Every possible chord formed by playing three harmonics over a chromatic stopped root (EADG)

[ambient]

That's fascinating, thanks for sharing your work. I like to use harmonics in some of my solo stuff.

[Hector]

Oscar, have been having a fiddle around with this stuff for a few days, and I'm really enjoying getting into it - thanks for the resource!

Have you considered doing this for the harmonics available on a high C string too?

Edited July 30, 2016 by Hector

[toneknob]

There's no questioning your devotion to the task, but I have simply no idea how I would use your chart in practice.

Can you explain how I use it? So for example
- what does the EAeGb (etc) refer to top left of each table
- what does the left hand column signify (three notes, E G G# for the first row of the first table)
- are the columns each the root note of a chord?
- what do the shading colours represent?

Thanks!

[Oscar South]

[quote name='Ceebass' timestamp='1469476121' post='3098661']
I love a good chord-symbol discussion! I do agree with Joebass on some of the labelling issues, but I understand the need for a certain methodological rigour when undertaking this kind of exercise. I was interested to see that you categorised the G6b9 and Dsus2b5 chords as 'impractical' rather than stemming from a melodic minor tonality- what was your rationale for doing it this way?

Cool project dude- you've set the Theory and Technique board on fire!
[/quote]

About damn time! I've been coming here a good while and as a theory head it has long pained me to see this part of the forum mainly full of tab requests

I've treated melodic minor with subjectivity in order to avoid an over-abundance of useless voicings, of which there would be many.
Here is the 'rule' I set for Melodic minor:
[indent=1]
[i]"Tonic, altered or other ‘concrete’ melodic minor structures (darker highlight)."[/i][/indent]

I actually took many more potentially practical voicings out of consideration in the next stage of analysis. I found that only enough to demonstrate the different variations of tensions were necessary. A big list of every possible combination was just unwieldy. The exact point at which this study stops being purely analytical and objective and becomes subjective is on the complete generation of all possible structures, prior to the colour coding being added.


[quote name='paul_c2' timestamp='1469476371' post='3098669']
That's fair enough - the exercise has a usefulness to you, which may be different to others. What I'm saying is, to expand it into something with use to ME, I'd rearrange things slightly to identify the simplest form of the chords, and probably leave blank (I know the reason for your work was to evaluate it all, leaving no blanks...) most of the chords which are too far away from the more "normal" stuff to fit in musically to anything.

I am sure there are a few beautiful sounding chords based on harmonics out there which I've never played, at the moment I only use a couple of "safe" ones I've worked out already...
[/quote]

Expand it shall!
This spreadsheet is an excerpt from a much (much!) bigger work.
[attachment=225744:Screenshot 2016-08-18 15.04.24.png]

The spreadsheet in question is simply the 'workings', the work as a whole is intended to explore the results of these inner workings in a more practical manner. Still a lot of work to do, but it's slowly getting there. I've not yet decided how I will publish it as there will be video examples of all the exercises. I'm thinking to publish as both a physical book with accompanying DVD and as a Udemy course with accompanying notes.


[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1469802575' post='3101191']
That's fascinating, thanks for sharing your work. I like to use harmonics in some of my solo stuff.
[/quote]

Thanks very much, I'm glad it's of use/interest to you!


[quote name='Hector' timestamp='1469812785' post='3101302']
Oscar, have been having a fiddle around with this stuff for a few days, and I'm really enjoying getting into it - thanks for the resource!

Have you considered doing this for the harmonics available on a high C string too?
[/quote]

Brilliant. I'm glad to hear that people are making good use of it.

I am exploring different 'harmonic' tunings and although I've not yet done EADGC, it's the next on the list and will most likely make it's way into any released version of the work.


[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1471468624' post='3113336']
There's no questioning your devotion to the task, but I have simply no idea how I would use your chart in practice.

Can you explain how I use it? So for example
- what does the EAeGb (etc) refer to top left of each table
- what does the left hand column signify (three notes, E G G# for the first row of the first table)
- are the columns each the root note of a chord?
- what do the shading colours represent?

Thanks!
[/quote]

Opps! Those larger charts weren't supposed to be included in this PDF. They're a hint at some of the things the larger work contains

The left hand column lists the pitches of the three overtones in question, which are then placed in function over all 12 chromatic roots in the subsequent columns.

There is some info on the bottom of the sheet, but largely they're a guide to what's more or less usable. Green is best, blue more complex, orange mostly nonsense and red non-diatonic voicings.

[toneknob]

[quote name='Oscar South' timestamp='1471528851' post='3113713']Opps! Those larger charts weren't supposed to be included in this PDF. They're a hint at some of the things the larger work contains

The left hand column lists the pitches of the three overtones in question, which are then placed in function over all 12 chromatic roots in the subsequent columns.

There is some info on the bottom of the sheet, but largely they're a guide to what's more or less usable. Green is best, blue more complex, orange mostly nonsense and red non-diatonic voicings.
[/quote]

Thanks for the explanation! And the revised sheet makes much more sense now thanks.

Just so I'm 100%, can you explain your Overtone Location shorthand. I guess A2 is second overtone of A (ie 12th fret harmonic, or 5th fret?) but what's D1+3?

[Oscar South]

1 = 12th fret
2 = 7th or 19th fret
3 = 5th or 24th fret
4 = 4th, 9th, 16th or beyond 24th fret

D1 = D
D3 = D(octave higher)
Either of these D's can be chosen based on voicing preference

Edited August 19, 2016 by Oscar South

[toneknob]

So (sorry if this is a stupid question) is D4 = D1+3?

[Oscar South]

D4 would be an F#, found at the [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]4th, 9th, 16th or slightly beyond the 24th frets[/font][/color]

[toneknob]

Thanks - yep I got that from your previous post. It's D1+3 I'm trying to understand. What is it, and where do I find one?

[Oscar South]

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1471634112' post='3114705']
Thanks - yep I got that from your previous post. It's D1+3 I'm trying to understand. What is it, and where do I find one?
[/quote]

I posted slightly wrongly in my last post (rushing, my apologies!).
It's edited now, but it should have been D3 = D[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif](octave higher).[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]D1+3 means that this overtone exists at both D1 (12th fret) or D3 ([/font][/color][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]5th or 24th fret), and you can pick which based on your personal discretion![/color][/font]

Edited August 19, 2016 by Oscar South

[dlloyd]

This is a fantastic resource and I appreciate the effort you've put in.

[Oscar South]

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1471643520' post='3114792']
This is a fantastic resource and I appreciate the effort you've put in.
[/quote]

Thanks very much! I'm glad that it is useful to you!
I've got a long way to go before finishing the final publication, but I'll make sure that regulars on this message board get to hear about it first!

[toneknob]

[quote name='Oscar South' timestamp='1471636910' post='3114740']
I posted slightly wrongly in my last post (rushing, my apologies!).
It's edited now, but it should have been D3 = D[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif](octave higher).[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]D1+3 means that this overtone exists at both D1 (12th fret) or D3 ([/font][/color][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]5th or 24th fret), and you can pick which based on your personal discretion![/color][/font]
[/quote]

Right! Got it, thanks. I was reading "+" as "plus", "add" rather than "or". Seeing as D4 is an F# an octave plus a major third above the 12th fret harmonic, you can see how it might be open to interpretation.

[Oscar South]

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1471778533' post='3115753']
Right! Got it, thanks. I was reading "+" as "plus", "add" rather than "or". Seeing as D4 is an F# an octave plus a major third above the 12th fret harmonic, you can see how it might be open to interpretation.
[/quote]

Glad you've got it!

Your feedback is appreciated too and I will take it into consideration. Thanks!

[Oscar South]

I've finished V1.0 of this publication.

You can follow my facebook page for updates and content derived from this document in advance of it's published release (late 2017):
https://www.facebook.com/oscarsouthbass

[Oscar South]

I've finished Version 1.0.0.0 of this document's subject matter as an actual algorithm that can be used to deterministically generate, explore and filter down recommendations for performance, study and composition using the overtones of the electric bass! Of course .. I've gone a lot further than the initial scope and additionally encoded the harmonic intuition of J.S.Bach into the algorithm as an embedded recommendation system ..

I've released it as an open source project! Check is out at this GitHub repo, where I've added detailed usage examples (with video clips) and installation instructions for anyone inclined to try it out!

https://github.com/OscarSouth/theHarmonicAlgorithm