9 string

[hydra]

hi everyone;

i'm michael coppola. i play a self invented 9 string guitar www.9string.com
i'm sure i know many of you from having been in this business for so long.
nice to be part of this board.

[randalljazz]

welcome, michael. i've long admired your playing. i play ten-string (didn't "invent" it--my teacher's teacher did ).

YouTube - ‪Michael Coppola‬‎

[derek]

Welcome Michael. I went to your site, and am very curious about your 9 string concept, especially as it applies to solo guitar. Which of your discs would you suggest for getting a good example of solo playing? Anything that puts you in the same sort of range as George Van Eps, Lenny Breau or the like? Thanks

[hydra]

hi randall, nice to hear from you. who is (was) your teacher and his (her) teacher. how does your tuning go?

[hydra]

hi derek:

my range is exactly the same as a 6 string guitar tuned down a whole step. my extra strings are inner voices. yes, very much like lenny's concepts...the cascading harmonic effect, but all done with real notes, which gives me much more versatility (i only mean in this partiucular sound he created, lenny was incomparable!!) the instrument also allows me to play niced dissonances inside my chords w/o much stretching...my original
idea was to get the bill evans piano chords as explained by my former leader john mehegan.

[paynow]

Welcome Michael. I only have two words for you after visiting your site and then watching you play "Caravan" and "Tiger Rag":

I QUIT!

Wow. Ok, I'm inspired actually. That is fantastic. I've always been interested in the possibilities of guitars with more than than the standard six. What you're doing is really fueling that interest.

I grew up in Westchester and in looking at your website I get the impression some of your performances are in areas of CT off the Merritt. I'm not living in the NY/CT area currently but have a lot of friends there. I'll have to get them to come out to see you play!

Keep pushing boundaries!

[hydra]

thanks paynow

yes, i
play solo every sat (unless i sub it out) in westport ct at napoli sul fiume 203 221 5000
also every sunday 5-7 at rainbow gardens in milford ct 203 878 2500
and other less steady spots, that would be great if you could send folks my way thanks for checking out the youtube stuff m

[paynow]

Originally Posted by hydra

thanks paynow

yes, i
play solo every sat (unless i sub it out) in westport ct at napoli sul fiume 203 221 5000
also every sunday 5-7 at rainbow gardens in milford ct 203 878 2500
and other less steady spots, that would be great if you could send folks my way thanks for checking out the youtube stuff m

You bet. I'm going to pass this on to a friend in Norwalk.

[randalljazz]

Originally Posted by hydra

hi randall, nice to hear from you. who is (was) your teacher and his (her) teacher. how does your tuning go?

my teacher was keith nelson, a student of narciso yepes. my guitar is modified yepes tuning: 1-6 are standard, 7 low B, 8 Bb (m2 above 5), 9 Ab, 10 Gb.

[hydra]

i know alot of the yepes players use those strings only for the resonance...are you playing on them?

[randalljazz]

the low B is good for continuing scale patterns and chord forms. the other are useful for jazz keys--roots to upper string chord voicings. so, yes, i do use them.

so, what is your tuning?

[hydra]

Originally Posted by randalljazz

the low B is good for continuing scale patterns and chord forms. the other are useful for jazz keys--roots to upper string chord voicings. so, yes, i do use them.

so, what is your tuning?

Strings and Tunings:

• The Hydra, simply put, uses a standard guitar tuning, a whole step lower with 3 extra strings inserted between the 4th and 5th strings
• Hydra - D·G· D·g·c· C f·a d
• Standard E· A D g b e
  now, imagine :.
• without tuning the hydra 1 step lower,
• you have a normal 6 string with the 3 extras between the 4th and 5th being
• 5th=d, same note as 3rd fret 2nd string
• 6th=a, same note as 2nd fret 3rd string
• 7th=e, same note as 2nd fret 4th string
  

[randalljazz]

baroque guitar reentrant tuning concept, on steroids!!

[cosmic gumbo]

Once, me and Buckwheat put frets on an autoharp and turned it into a 36 string guitar. Then we tricked out a bass harmonica with a bicycle pump so it sounded just like bagpipes. That's what poor kids do.

[randalljazz]