34 tone guitar

It's been (and still is) an interesting experience doing the play
I'm curently involved with ("Inna Beginning"). I started the show on 31
eq, but switched to 34 because of ease of playability of the axe...and,
I've had some interesting realizations and ideas. First, although I've
been playing microtonally for about 12 years, I've never had a
microtonal guitar in my hands for as much time as I have had during
rehearsals (10-12 hour days for a month), and now 7 shows a week. At
first, it was very disorienting...especially since the music covers a
wide range of styles, from Delta blues to modern free bop, with a bit of
Bach as well. Thus, I've had to adapt the 34 system to concepts that I
might not have ever done otherwise. And, the fascinating thing is how
good this tuning sounds/plays in all of these musical genres.
Occasionally, I'm playing along with a pre recorded track (keys, bass,
drums), and the 34 system adapts quite well...and, when I'm playing
solo, the freedom is amazing, to pick and choose from so many note
options...yet, the effect is quite cohesive, I feel. Another interesting
realization...when I played a 12 tone guitar, after a month of not
touching one, it felt coarse and very limited...I missed all the extra
notes...it didn't feel the same as it once did.
Which got me to thinking...it might be easy to say that 34 (or 31)
would be ideal for a 12 eq substitute...but, I'm not sure if that would
work in all situations. For example, trying to play a Bach fugue would
be mighty complicated, because of all the possibilities. Possible, to be
sure, but maybe 12 or 19 would be better choices for heavily chordal
music, with a lot of notes to play. The frets are mighty teensy, and if
applied to keyboard, it would be very disorienting as well. I tend to
think, now, that learning a number of tunings for different situations
would be ideal...not a new idea, for sure, but one that makes a lot of
sense to me after the experience of this play.
Which, BTW, has some very intelligent discussion of microtones in
it...and, the guitarist in the show builds a 31 tone guitar to get the
notes he's been hearing (and plays fretless at the end as well). Many
people, who would normally never be exposed to these concepts, are
seeing/hearing them because of this play..for a look at a review, go to
www.rockymountainnews.com for April 13. It is a great gig, and it's nice
to be getting to really work with such a system as 34...and actually get
paid for being whacked...Hstick

Neil Haverstick wrote:
>
> It is a great gig, and it's nice
> to be getting to really work with such a system as 34...and actually get
> paid for being whacked...Hstick

Neil? Out here on the East Coast, getting whacked means something a
little different. It's a mob term for getting assassinated. What
are you referring too?

--
* D a v i d B e a r d s l e y
* 49/32 R a d i o "all microtonal, all the time"
* http://www.virtulink.com/immp/lookhere.htm
* http://mp3.com/davidbeardsley