Major-thirds tuning Ralph Patt

patt inspired jazz of ornette coleman , john coltrane , atonal music of schoenberg. seeking guitar-tuning facilitate improvisation, introduced major-thirds tuning 1964, perhaps in 1963. patt s tuning regular tuning in sense of intervals between successive open strings major thirds; in contrast, standard guitar-tuning has 1 major-third amid 4 fourths. patt used major-thirds tuning during of work session musician after 1965 in new york.

major-thirds tuning packs chromatic scale (the consecutive twelve-notes of octave) onto 4 consecutive frets of 3 consecutive strings, arrangement reduces extensions of little , index fingers ( hand stretching ). major , minor chords played on 2 successive frets, , require 2 fingers; other chords—seconds, fourths, sevenths, , ninths—are played on 3 successive frets. each regular tuning, chord patterns may moved around fretboard, property simplifies beginners learning of chords , simplifies advanced players improvisation. in contrast, chords cannot shifted around fretboard in standard tuning e-a-d-g-b-e, requires 4 chord-shapes major chords; standard tuning has separate chord-forms chords having root note on third, fourth, fifth, , sixth strings.

having 3 pitch classes open notes (for example {c,e,g♯}), each major-thirds tuning repeats every note in higher octave, because guitars have 6 strings. being regular, m3 tunings repeat each note after 2 strings: repetition simplifies learning of chords , improvisation. chord inversion simple in major-thirds tuning. chords inverted raising 1 or 2 notes 3 strings. raised notes played same finger original notes.

guitars 7 , 8 strings

saul koll built eight-string guitar ralph patt play in major thirds.

major-thirds tuning has smaller scope standard guitar-tuning, , patt started using seven-string guitars, enabled major-thirds tuning have e-e range of standard tuning. first experimented wide-neck mango guitar 1920s, modified have 7 strings in 1963. in 1967 purchased seven-string josé rubio. patt used major-thirds tuning when performed session musician in new york city after 1965.

later, purchased six-string archtop hollow-body guitars modified luthiers have wider necks, wider pickups, , 8 strings. patt s gibson es-150 modified vincent jimmy diserio, luthier worked in firm of john d angelico, circa 1965. luthier saul koll modified sequence of guitars: 1938 gibson cromwell, sears silvertone, circa 1922 mango archtop, 1951 gibson l-50, , 1932 epiphone broadway; koll s modifications, custom pick-ups accommodated patt s wide necks , high g♯ (equivalently a♭); custom pick-ups manufactured seymour duncan , bill lawrence.

besides these guitars, patt regularly played other stringed instruments recording musician: classical guitar, 12-string guitar, 6-string bass guitar, mandolin, banjo, , oud. patt stated guys didn t have double on dates tony mottolas , johnny smiths ; tony mottola , johnny smith famous jazz-guitarists, , doubling refers musician s switching 1 instrument another, particularly within family of instruments. patt worked studio musician 1970 1975.