Chords and build

[ed packard]

Re the above neck diagrams...although presented in terms of four tone C chords, realize that the scale note locations are also there = pick your pockets. For those that may not realize it, each of the four tone chords shown probably has a 6th interval one string below it, and some sort of 9th one string above it.

Road runner picking (ala John Coltrane/Miles Davis style) usually requires being on the chord (or it's extension) note on the beat...non beat notes = flavor to suit. Your on beat notes are in the chord...know where the chord is, and it's extensions, and you have the beat notes all lined up and waiting.

The previous neck diagrams showed chords and scale note location for the four basic 13 series forms, but just for the C root. Here are four "chord location" diagrams for all roots in the tuning/setup. Only those for the same change activation's used above are shown.









These show all the chords and extensions for each string string in the structure as root when invoked with the changes for the basic four 13 series master chords.

You might notice that when you have CM13 invoked, you also get G13, and Dm13 using other strings as root.

[ed packard]

OK, now to put the train back on the track:

The 13 series structure is an experiment to see how many chords can be placed in a simple tuning/setup. Because it is a stacked thirds format, and chords are made of the "odd" intervals it follows an easy to remember approach to chord root location.

To illustrate in another format the chord power of the 13 series I present the following charts/lists. They are of C chords invoked by activating only one change...the result are the Cxx chords found on the strings noted, and identified by fret, string, and change.

Note that only four strings are presented here. These should be enough to make the point. This type of list
becomes enormous when two change, and three change chords are listed. If anyone wants the full 1,2,3 change list in an Excel workbook, I can email it to you. You enter the chord root and the fret, root string, and activated changes for the 3,4,5,6,&7 tone chords are shown.

Here are the charts/lists for C chords using just four strings a roots and single changes to activate.

[ed packard]

The past, present, and future of the 13 series.

As far as I know, there have been no other attempts to define the 13th series tuning/setup on the PSG…it is however not too far from that used on the concert harp with less strings and more changes.

A few decades ago I was reading/studying a book by Arnold Schoenberg named THEORY OF HARMONY. Chapter IV had the title = THE MAJOR MODE AND DIATONIC CHORDS. The information caused me to think of expanding the principle to include up to 13th chords and apply it to the PSG.

The result was to pick a note as the “system root”, and tune to the diatonic scale for that note as in C,E,G,B,D,F,A = 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 etc.. As intervals, this can be applied to any note as system root, hence can be added to an existing setup/coped with little effort as in the E9/A6/B6 universal, or an A6, Bb6 or C6 instrument.

The result was that the common changes like E to F, E to Eb, B to Bb, middle E to D and so forth gave the M13, 13, m13, mM13 and so forth. Also, any note in the tuning could provide a system root for the 13 series. This makes available a cascade of chord structures. I had a batch of 10 of these made. They had 4 pedals, 5 levers, and 14 strings. The tuning/setup is shown below. The first chart is in E, and the second is in C for easy discussion. I actually use Eb/Ab/Bb, E13series.





This was interesting enough that I decided to tune and rod one of my 4X5s to Bb13 series only(the discussion will use C as the primary system root),,,the changes (P&L) are initially set to raise and lower each note by a single halftone. This provides the s4, b5, #5, etc. for the “system root”, These variations provide the raising and lowering of other intervals when other strings are used as the root…AND each other string provides the possibility of another 13 series system root.



The full 13 system requires 14 changes plus NC = no changes. This can mean 9 pedals and 5 levers…as loaded as an E9/B6 Uni. The task became to assign the possible interval changes such that the cream of the crop were concentrated in the first 3 or 4 pedals and the 5 levers commonly used on the various E9 and similar tunings/setups.

The guiding light was to set up so as to provide the M13,13,m13, and mM13, via changes, that could be used with each string as the root. The next chart shows the result.



This leaves a lot of changes to use with other than the single halftone changes to get any interval structures not covered by the halftone raises and lowers.

For those that might like to prowl around in the details of this and other tuning/setup related charts (sans text) go to:

http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/ ... TRUCTURES/

[Ray Moonraker]

Hi folks Just called in to say that I found a good sight for chords http://www.skobrien.com/ChordFinder/ChordFinder.asp
hope this helps. Ray

[ed packard]

Here is one that Karlis Abolins provided a few years back.

http://home.comcast.net/~k.abolins/guitarmap.html

[ed packard]

Thanks to those that have participated in the thread…mostly from the Steel Guitar Forum, and some private communications.

Now to address some issues raised in the thread:

Any melody or harmony line can be “played” on a single string. There are many one stringed instrument’s in the world on which are played Arabic, Oriental, and music based upon other scales. The Steel guitar has many strings, any of which will supply 2 to 3 octaves at different pitches. This is independent of the tuning. Different tunings/setups allow harmonies to be included. The different tunings allow for different ways (via) to connect notes and chords hence each will ad its own flavor to the tune.

