Microtonal Guitar - "Piece for Two 22 EDO Electric Guitars"

[@mrgoat3774]

It sounds wrong until you realise it doesn’t. It’s weirdly beautiful.

[@sethebrown]

So glad I get to live right now, where microtonality is finally being fully explored and we are just now getting to hear beautiful music like this. Please, never stop innovating!

[@microtonalmilio5233]

@@grahamthomason8796 how is something that has been around for thousands of years, a fad?

[@OdaKa]

Explored in a western context

[@lunyxappocalypse7071]

@@microtonalmilio5233 Like how anything that has been lost and dug up again.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

@@lunyxappocalypse7071 Not totally lost. Even if you don't pay attention to the other parts of the world that have continued to use microtonality, even in the Western world, it has popped up from time to time at least as early as the late Renaissance/early Baroque, with the extended meantone keyboard instruments with split flat/sharp keys (I've also heard of it being done with split viol frets). Usually it would be just 1 to 3 split flat/sharp keys per octave, but a few harpsichords were made with 19, 24, or 31 notes per octave on one keyboard, as well as Nicola Vicentino's arcicembalo and arciorgano with up to 36 notes per octave (however, being split onto 2 keyboards, with resulting bad ergonomics). Several videos of such instruments being played are floating around on KZbin.

[@ElaineWalker]

This was the last piece I got to witness before jumping onto a plane. I hated to leave early, but was so happy to have ended with this amazing music.

[@Hecatonicosachoron54]

Nice! Elaine Walker I love your compositions and your series about Bohlen pierce

[@brianweeks87]

Listening to this is a unique experience! Never heard of microtonal octave divisions. Sounds incredibly beautiful.

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

thank you!

[@henrikljungstrand2036]

Check out the 19edo guitar, the 31edo guitar and the (41/2)edo Kite guitar as well! I think there is a 27edo guitar also. Also, Tolgan Cogulu's microtonal guitar with movable frets is also quite wonderful. Then you might want to check out the Lumatone microtonal synthesizer as well.

[@guerrillaradio9953]

Familiar enough to be wholly accessible, and alien enough to blow your mind....the chord progressions you come up with.... like lounge jazz from the last stop at the end of the universe. It's accepting, but all knowing...fuckin rad. Know anybody selling microtonal bolt on necks for strat/clones? Want!

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

thank you so much! You can check out metatonal music - I think they have some necks ready to go for strats, but if not, they do custom fret work for any tuning you'd like - very reasonably priced too.

[@therasa001]

I love how organic your music is

[@guidemeChrist]

it kinda sounds the same as the taste of in season tomatoes looks

[@scottjampa8308]

david gilmour level solos, not even kidding

[@raskolnikov3799]

It's been a long time since a piece of music has brought me to tears. Hearing this has shown me a whole new dimension to music that I've never seen before. Thank you.

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

Thank you so much, that's an amazing compliment :)

[@JBergmansson]

Absolutely remarkable!!!! You never fail to impress!

[@MrAndorox]

This is like music from another universe

[@brianweeks87]

I love listening to this! You never know where it's going. Some of those chords hit wayyyy different from anything in standard tuning! I mean way down deeper in the middle of your head. I tilt my head, close my eyes, and just listen. Wow!

[@francescodeluca4864]

Probably the best thing I ever heard in my life. Thank you dude

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

wow, what an amazing compliment - thank you!

[@SCWood]

I love the look of that guitar. The green with the pearly white and the dark fret board looks very found-at-an-estate-sale-ey in the best way.

[@AbhiBass96]

Now I want a bass in 22edo

[@charlesdove1247]

Fretless

[@AbhiBass96]

DovePlayz - Minecraft have it

[@numbers3268]

@@VisualDrone12 Just Intonation

[@MartyMcDonnald]

WOW! I didn't even know such exists! I gotta play one of these now, sounds like a whole new world!

[@carljalal3855]

Excellent, harmonic, original microtonal piece !! Bravo !!

[@TylerMosaic]

vibrato + distortion in the last couple minutes sounds so good. honestly reminds me of Steve Vai. love your sound, Brendan.

[@Winsky4]

Emotional masterpiece

[@zpc9225]

Hey Brendan, sounds great! This helped inspire me to go back to playing microtonal music again. Thankfully I didn't have to sell all of my xen guitars.

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

thank you and that's great to hear!

[@maandalen]

Great stuff! The little quarter-tone embellishments you do towards the end sound gorgeous.

[@oinanlolno782]

Wow, such great music, and you either modulated down a key or made the distance between those notes slighly smaller at 2:18 And i love 3:55 where the arpegio sounds slighly augmented almost sounding like a train horn or something, and i tried playing that section on a piano, but it just doesn't have the same feel since a piano can't play 22 EDO Amazing work, i would love to hear more from you

[@cactusowo1835]

That arpeggio is the actuar major chord with minor sixth, you can test on your keyboard just doing an arpeggio made of E - G# - B - C, it has the feeling, but it's a shame that chord is oftenly used just because in normas scales like major, minor and modes it doesn't shows up unless you alternate a note.

[@Trainwreck3000]

​@@cactusowo1835it's more nuanced than that in 22edo, since it has several different ways to build an augmented triad plus a normal fifth

[@galoomba5559]

2:18 is G+ minor -> G major

[@Alan-wp9yn]

The part where the second guitar comes in sounds like Shine on you Crazy Diamond and i can't unhear that now.

[@aldebaran584]

I have to say, this is one of the best microtonal compositions I've heard to date. So many conposers lean so heavily towards jilted, dissonant harmonies while your work is so much more... Consonant. Thank you

[@elijahberegovsky8957]

You’re awesome! And your guitar sounds incredibly light and smooth

[@zAvAvAz]

something so godly and angelic, my affinity with you all is overwhelming for me as i am still long for you all, i am crying

[@teddydunn3513]

Just amazing. I bought your neutral paradise album and there's nothing like it.

[@scottjampa8308]

highly recommend room tapes as well

[@teddydunn3513]

@@scottjampa8308 I'll check that out for sure. I also just bought his Realism album on Bandcamp

[@Winsky4]

Brendan hope everything is going awesome in your life that song is so so so beautiful peace \m/

[@georgesecor3229]

Wow, what fabulous harmonies! I especially love it when you occasionally throw in prime 11 -- very tastefull!

[@LordVestik]

Sounds very nice! Definitely make more of this.

[@nytrodioxide]

Absolutely magical

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

thank you!!

[@francoisdesgueux5731]

Very beautiful and moving tones, rich colours . The tones we are not used to (except with Turkish music for example) add more tension, contrast and create deep emotions. Thanks a lot!

[@strausbaughofficial]

Stumbled upon this (and you) whilst shooting a video about tuning systems. Such tuning methods and legitimate creativity don't necessarily go hand in hand, but, man, you certainly know how to speak the language. Bravo, man!

[@Maiz-wq6yx]

Brendan, you´re great.

[@Kainlarsen]

This reminds me a little of Mike Oldfield's earlier, more esoteric stuff, like 'Ommadawn'. It's beautiful!

[@AtelierLeCanif]

This is brilliant.

[@aymen_gold]

It's so dreamy and peacefull, i love to way you use microtons verry clever ! Good job man 👍

[@morzathoth919]

Sounds fantastic, you're getting some really cool melodies and harmonies out of that thing. I really want one myself... one day... How do you tune it? Fourths? Augmented 4ths? Do you add a third between the second and third string and in that case what kind of third? I'm the 22nd watch, I find that kind of amusing for some reason...

[@camtaylormusic]

Morzathoth I remember Brendan talking about standard tuning usually, with E A D G B E also usable wherever there are perfect fourths and major thirds in a tuning system. In this case the major third would be 8 degrees (close to a 7:9 ratio) and the perfect fourth would be 9 degrees (a bit flat of a 3:4 ratio). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is his usual practice

[@morzathoth919]

So based on super-pythoregan, basically? That would make sense, I just thought making the 'G-B interval' 7 steps would be better, as it's closer to 5:4. I don't know, maybe 8 steps is more convenient somehow.

[@camtaylormusic]

Morzathoth Yes indeedy, the usual superpyth notation would make our adapted standard tuning E-A-D-G-B-E, with perfect fourths (9 steps) between all strings except for G-B, which as we said was 8 steps, or a "supermajor" third. It works out much better than having the 7 step (small) major third, because if we went with that we would end up with either wolf fourths or wolf octaves or both, e.g. if G-B is a ~7:9 supermajor third and G-B\ was a ~4:5 small major third, we might have E-A-D-G-B\-E or E-A-D-G-B\-E\, neither of which is very "user friendly", with the top fourth and/or octave 1 step sharp of perfect.

[@scottjampa8308]

as far as what i've heard from paul erlich, superpyth tuning is workable for 22, using the narrow 9\22 fourth and the septimal 8\22 supermajor or 9:7 third. ... otherwise you'll get wolf fourths in there somewhere

[@PompousPicard1]

Beautiful, Brendan! Really wonderful. (Hi from Rafe!)

[@CV-qy5qi]

Beautiful piece!

[@len-kauri5125]

I love the part in the end

[@amj.composer]

sounds amazing! I can never get 22 edo to sound good but you nailed it!!!

[@Winsky4]

3 years on YT cheers

[@tinydancerbek]

beautiful music and man

[@AlbySilly]

It feels like some slight whammy dives would fit nicely at the long chords in the beginning

[@Dionysion]

this is just fantastic

[@cactusowo1835]

0:41 bro, it's that an minor sixth chord but it just sounds better than the 12 Edo one

[@cactusowo1835]

@Firstname Lastname Anyway I think that less disonance ≠ better, as someone that listened a lot of music.

[@MrMemes21]

Incredible!

[@BipTunia_Microtonal_Cats]

Lovely and amazing.

[@Rayrayrazraz]

It's interesting how the string bending instantly betrays how used to 12edo we really are.

[@Winsky4]

like return to this emotional mysterious great chill

[@lunyxappocalypse7071]

I can see this piece fit into a mystery show of some sort or some other genre that fits. I like to call it Double Moonlight.

[@karyautamatv1876]

So beautifull

[@toitoitoy]

Beautiful Piece

[@lonesomevinn]

some hylics 2 vibes in this piece love it!!

[@victorrenaud2362]

6:50 is so good!

[@targz4139]

Listening to the new album right now wish I had some form of online payment to help you out man. Love it so far though there's a bit of a rhythmic blip near the end of cave dance at around 3:00 that kind of shook me out of the immersion you might want to check on. Otherwise absolutely loving it so far

[@ramziboukamel8227]

That’s really amazing ❤️

[@aguaraguazu8461]

Sooooo niceeee!♥

[@davidhesse6847]

Never heard anything like this but maybe Vai but still different.gonna listen a few times to digest it better

[@alexmccullough1961]

Amazing

[@Pianodog]

I think its safe to say this is your favorite tuning ye? I really need one of these guitars, I finally am in a place where I can save up for a refret. Luthier near me does this for 400 and its a top quality reputable shop.

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

yes, it's probably my favorite. I've been getting into 27 lately too. Good luck with the refret!

[@Pianodog]

@@BrendanByrnesMusic Never tried 27 :0

[@maxblechman2665]

@@BrendanByrnesMusic I say keep going with 27. After listening to Paradise off of Neutral Paradise, I can definitely see why you're interested, and now so am I. Best of luck!

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

@@maxblechman2665 thank you! I'm just finishing up a new album that's mostly 27 EDO guitar stuff - I think it's a great tuning!

[@multi.instrumentalist]

Dano YES Microtonality YES

[@scottjampa8308]

so uh when is this going to hit bandcamp? i need it for ear trainings for the next age

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

I've been meaning to put it on bandcamp - I'll try to dig it up!

[@scottjampa8308]

i swear my laptop only has linux and 22edo music on it and will remain that way for quite some time

[@scottjampa8308]

erm anytime soon? btw super well done on 2227

[@zacharylim7490]

Do you have sheet music/tabs for this? I'd love to learn it once I finish my guitar.

[@cuber-t1767]

Lol, how would you notate what's being played?😂

[@bulletinboardoflife]

@@cuber-t1767 same way as regular guitar ;)

[@emilianomartinez3124]

@@cuber-t1767 same way but with more accidentals

[@stephenweigel]

I'm gonna transcribe it don't worry

[@scottjampa8308]

@@stephenweigel superpyth, pajara, porcupine or something else?

[@dylan.j.schreiner]

good thanks

[@Winsky4]

yeah!

[@a_skyfish]

i feel like i just discovered a new world of music.

[@catring_]

4:40 heaven

[@trashbirdie]

Hello Brendan, I love this, I would like to hear a microtonal guitar piece from you where you would swell into the chords with a volume pedal, have you ever done one like that?

[@Winsky4]

that chill wow

[@ululufut]

terrific!

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

love it!!

[@kristopherguilbault5428]

Is there such thing as a microtonal Bass to go along with it??? 🤔🤔🤔

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

there is! I use a 22 bass on my albums, and also with my old band Ilevens: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGqwm6eceraflcU

[@maryahdelta2398]

3:21

[@Hecatonicosachoron54]

This is really cool. How were you able to transition between 12 EDO to 22? Is it simpler than most people think?

[@noahlovotti7722]

I mean all the are on the same scale here. It just sounds similar sometimes

[@scottjampa8308]

i've always hated 12, so not much effort... though it's weirder than 31

[@noahlovotti7722]

Oh wait I misunderstood the question. It can be more or less hard depending on what scale and/or playing style you're going for.

[@phoenixvice]

Microtonal stuff always sounds slightly unsettling, like somethings off. Like a theme that would play in liminal space or horror movie, beautiful.

[@modestorosado1338]

Is this one on Spotify under a different name or something? I really liked it but I checked your profile on and I couldn't find it. That isn't saying I won't check out the rest of your music, but I'd love to have this one on my playlist.

