31-tet guitar tunings?

Just got back from Bonnaroo, and it was an awesome show. I return with
my very own 31-tet guitar. It's a nylon string (oh well), and has 31
frets - so an octave's worth of 31-tet per string.

What are some good tunings to mess around with here? The usual
E-A-D-G-B-E isn't very good for messing around with xenharmonic stuff
- playing an A "harmonic 7" (or augmented six, whatever) chord is
pretty difficult. Anyone have any ideas for xenharmonically versatile
tunings that still let you play "normal" chords as well?

-Mike

I liked using an open tuning, like DGDGAD. This made it easier to play xenharmonic tetrads on the upper four strings. You could also try something like DABbFGD, which will let you easily play full 6-note chords. It's kinda weird for scales, though. Another option is to use a tuning based on the flatter fourth (1 degree below the perfect fourth), using an augmented fourth between the 3rd and 2nd string instead of a major third (i.e. 0-464.52-929.03-1393.54-1935.48-2400¢). This is basically 13-EDO standard tuning, I never tried it in 31-EDO but it should make it easier to play various xenharmonic chords.

HTH!

-igs

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Mike Battaglia <battaglia01@...> wrote:
>
> Just got back from Bonnaroo, and it was an awesome show. I return with
> my very own 31-tet guitar. It's a nylon string (oh well), and has 31
> frets - so an octave's worth of 31-tet per string.
>
> What are some good tunings to mess around with here? The usual
> E-A-D-G-B-E isn't very good for messing around with xenharmonic stuff
> - playing an A "harmonic 7" (or augmented six, whatever) chord is
> pretty difficult. Anyone have any ideas for xenharmonically versatile
> tunings that still let you play "normal" chords as well?
>
> -Mike
>

> What are some good tunings to mess around with here? The usual
> E-A-D-G-B-E isn't very good for messing around with xenharmonic stuff
> - playing an A "harmonic 7" (or augmented six, whatever) chord is
> pretty difficult. Anyone have any ideas for xenharmonically versatile
> tunings that still let you play "normal" chords as well?

Playing a D harmonic 7 is very easy, though.

Wow! Was someone selling microtonal guitars there? If I knew such things were going to be there, I may have been willing to make the trip to check it out.

Jay

Quoting "Mike Battaglia" <battaglia01@...>:

> Just got back from Bonnaroo, and it was an awesome show. I return with
> my very own 31-tet guitar. It's a nylon string (oh well), and has 31
> frets - so an octave's worth of 31-tet per string.
>
> What are some good tunings to mess around with here? The usual
> E-A-D-G-B-E isn't very good for messing around with xenharmonic stuff
> - playing an A "harmonic 7" (or augmented six, whatever) chord is
> pretty difficult. Anyone have any ideas for xenharmonically versatile
> tunings that still let you play "normal" chords as well?
>
> -Mike
>