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A (sweet) four step size modal subset in 20e

🔗D.Stearns <stearns@capecod.net>

9/14/1999 11:13:59 PM

One of my very favorite "wrong" modal subsets, is this one from 20e
(I've had a 20e guitar for about eight years now, and these scales
where found by ear on it, as I kept happening upon bits of them when I
was first trying to get comfortable with this guitar and its tuning):

+3 +4 +1 +4 +3 +3 +2

or:

0 7 12
8 15 20
[11] 18 3

at:

I. 0 3 7 8 12 15 18 20
II. 0 4 5 9 12 15 17 20
III. 0 1 5 8 11 13 16 20
IV. 0 4 7 10 12 15 19 20
V. 0 3 6 8 11 15 16 20
VI. 0 3 5 8 12 13 17 20
VII. 0 2 5 9 10 14 17 20
VIII. 0 3 7 8 12 15 18 20

The 5,4,6 & 3 permutations in particular, I've found much use for, and
(still) find their very characteristic sound to be both sweet and
slightly exotic.

Dan

PS - While "sweet and slightly exotic" are obviously rather subjective
descriptions, and probably rather dubious ones as well (and though I
seem to have developed a hardy suspicion that simply gazing upon third
and fifth sizes the likes of these is going to be a formidable
deterrent for anyone interested in something that might be called
'intonationally sweet'), hopefully mine aren't going to be the only
ears that might happen to hear these pitches in this ("sweet") way!