Kite Guitar explanation for non-microtonalists: Difference between revisions

← Older edit Newer edit →

VisualWikitext

@@ Line 42: / Line 42: @@
 Sounds great, right? So why isn't all music in just intonation? Because there are so many possible ratios that the "universe" of possible notes is mind-boggling. For example, 9/8 is 204¢, a major 2nd. But 10/9 at 182¢ is also a major 2nd. Sometimes one is appropriate, sometimes another is. And if you use the wrong one, you get a "wolf" interval -- an interval that's a "comma" of only 20¢ or so from a simple ratio. And you get those ugly interference beats you were trying to avoid.
-So you need both major 2nds available. And to stay in tune, your melody often has to use both, making small pitch shifts of a comma. Thus 12 notes per octave isn't enough to do JI justice. You really need 20 or so. That's not a problem for choirs and string quartets, and the better ones do indeed sing/play in just intonation. But on a guitar, you need two frets only 20¢ apart. That's so close together that it's hard to physically fit your finger between them. Also, JI guitars often have partial frets that don't span the full fretboard. The problem with those is that when you bend a string, you can go past the end of the fret. So JI guitars tend to be hard to play.
+So you need both major 2nds available. And to stay in tune, your melody often has to use both, making small pitch shifts of a comma. Thus 12 notes per octave isn't enough to do JI justice. You really need 20 or so. That's not a problem for choirs and string quartets, and the better ones do indeed sing/play in just intonation. But on a guitar, you need two frets only 20¢ apart. That's so close together that it's hard to physically fit your finger between them. Also, JI guitars often have partial frets that don't span the full fretboard, as shown below. The problem with those is that when you bend a string, you can go past the end of the fret. So JI guitars tend to be hard to play.
-Another drawback is the lack of symmetry. In 12-EDO, every note of the 12 can be the root of any chord. Thus there's 12 major chords, 12 minor chords, 12 dom7 chords, etc. And every note can be the tonic of any scale. There's 12 major scales, 12 minor scales, etc. Anything you can do in one key, you can do in any key. Very handy when transposing a song to suit the vocalist's range. But even with 20 notes, a JI guitar can't play in all 12 keys. Often it can only play in a few. And if a song modulates between several keys, it may be impossible to play.
+[[File:Noteoctavejust 001.jpg|frameless|750x750px]]
+Another drawback is the lack of symmetry. In 12-EDO, every note of the 12 can be the root of any chord. Thus there's 12 major chords, 12 minor chords, 12 dom7 chords, etc. And every note can be the tonic of any scale. There's 12 major scales, 12 minor scales, etc. Anything you can do in one key, you can do in any key. Very handy when transposing a song to suit the vocalist's range. But even with 20 notes, a JI guitar can't play in all 12 keys. Often it can only play in a few. And if a song modulates between several keys, it may be impossible to play.
 But even with its drawbacks, there's no question that just intonation sounds pleasant, and getting one's harmonies better in tune is a powerful motivation for going beyond 12-EDO. For more about just intonation, see [https://www.kylegann.com/tuning.html www.kylegann.com/tuning.html].
@@ Line 64: / Line 66: @@
 -limit JI, or "jazzy JI", has ratios such as 7/6 and 7/4. They do sound different. To ears accustomed to 12-edo, they sound flat. But paradoxically, even though the individual notes sound off, often they make a chord sound better. For example, the dom7 chord is noticeably smoother when the minor 7th is heavily flattened. You can hear this for yourself by detuning your guitar. Tune the B string 14¢ flat and the high E string 31¢ flat, and play a G7 chord as x-x-0-0-0-1. Listen to the sound of the chord, not the individual notes. Now play the exact same chord as 10-10-9-10-x-x. Hear the difference?
-Unfortunately, detuning the guitar like this only improves the G7 chord, and ruins most other chords. To get this sweet chord in all the keys, you need <u>way</u> more than 12 notes per octave.
+Unfortunately, detuning the guitar like this improves only the G7 chord, and ruins most other chords. To get this sweet chord in all the keys, you need <u>way</u> more than 12 notes per octave.
 I personally find 7-limit JI new and exciting, and barbershoppers love it! Admittedly it's strange, and you may or may not like it at first. But on the Kite guitar, 7-limit comes "for free" as a result of getting all the 5-limit intervals more in tune.