Kite Guitar: Difference between revisions

TallKite (talk | contribs)
Scale Shapes (downmajor tuning): moved the content to a new page
TallKite (talk | contribs)
Fretboard Charts (downmajor tuning): added low-6, mid-6 and high-6 tunings
Line 189: Line 189:
This chart shows the actual notes of an 8-string Kite guitar. The notes circled in red are the open strings of a 12-edo guitar. The ideal string gauges for this tuning are discussed in the "For Luthiers" section. Every 4th fret has a dot, and every 12th fret has a double dot. Three dots equals a 5th.   
This chart shows the actual notes of an 8-string Kite guitar. The notes circled in red are the open strings of a 12-edo guitar. The ideal string gauges for this tuning are discussed in the "For Luthiers" section. Every 4th fret has a dot, and every 12th fret has a double dot. Three dots equals a 5th.   
[[File:The Kite Tuning 4.png|none|thumb|900x900px]]
[[File:The Kite Tuning 4.png|none|thumb|900x900px]]
A 6-string guitar is usually tuned to the middle 6 strings of an 8-string:  
A 6-string guitar is usually tuned to the middle 6 strings of the full 8 strings:  
[[File:Fretboard 4-6.png|none|thumb|900x900px]]
[[File:Fretboard 4-6.png|none|thumb|900x900px]]
This is called the mid-6 tuning, as opposed to a low-6 tuning vD to vA, or high-6 tuning ^A to ^E. (Not to be confused with the low-6 or high-6 ''voicing'', see the [[The_Kite_Guitar_Chord_Shapes_(downmajor_tuning)|chord  page]].)
* 8-string guitar: full-8
* 7-string guitar: low-7 or high-7, or possibly mid-7 (low-7 plus a dot, E to Eb)
* 6-string guitar: low-6, mid-6 or high-6
* 6-string bass: full-6 (low-6 down an octave)
* 5-string bass: low-5 or possibly high-5
* 4-string bass: low-4, mid-4 or possibly high-4
This chart shows all the notes, not just the natural ones. But it's too much work to memorize all this. Just learn where the 7 natural notes are, and learn your intervals. Since the open strings don’t work as well, one tends to think more in terms of intervals than notes anyway.  
This chart shows all the notes, not just the natural ones. But it's too much work to memorize all this. Just learn where the 7 natural notes are, and learn your intervals. Since the open strings don’t work as well, one tends to think more in terms of intervals than notes anyway.  
[[File:The Kite Tuning 5.png|none|thumb|900x900px]]Some keys are somewhat awkward to play in. For example, a vG scale is either too close to the nut to have a plain major 2nd, or else way up at the 16th fret where the fret spacing becomes too cramped to play chords comfortably. There's a "sweet spot" for the tonic on the lowest 3 strings, from about the 5th fret to about the 12th fret. This defines a 3x8 rectangle containing 24 keys, roughly every other one of the 41 possible keys. The lowest string of an 8-string is tuned to vD not D so that the common keys of C, G, D, A and E fall in this sweet spot. D is tuned to A-440 standard pitch, to bring these 5 keys as close to 12-edo as possible. D agrees exactly, A is 2.5¢ sharp of 12-edo, E is 5¢ sharp, and so forth along the spiral of 5ths.
[[File:The Kite Tuning 5.png|none|thumb|900x900px]]Some keys are somewhat awkward to play in. For example, a vG scale is either too close to the nut to have a plain major 2nd, or else way up at the 16th fret where the fret spacing becomes too cramped to play chords comfortably. There's a "sweet spot" for the tonic on the lowest 3 strings, from about the 5th fret to about the 12th fret. This defines a 3x8 rectangle containing 24 keys, roughly every other one of the 41 possible keys. The lowest string of an 8-string is tuned to vD not D so that the common keys of C, G, D, A and E fall in this sweet spot. D is tuned to A-440 standard pitch, to bring these 5 keys as close to 12-edo as possible. D agrees exactly, A is 2.5¢ sharp of 12-edo, E is 5¢ sharp, and so forth along the spiral of 5ths.
Line 200: Line 207:
Chords are named using [[Ups and Downs Notation|ups and down notation]], see also the [http://tallkite.com/misc_files/notation%20guide%20for%20edos%205-72.pdf notation guide for edos 5-72]. Briefly, an up or down in the chord name immediately after the root affects the 3rd, 6th and/or the 7th, but not the 5th or 9th. Chord progressions are written as Cv7 - vEb^m6 - Fv7 or Iv7 - vbIII^m6 - IVv7.  
Chords are named using [[Ups and Downs Notation|ups and down notation]], see also the [http://tallkite.com/misc_files/notation%20guide%20for%20edos%205-72.pdf notation guide for edos 5-72]. Briefly, an up or down in the chord name immediately after the root affects the 3rd, 6th and/or the 7th, but not the 5th or 9th. Chord progressions are written as Cv7 - vEb^m6 - Fv7 or Iv7 - vbIII^m6 - IVv7.  


A fairly exhaustive survey of 41-edo chords is here: [[The_Kite_Guitar_Chord_Shapes_(downmajor_tuning)]]
A fairly exhaustive survey of 41-edo chords is at [[The_Kite_Guitar_Chord_Shapes_(downmajor_tuning)]].


Here's a printer-friendly chart to get you started, with and without fingerings:
Here's a printer-friendly chart to get you started, with and without fingerings: