The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    What is this djent reference? I keep getting it in comments to my multi-string guitar or lute videos. Someone wit(less) will say, “But does it Djent?!” Then five people will add “That’s so funny, Dude!”, or words to that effect. I got it so often I eventually removed every such comment, and banned them from commenting again, just because I got bored with it.
    haha quite right!

    Djent is a form of prog rock/metal wherein people will buy multi stringed pointy guitars and then mostly write riffs that go 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 on the bottom string usually in odd time, or some metrical phase with the drums.

    Well that’s probably a little unfair. The popular bands are Meshuggah, Periphery, Animals as Leaders (who are more shred/fusion). I’m not sure of Polyphia are Djent exactly, their music isn’t really metal, but they certainly takeoff from that sort of world.

    Polyphia is the big thing with teen guitar nerds right now, if you haven’t yet encountered them. Tim Henson is an absolute oik but he does play the guitar in quite a unique and very virtuosic way which will be cloned by everyone in about five years when they work out how to do it. I know a kid who’s working on it, and getting there and I doubt he’s alone.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    All Greek to me. But it’s good to know some kids are not trying to be the next - oh, I can’t remember his name…little red-head with a small/scale guitar, writing yawnascious songs about girls, and making millions.

  4. #28

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    EDIT/ Ackers already doing it on lute. YouTube notoriety assured. So I suppose… it does djent?

  5. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    All Greek to me. But it’s good to know some kids are not trying to be the next - oh, I can’t remember his name…little red-head with a small/scale guitar, writing yawnascious songs about girls, and making millions.
    Urgh. A songwriter I do quite like is that young Sam Fender. Aside from excellent nominative determinism second only to Billy Strings, he writes big songs with real, complex feelings in. Sounds a bit like Springsteen/Tom Petty, but I feel he has his own voice. Not quite my thing, but I respect it.

    sorry for the massive derail lol

  6. #30

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    Joe Cinderella also developed an eight string guitar with his own tuning system of thirds and fourths.
    He wrote a book about it (so did my friend with the 12 string tuning ststem) but heir both out of print today.


  7. #31

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    I just spent a couple of hours tabbing (a few clicks in Musescore) my 12-tone scores into M3 tuning, and, to be honest, some things were a bit easier, some not, and overall it didn't make a lot of difference if you know your fretboard well. However, I'm impressed with some of the advanced chords you can make with piano-like voicings. That's worth exploring. So, as usual, pros and cons as with every tuning. Two hours is not enough to make a decision, though, so I might mess with it some more.

  8. #32

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    As I mentioned in an earlier post, the videos I watched demonstrating solo guitar (chord melody, essentially) using maj thirds tuning, is that it all sounded so compact (small) compared to a guitar in standard tuning. With standard tuning, you get something roughly equivalent to playing spread (two-handed) voicings on the piano, and the close voicing that the piano does so easily is much more challenging on the guitar. But it is the spread voicing that I much prefer.

    So you can get piano type voicings for one hand, but with the piano, you have two hands to get nice full sounding spread voicings for a big sound. I can play cocktail style piano using just a lead sheet in a fakebook and if I only played the right hand voicing under the melody, it would sound similar to the stuff I heard with maj thirds tuning on the guitar.

    I will readily say that it is much easier to sound decent on the piano than the guitar even in standard tuning when playing this style (cocktail style). But, then, that is the challenge, and a fun one at that.

    I will stick with standard.

    Tony

  9. #33

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    Maybe it's a reference to whether one is a djentleman (or -woman).

  10. #34

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    There's some guy out there that plays 18 strings, not in courses. They really like the low notes. Because they're heavy I think.

  11. #35

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    Okay, I’ve learned all I want or need to know about Djent. Back to M3 tuning, please.

  12. #36

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    Yes, back to d4 tuning...

  13. #37

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    I've decided not to bother studying M3 tuning. My ageing brain is not as lithe as it once was, and this would be an uphill struggle. Good luck to all those who do take that road, though. It has some real benefits.

  14. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by tbeltrans
    As I mentioned in an earlier post, the videos I watched demonstrating solo guitar (chord melody, essentially) using maj thirds tuning, is that it all sounded so compact (small) compared to a guitar in standard tuning. With standard tuning, you get something roughly equivalent to playing spread (two-handed) voicings on the piano, and the close voicing that the piano does so easily is much more challenging on the guitar. But it is the spread voicing that I much prefer.

    So you can get piano type voicings for one hand, but with the piano, you have two hands to get nice full sounding spread voicings for a big sound. I can play cocktail style piano using just a lead sheet in a fakebook and if I only played the right hand voicing under the melody, it would sound similar to the stuff I heard with maj thirds tuning on the guitar.

