Augmented tuning
An augmented tuning is a tuning system for musical instruments that is associated with augmented triads, that is a root note, a major third, and an augmented fifth. The augmented fifth is constructed by stacking the major third with another major third. Consequently, all of the intervals are major thirds.
Augmented tunings are used for stringed instruments, especially guitars, and for wind instruments. For guitars, augmented tunings are called major thirds tunings.
Instruments
Guitar
Major-thirds (M3) tunings are unconventional open tunings, in which the open strings form an augmented triad; in M3 tunings, the augmented fifth replaces the perfect fifth of the major triad of conventional open-tunings.[1] Consequently M3 tunings are also called (open) augmented-fifth tunings (in French "La guitare #5, majeure quinte augmentée").[2] Unfortunately, the open augmented-chord sounds dissonant to audiences who are accustomed to standard tuning.[3]
Wind
For a diatonic wind instrument (such as a harmonica or accordion), the blow notes repeat a sequence of
(perhaps shifted to begin with E♭ or with G) and draw notes follow a repeating sequence of
though perhaps with a different initial sequence.
For example:
hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 blow note C E G♯ C E G♯ C E G♯ C E G♯ draw note E♭ G B E♭ G B E♭ G B E♭ G B
See also
Notes
- Sethares (2001, p. 56)
- Zemb, Patrick (15 August 2007). "Sommaire du site musical (French: Summary of the musical site)". English machine-translation. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- Griewank (2010, p. 5)
References
- Griewank, Andreas (1 January 2010), Tuning guitars and reading music in major thirds, Matheon preprints, 695, Rosestr. 3a, 12524 Berlin, Germany: DFG research center "MATHEON, Mathematics for key technologies" Berlin, MSC-Classification 97M80 Arts. Music. Language. Architecture. urn:nbn:de:0296-matheon-6755. Postscript file and Pdf fileCS1 maint: location (link)
- Kirkeby, Ole (1 March 2012). "Major thirds tuning". m3guitar.com. cited by Sethares (2012) and Griewank (2010, p. 1). Archived from the original on 2013-02-06. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- Patt, Ralph (14 April 2008). "The major 3rd tuning". Ralph Patt's jazz web page. ralphpatt.com. cited by Sethares (2012) and Griewank (2010, p. 1). Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- Peterson, Jonathon (2002). "Tuning in thirds: A new approach to playing leads to a new kind of guitar". American Lutherie: The Quarterly Journal of the Guild of American Luthiers. 8222 South Park Avenue, Tacoma WA 98408: USA.: The Guild of American Luthiers. Number 72 (Winter): 36–43. ISSN 1041-7176. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2012.CS1 maint: location (link)
- Sethares, Bill (2001). "Regular tunings". Alternate tuning guide (pdf). Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin; Department of Electrical Engineering. pp. 52–67. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
- Sethares, William A. (18 May 2012). "Alternate tuning guide". Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin; Department of Electrical Engineering. Retrieved 8 December 2012.