps all before him
Search the Altered Tunings Menu (100+): type in notes, artists, adjectives, intervals, sequences, etc. Also see Tag List:
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—TUNING TAGS—
ALL (100) | 2-note (6) | 3-note (28) | 4-note (26) | 5-note (30) | 6-note (8) | 7th: Dom. (7) | 7th: Maj (12) | 7th: Min (21) | A-listers (11) | Alliterative (16) | Drone (4) | Drop (6) | Global (20) | Inst. (12) | Interval (6) | Narrow (12) | Non-taut (63) | Odd jumps (10) | Oddball (17) | Power (26) | Re-ent. (7) | Slack-key (5) | Slide (12) | Standard (11) | Superlow (15) | Sus. (22) | Triad: Maj (11) | Triad: Min (7) | 1-twist(7) | 2-twist (12) | 3-twist (16) | 4-twist (20) | 5-twist (20) | 6-twist (24) | Wide (24)
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!
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