The 13 EDOs of Xmas

A long vamping bluesy funk riff jam on Kite guitar. Notably, even this simple steady vamp has both plain bVII and the vbVII note because the former is sometimes used as a root (like a JI /9 ratio) and the latter is part of the the v7 chord (JI 7/4 ratio)

CC BY-SA of course — maybe someone will add some overdubs to this?

Bluesy Kite Jam by Aaron Wolf

A couple of improvisations on a guitar loaned to me by Kite Giedratis.  The guitar is fretted to 41 notes per double-octave, i.e. every other note of 41 notes per octave, using movable cable ties.  On these tracks I modified the fretting slightly by moving the 2nd fret down one step of 41edo and then put a capo behind it, effectively moving all the frets above it UP by one step of 41edo, so that the frets all give odd-numbered pitches from 41edo instead of even-numbered ones.  This gives frets for approximations to the ratios 21/20, 12/11, 9/8, 7/6, 6/5, 5/4, 9/7, 4/3, 11/8, and 10/7 relative to the open strings, which makes it possible to let the open strings ring out against pitches fretted low on the neck when the open strings are tuned to DADGAD or DGDGAD, my two favorite open tunings.  

Without the offset I introduced, the normal fretting on Kite's guitar would have the lowest frets approximating 28/27, 16/15, 10/9, 8/7, 32/27, 11/9, 81/64, 15/11, 7/5, and 16/11, which doesn't work well for the open tunings I like but is rather designed to have the open strings tuned in parallel 3rds (5/4 or 6/5), for an isomorphic layout that facilitates chords built by stacking 3rds.  I found that tuning somewhat challenging, being so unlike any open string tunings I've ever used before, and most of the intervals between non-adjacent open strings are rather discordant.  Other players, whose styles don't lean as heavily on open strings and drones the way I do, may find Kite's original design preferable to my modification.

But anyway, the two designs can coexist on the same fretboard by simply inserting an extra fret between the 1st and 2nd instead of moving the 2nd fret lower as I have done, and by varying the tuning of the open strings as you please.  It's a fantastic way to access the resources of 41edo on a guitar, without having an absurd number of very closely-spaced frets!

Bluesy Kite Jam by Aaron Wolf

KiteGuitar

Recent comments

NICKtheRAT

Related tracks