TUNING digest 1353, Topic No. 4: non12 rock

>... can anybody offhand list
>some people doing detwelvulated *pop music* ... i.e. "songs"
>in some kind of (fairly extended into folk- and
>psychedelic-, knowing the guy who's asking the question)
>"rock context"?

I'll start off by saying that I am not aware of anyone working
exclusively in rock who is using specifically microtonal instruments,
except for Johnny Reinhard's announcement of Eddie Van Halen's recent
interest in just-intonation. Jon Catler plays just-intonation electric
guitar in many styles including rock.

As for myself, I write rock tunes in just-intonation using my computer.

However, I can provide an illustration of an incredibly talented
performer being able to coax any frequency he wanted from an ordinary
instrument. Listen very carefully to Jimi Hendrix, particularly his
"bent" notes -- i.e., those where he pushed the guitar string to the side
after picking it, to raise the pitch slightly. Every bend he played was
precisely tuned to the exact pitch he wanted. Sometimes, he provided a
dazzling display of his ability by playing several "bent" notes in a row,
each one just slightly lower or higher than the last, and sometimes he
even interspersed 2-note runs between these each-slightly-different focal
notes, in a dactylic rhythm (long-short-short).

I also give Hendrix the credit for bringing the 19-identity (the "sharp
9th" of the chord, i.e., the "minor 3rd" played an octave above the
"major 3rd" in a "dominant 7th chord") definitely and securely into the
harmonic language of rock -- an excellent example is the main riff at the
beginning of "Foxey Lady" on "Are You Experienced" (vintage 1967).

Joseph L. Monzo
monz@juno.com


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