Lots of chords in lots of locations will allow many directions of movement between note groups and chords. Each string (except 14) allows up to a full tone movement of whatever interval it is for the chosen root string = chord alteration, or a “leading” function. This also provides many scale pockets = per M13, 13, etc. using each string as a scale root.

Can strings be changed by a full tone? -1 to +1 halftone is a full tone, so yes. Concentrating the 13 series changes to the most commonly used P&Ls allows the remaining P&Ls to be used for whatever changes one would like.

How many places can we find adjacent halftone separation between strings? 66 just using the two and three change activations. I have not yet sorted the 4 change activations etc. Which intervals these turn out to be will depend upon which string is used as the root. Here is one of those necks showing adj h’tone intervals on adj strings.



There are as many neck views as there are P&L combinations = 100s.

“Spanner grips” to get the same or complementary notes at the same time in different octaves are available in quantity on/in the 13series structure. Here is a simple example using the single halftone change that I assigned to P8. There are a number of possible choices along the neck. There are many other changes that will provide other choices. Here is one neck view (P8) that will provide a few.



In the 13 system, 3,4,5 etc. tone harmonizing of the Major scale can be done within two frets going from south (toward) and north (away from) the players body. 3,4,5 etc tone harmony of the Major scale can be done using adjacent strings going west (players left) to east (players right).

Ok, what have I learned from the responses in this thread?...That in the digital no moving parts changer there should be an APP to allow users to enter and mod their own tuning/setup/coped.

Maybe scales will be the next subject.

[azureskys]

this is similar to what i had in my mind when i was thinking of building a 21 string instrument , i wanted to have lots of chords and scales at any given fret.

[ed packard]

Here is a sample of the "choice" available chords for the CM13EX1 tuning/setup. only a portion of those available are shown... for the 0(NC), 1, and 2 changes activated. What can be seen is the number of chord locations for any given chord type.


The above list will be used to determine which chord(s) to be used with the following "tunes" format.

[ed packard]

The above chart has E as a V chord = error, S/B VI...corrected in next chart.

The chart below shows the "tune" with chosen chords from the chord location chart. The fret, string, and choices that give the chord are shown in the colms at the right. Three choices of chord are given (3,4,5 tones).

The F,S,C can be applied to sheet music or fake book to show where to find the chord on the tuning. They can also be used to help create TAB for the tune.

[ed packard]

For those that speak/read notation, here is a bit of the 13 series in that form.
First, the basis of the 13 series as 7 tone chords in the key of C (I actually tune to Bb for the sake of string 1).

CHART 1.


The first 7 tone chord is CM13. The mid C is found on string 8. Each adjacent note in the chord is an adjacent string. So strings 8 thru 2 are part of the chord. String 1 is an exception = lower E. CM13 (the basic tuning) is invoked by no changes activated (NC). These are the line notes of the staff.

The second 7 tone chord is C13. This is invoked by activating R> to get the 7th (Bb).

The third 7 tone chord is Cm13. This is invoked by activating R> and P1 to get the b3 and b7.

The fourth 7 tone chord is Dm13. This is invoked by activating R> and P1 and playing two frets higher. These are the space notes of the staff, and are also strings 8 thru 2.

CM13 with Dm13 allow harmonizing the CM scale in chords…3,4,5, etc. tones. This will be further illuminated when these chord structures are expanded to strings 14 thru 2.

CHART 2.


Above we have CM13, C13, Cm13, and Dm13 expanded to strings 14 thru 2. The line notes are each a string, and the space notes are also a string. Each adjacent string is an adjacent ODD interval of the chord. The lower 3rd is left out (above the string 14 root) to have the Root and 5th in the bass. Again we can harmonize the C Major scale in close chords with out skipping strings…to be shown next.

Next we show the 4 tone chords available for NC on the CM13 tuning/setup. Any of the chord’s notes can be raised or lowered by a single halftone to alter the chords.

CHART 3.


And now the 4 tone chords available for R>P1 played two frets higher = Dm13. Any of the chord’s notes except those used by R> and P1 to make the m13 chord can be raised or lowered by a single halftone to alter the chords.

CHART 4.


Below is the 4 tone harmonizing of the C Major scale using NC, and R>P1 raised two frets.

CHART 5.


The same scalar harmonies are available using any string as a scale root if the correct changes are activated.

The harmonization shown is for across the PSG neck. The 4 tone chord types needed, to harmonize the scale are M7, m7, 7, and m7b5. These may be obtained using any string as root with the correct changes activated, therefore the harmonization may be obtained going up the neck also.

Adjacent halftone intervals may be obtained by dropping a 7th and raising a 5th…raising a 3rd and dropping a 5th, raising a root and dropping a b3. These will be other intervals in another scale key.

Does this notation presentation help in understanding the 13 series tuning structure?