    I will readily say that it is much easier to sound decent on the piano than the guitar even in standard tuning when playing this style (cocktail style). But, then, that is the challenge, and a fun one at that.

    I will stick with standard.

    Tony
    Now you got me looking at spread voicings for this tuning! I made a list of all 4 note possible chord voicings for this tuning and from time to time I take a look at it while practicing my scales and such. Admittedly close voicings are easier to play in this tuning than spread ones

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    I've decided not to bother studying M3 tuning. My ageing brain is not as lithe as it once was, and this would be an uphill struggle. Good luck to all those who do take that road, though. It has some real benefits.
    Understandable. This tuning is probably not for everyone and in my opinion it'll take quite a while before more and more people start noticing the tuning itself. But anyways good luck to your musical endeavors!

  15. #39

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    ...for me it sounds much more distopia than Terminator...

    I do like thirds, (and I also insist I have a sense of humor) but this really sounds overwhelming, sooo many on top of each other?

  16. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gabor
    ...for me it sounds much more distopia than Terminator...

    I do like thirds, (and I also insist I have a sense of humor) but this really sounds overwhelming, sooo many on top of each other?
    Well you're not far off... it could very well mean be the beginning of the end. Straight thirds forms a triangle in the circle of fifths you see... and that signals the illuminati. So who knows?

  17. #41

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    On reflection, I think I could get into it for atonal/serial stuff. Julian Bream once quipped: “How come atonal music on the guitar always sounds like it is in Em?”

    I might buy a really inexpensive Metal 7-string, just to get the lay of the land, as it were.

    Any advice on buying strings for a 7-string in 3rds tuning?
    Tony Corman has some suggested string sets I believe, although they need to be ade up of single strings rather than a commercially available set.

    M3 Guitar | Tony Corman

  18. #42

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    When you have spent 38 years mastering endless chords, scales and harmonies perfectly in standard tuning and can play by muscle memory maybe 230 songs and standards, why would you suddenly switch to an alternative tuning because someone on YouTube said it would make your life easier? ?

    I'm speaking from experience, because 3 years ago I gave it a try and switched to Perfect 4th tuning.
    Yes it made a few scales more symmetrical but in reality it just turned my entire world upside down. My entire repertoire of jazz, classical and flamenco tunes went down the toilet and I was basically starting the guitar from scratch.

    About a month ago I switched back to standard tuning and got my life back.
    Another thing I noticed, on prolonged observation and listening to the touted P4 players, people like Tom Quayle and Alex Hutchings I tended to find their playing and phrasing somewhat robotic and synthetic.
    There’s a reason standard tuning on guitar has been used for 600 years. It works

    Hence the adages:


    “Too much symmetry can be a bad thing.”
    “Think in straight lines and you will play in straight lines”

  19. #43

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    Quote Originally Posted by Maxxx
    When you have spent 38 years mastering endless chords, scales and harmonies perfectly in standard tuning and can play by muscle memory maybe 230 songs and standards, why would you suddenly switch to an alternative tuning because someone on YouTube said it would make your life easier? ?

    I'm speaking from experience, because 3 years ago I gave it a try and switched to Perfect 4th tuning.
    Yes it made a few scales more symmetrical but in reality it just turned my entire world upside down. My entire repertoire of jazz, classical and flamenco tunes went down the toilet and I was basically starting the guitar from scratch.

    About a month ago I switched back to standard tuning and got my life back.
    Another thing I noticed, on prolonged observation and listening to the touted P4 players, people like Tom Quayle and Alex Hutchings I tended to find their playing and phrasing somewhat robotic and synthetic.
    There’s a reason standard tuning on guitar has been used for 600 years. It works

    Hence the adages:


    “Too much symmetry can be a bad thing.”
    “Think in straight lines and you will play in straight lines”
    Well yeah if you made it that far in standard tuning then there is no point in switching over because everything is already there. Why go lose all of that hard work just because some guy out there in the internet (me) says there is a better way?

  20. #44

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    Build a better mousetrap and they will buy it. Few musicians have bought anything other than standard guitar tuning for centuries. Perhaps it's not really a better mousetrap. Some traps only work for specific mice.

    Thirds tuning requires lots of strings to maintain the standard guitar range. Fewer may be better, but you can get the same range with only 5 strings with fifths tuning. I've tried it. It's great on mandolins and mandolas, but when you get to guitar scale length, it's not so great. Some chords are more difficult, and single note soloing gets more difficult. Everything is a compromise of some sort. Standard guitar tuning seems to be the best compromise for most players.

  21. #45

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    So should I go back to standard? I just can't see myself learning all those chord shapes, no way. I have a hard time imagining learning all those closed and (especially) spread 3 note chord voicings (not just triads) on every string set and in every inversion on standard tuning. I don't even know how you guys manage to do it tbh (you guys can do it right??). And that is just 3 note chords imagine with 4 note chords (of which there is a lot of). The only way I can conceivably think of being able to do it is to start very young (which I never had the luxury) and practice guitar every waking moment maybe then I'll be lucky and know where everything is on the fretboard.

