Kite Guitar: Difference between revisions

The standard tuning is the downmajor tuning, in which adjacent open strings are tuned a downmajor 3rd apart. Alternate tunings use an upminor 3rd or an upmajor 3rd. All three tunings are isomorphic, thus there is only one shape to learn for any chord. A "semi-isomorphic" tuning alternates downmajor and upminor 3rds. There are two shapes for every chord. In addition, there are open tunings such as DADGAD. See the Recordings and Videos section for more on this.

Tuning the Kite guitar to EADGBE doesn't work, because the conventional chord shapes create wolves. For example, the usual E major chord shape 0 2 2 1 0 0 would translate to either 0 3 3 2 0 0 = E vB vE G# B E, or else 0 4 4 2 0 0 = E ^B ^E G# B E. Either way, the chord contains 3 wolf octaves and two wolf fifths. In addition, the major 3rd isn't 5/4 but 14/11.

[[File:The Kite Tuning 4.png|none|thumb|1150x1150px]]

[[File:The Kite Tuning 5.png|none|thumb|1131x1131px]]

Since the fretboard is isomorphic, any interval can be expressed in '''relative tab''' as a vector. This is particularly useful for in-person oral instruction. For example, going up 2 strings and down 1 fret always takes you up a perfect 5th. In relative tab, that move is spoken as "plus-two minus-one", and written as (+2,-1). The downmajor 2nd is at oh-plus-three, (0,+3). The downmajor 3rd is at plus-one-oh, (+1,0).  

Every interval appears in several places on the fretboard. Typically one is within a few frets and another one is many frets away. Mentally grouping four frets together into one dot facilitates large jumps up and down the fretboard. The octave is (+3,+1) and also (+1,+14). A jump of 14 frets is a "3 and 2" jump, meaning 3 dots plus 2 frets. Thus the octave is at plus-one plus-three-and-two, or (+1,+3+2). The 5th is at oh-plus-three-and-none, or alternatively oh-plus-three-dots, (0,+3+0). The unison is plus-two minus-three-and-one, (+2,-3-1). An upward jump of 11 frets could be called either plus-two-and-three or plus-three-minus-one. Note that plus-three-oh means (+3,0), but plus-three-and-none means +3 dots.

Notes can be referred to similarly in '''absolute tab''', which names each string/fret combination, i.e. each location on the fingerboard. For example, a low ^^G in the previous section's fretboard chart is at (7,3), meaning 7th string, 3rd fret. This is particularly useful when one wants to tell another guitarist what key they are in, without having to use note names. For example, one might be in the key of "fifth and two and three", meaning 5th string, 3 frets above the 2nd dot. "Sixth and two" means 6th string, 2nd fret, as opposed to "sixth and two dots". "Fourth and oh" means the open 4th string.

Unlike relative tab, absolute tab doesn't require isomorphism, and can be applied to any guitar, as long as the dot locations are agreed on. For 12-edo, dots are at frets 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, etc., thus the 10th fret is four-and-one.  

Relative and absolute tab are easy to tell apart. Relative tab always starts with plus, minus or zero, absolute tab never does. Note that in absolute tab, strings are numbered in descending order, but in relative tab, a positive move is an ascending move. Thus moving from the 3rd string to the 1st string is plus-two, not minus-two.

The Kite guitar can be tuned by ear using the octaves at (+1,+3+2). The open 6th string should be an octave bellow the 5th string's 14th fret. This can be written as (6,0) = (5,3+2). We can double-check the tuning using the unisons at (+2,-3-1). Thus the 6th string at the 13th fret should match the open 4th string, and (6,3+1) = (4,0). Finally, the 3rd harmonic of the 6th string should match the open 1st string (technically it should be half a cent sharp of it). Here are the full tuning instructions for a 6-string guitar:

|(6,0) = (5,3+2)  

|(6,3+1) = (4,0)  

|(5,0) = (4,3+2)

|(5,3+1) = (3,0)  

|(4,0) = (3,3+2)

|(4,3+1) = (2,0)  

|(3,0) = (2,3+2)

|(3,3+1) = (1,0)  

|(2,0) = (1,3+2)

|(6,0) harmonic at 3rd dot = (1,0)