D-A-D-A-B-E
• OVERVIEW •
Simple in design, this tuning expands the range of 3-4-5-6str, opening up two perfect 5ths in the process (6>5str and 4>3str). The open chord – a ‘suspended‘ Drop D variant – has an ambiguous character, leaving room for varied explorations.
Demonstrated superbly by José González on his booming nylon-string cover of Massive Attack’s Teardrop – nylon will handle the 4str tightness better (on steel-string I tend to transpose down a little for safety).
Pattern: 7>5>7>2>5
Harmony: D6/9(sus2) | 1-5-1-5-6-2
• TUNING TONES •
Multi-step meend in Raag Bageshri: some riyaz improv in one of my all-time favourite ragas
Sep 30
E8 Boogie (Squarepusher): @sqpusher did I get them right? Tried to work out guitar voicings for this curious chord sequence in E8 Boogie (…originally at the request of a student!)
Sep 27
Raag Jaiwanti Todi (SrgmPDnS): An Ahiri-prakriti raga introduced by Maharaja Jaiwant Singh Waghela (1904-1980): the hereditary ruler of Sanand who gained wide renown as a spiritual teacher, vocal educator, and generous patron of the nascent Mewati gharana (also the creator of Gyankali and other ragas). Sung here by his student Pandit Jasraj – a bandish I’ve always loved, especially the ferocious taan and colourful harmonium accompaniment…
Sep 22
Raag Prabhateshwari (SrgmPDnS): A mysterious raga created by Hariprasad Chaurasia, played here by his nephew Rakesh – resembling a blend of the morning Ahir Bhairav and the late night Bageshri. I was inspired to learn the raga when researching Maa Annapurna Devi’s time teaching Hariprasad (many thanks to my crack team of experts including Rupak Kulkarni, Alam Khan, George Ruckert, Suresh Vyas, Anindya Banerjee, and Gopi Shanker, who all gave valuable assistance in illuminating the raga’s origins)
Sep 15
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#raga #jazzguitar #indianmusic #icm #londonmusic
Original: Squarepusher/Tom Jenkinson (from 1997’s Hard Normal Daddy)
#jungle #jazzguitar #warprecords #idm #dnb @warprecords
—Original: Pandit Jasraj (khayal); Appa Jalgaonkar (harmonium); Nizamuddin Khan? (tabla)
#raga #khayal #indianmusic #worldmusic #icm
—Original: Rakesh Chaurasia (bansuri), live at Darbar 2008 @chaurasia_rakesh @darbarfestival
#raga #darbarfestival #indianmusic #bansuri #worldmusic
• SOUNDS •
José González‘ scintillating Teardrop cover gained recent fame via soundtracking a pivotal scene in smash-hit basketball doc The Last Dance. (Whereas Massive Attack’s original – probably the international anthem of Bristol, my longtime city – with its distinctive ‘heart-beat’, was the title theme for House. Confusingly, González’s Heartbeats, a completely different song, is absent of any cardiac-tempo’d groove. If I had to match titles to the moods, I’d definitely guess the other way round…).
The same DADABE layout has also been explored by a scattering of other guitarists – e.g. Ani Di Franco (Hell Yeah), and Stephen Malkmus on some of Pavement’s earlier releases (e.g. Stereo, Gold Sounds, AT&T).
- Teardrop – José González (2007):
“Night, night of matter,
Black flowers blossom,
Feathers on my breath…”
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• NUMBERS •
| 6str | 5str | 4str | 3str | 2str | 1str | |
| Note | D | A | D | A | B | E |
| Alteration | -2 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 0 | 0 |
| Tension (%) | -21 | 0 | 0 | +26 | 0 | 0 |
| Freq. (Hz) | 73 | 110 | 147 | 220 | 247 | 330 |
| Pattern (>) | 7 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 5 | – |
| Semitones | 0 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 21 | 26 |
| Intervals | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 |
- 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…
- José González (this with 3str -4): his nearby nylon variant
- Zen Drone (‘Dulcimeric’) (this with 1/2str -2): purifying the loop
- Cello (‘Haircut’) (this with 6/5str -2): opening up low fifths
• MORE INFO •
—Further learnings: sources, readings, lessons, other onward links…
- José González’s reworks: read more about how he goes about covering songs in an insightful Guitar interview (“I was inspired by how in Jamaica, if you have a hit, then everybody does it, and you have five versions going on at the same time. So in that spirit, I felt it was fun…”)
- Massive Attack’s Teardrop: see an exhaustive song history on the band’s website (“Madonna…was disappointed when [they] informed her that they already had a vocalist…”), and read about how Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins composed the track’s vocals (“The news that [her partner, Jeff] Buckley had disappeared…drowned, swimming in the Wolf river in Memphis…came while Fraser was recording Teardrop…’That was so weird’, she says. ‘I’d got [his] letters out, and I was thinking about him…”)
Header image: psychedelic still from José’s Teardrop video
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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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