    I thought triads are supposed to be easy to learn

  22. #46

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    Quote Originally Posted by jazznylon
    So should I go back to standard? I just can't see myself learning all those chord shapes, no way. I have a hard time imagining learning all those closed and (especially) spread 3 note chord voicings (not just triads) on every string set in standard tuning. I don't even know how you guys manage to do it tbh (you guys can do it right??). And that is just 3 note chords imagine with 4 note chords (of which there is a lot of). The only way I can conceivably think of being able to do it is to start very young (which I never had the luxury) and practice guitar every waking moment maybe then I'll be lucky and know where everything is on the fretboard.

    I thought triads are supposed to be easy to learn
    If your view of the fretboard is thirds tuning and it works for you, why change now?

    As for those of us who use standard tuning, triads are just as easy as they would be in any tuning. You learn where the notes are on the fretboard, what notes go into a given triad, and find those notes on the fretboard wherever you want to play them. One cold do that in any tuning as long as you know those two pieces of information:

    1. Where the notes are on the fretboard in your chosen tuning.
    2. What notes are contained in the triad(s) you want to play.

    That part is easy because it is strictly mechanical. The more difficult part is to go through the mechanics of playing a tune, but doing so in a way that sounds musical and can draw the listener in. That takes a lifetime.

    Tony

  23. #47

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    Quote Originally Posted by tbeltrans
    If your view of the fretboard is thirds tuning and it works for you, why change now?

    As for those of us who use standard tuning, triads are just as easy as they would be in any tuning. You learn where the notes are on the fretboard, what notes go into a given triad, and find those notes on the fretboard wherever you want to play them. One cold do that in any tuning as long as you know those two pieces of information:

    1. Where the notes are on the fretboard in your chosen tuning.
    2. What notes are contained in the triad(s) you want to play.

    That part is easy because it is strictly mechanical. The more difficult part is to go through the mechanics of playing a tune, but doing so in a way that sounds musical and can draw the listener in. That takes a lifetime.

    Tony
    I guess I just do things differently. I learn things by shape and intervals pretty much and while I do know the fretboard (for M3 tuning anyways) the shape takes precedence for my thinking process. The only time I have to think about the fretboard is when I have to do an inversion and find out where the root is at. Its no wonder why I couldn't get it on with standard tuning

  24. #48

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    Quote Originally Posted by jazznylon
    I guess I just do things differently. I learn things by shape and intervals pretty much and while I do know the fretboard (for M3 tuning anyways) the shape takes precedence for my thinking process. The only time I have to think about the fretboard is when I have to do an inversion and find out where the root is at. Its no wonder why I couldn't get it on with standard tuning
    We all need to do things in ways that make the most sense to us. In other words, I don't see that there is a wrong or right way to view the fretboard. Whatever works for each of us is probably the best way. If you like the sounds you can produce with thirds tuning and that is what works for you, then by all means, nothing wrong with that. Over in the acoustic guitar forum, you will find people who play exclusively in one or another open or altered tuning, while others use several different tunings, depending on the tune.

    As with open and altered tunings, there are probably things you can do in thirds tuning that I couldn't do in standard tuning. To me, it is all a matter of what trade-offs you are willing to deal with to get where you want to go musically since there is no perfect do-all tuning that I know of.

    Tony

  25. #49

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    Play in whatever tuning, on whatever guitar, playing whatever music you like. No one is suggesting that you can't. Just don't be amazed that not everyone else jumps on the bandwagon. Evangelism for tuning in thirds is likely to be somewhat unproductive.

  26. #50

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    Quote Originally Posted by jazznylon
    So should I go back to standard? I just can't see myself learning all those chord shapes, no way. I have a hard time imagining learning all those closed and (especially) spread 3 note chord voicings (not just triads) on every string set and in every inversion on standard tuning. I don't even know how you guys manage to do it tbh (you guys can do it right??). And that is just 3 note chords imagine with 4 note chords (of which there is a lot of). The only way I can conceivably think of being able to do it is to start very young (which I never had the luxury) and practice guitar every waking moment maybe then I'll be lucky and know where everything is on the fretboard.

    I thought triads are supposed to be easy to learn
    No you don't have to learn everything. You learn what you use and need in the moment. The rest is cumulative.

    Music is a language, a child learns to speak by speaking a few words at a time. The rest is cumulative.

    No one teaches a child to speak by handing it 5 dictionaries, 3 encyclopedias saying: "learn all of that."

    Why do you feel a need to do that to yourself with music?