[@АлександрЧиркин-н6э]

КИСЛОТА🔥

[@HanfGesund-eb9up]

love your music, what atre you tunig a t0? have you tried 432hz, and did you noticed difference?

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

thank you very much! I'm tuning to "standard tuning", so the guitar is in 4ths except for a M3 between the G and B strings. I can't remember offhand what is is tuned to but it's not 440. I don't do the 432hz thing. I've based my guitar tunings off of C (261Hz I think?) so that it lines up with retuned MIDI and synthesizers

[@HanfGesund-eb9up]

@@BrendanByrnesMusic thanks for the answer. there are some studies that are quite interesting on this topic.. but your Music feels good and thats whats important

[@mxlxok3483]

Might be a redundant question but why is 22 more popular than 24? Just seems logical, even tho i way prefer 19 to 12

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

Good question - I prefer 22 (and many other EDOs) to 24 because it throws you into more unfamiliar territory. 24 has a great 11th harmonic, and you can do some cool quarter tone modulations, but you also get those things in 22. 22 has a completely different color palette compared to 12 to my ears, and 24 has too much in common with 12 and so doesn't inspire me that much. But that's just my taste.

[@mxlxok3483]

@@BrendanByrnesMusic makes total sense. I prefer 24 to 12, but still 19 to both. 22 also has that colour to it - the 24 thing is just me being a fuckin westerner innit

[@scottjampa8308]

if you want a 2.3.11 subgroup then sure 24, but otherwise 22 is pretty consistent up through the 11 limit, and fairly practical if you don't mind it being superpyth (as 27 also). the accuracy isn't really matched until 31 or 41

[@scottjampa8308]

24 is contorted in the 7-limit and it's otherwise just as lousy as 12 but adding an approach to prime 11

[@TachyBunker]

22edo sounds really weird but cool.

[@elwin4151]

Cool!

[@Winsky4]

❤

[@scottjampa8308]

what's a good open string tuning for 22? no, not a trivial question. i use a not very typical one for 31...

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

I actually haven't experimented much with 22 EDO open tunings (did it all the time with 12 tone). I recently have been trying EADABD so I can easily play clusters, but I don't really see it as an "open" tuning

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

what do you use for 31?

[@scottjampa8308]

@@BrendanByrnesMusic originally i just tuned the open strings to meantone E A D G B E like normal, but after trying out some fingerings, the two stacked fourths made anything with a 7:4 very difficult since it's one fret difference... i decided to take an approach with closer voicings by alternating minor and major thirds, and switching out some strings to get the right gauge. it's currently D F A(220) C E G on the open strings. it's a cheap nylon string alto guitar, and i only relocated the original 18 frets to 31 near the nut, leaving the rest fretless. I haven't really done anything with it yet though. edit: another option is 11:9 neutral thirds all the way, which avoids fingers on the same fret on adjacent strings, but leaves fewer open chords and sounds weird when tuning

[@scottjampa8308]

maybe i need to rephrase: what is the string tuning for this piece? and notation is weird since 22 and 31 temper out different commas...

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

@@scottjampa8308 the guitar tuning here is what I consider (for me) standard: EADGBE with the slightly flat 490 cent 4ths except the 381 cent major 3rd between the G and B

[@gastonrobles2870]

the second chord had me

[@kristopherguilbault5428]

Wow it's so weird. At first it sounds wrong .but then something morphs in your brain to where it suddenly sounds right and then you hear it differently.. you can even start it over and it sounds good all of a sudden . It's like you gotta train your brain to hear it correctly.... Trippy as fuck

[@Starshine777]

Solid tune writing and playing, on the whole! And it is certainly microtonal, but somewhat domestically so, for my taste -- it's mostly superpyth (note for others not in on the lingo -- that's a regular chain of "5ths" scale, with the 5th made a bit wider so that the whole step is wider and the small step smaller), with some chromatic splashes and a few tight substitutions here and there. While a few changes here and there pop out as quite spicy (or quite icy), the harmonic motion is vanilla overall.

[@Злокачественныйконтент]

its sounds like a drugtrip

[@GOLDSMITHEXILE]

why not just have music with no intervals between notes? Or an infinite number of intervals I think the reason this stuff sounds weird at first is because we have been conditioned and programmed by Julie Andrews THEsound ofmusic is doe ray meh etc

[@henrikljungstrand2036]

Because it's too hard to find, remember and replay the right tones/chords for a certain piece. Nonetheless many people do just that, they play fretless instruments by ear, such as violins. Often you like to play certain sequences/progressions and get back to the same note you started with, even though you should not by the rules of just intonation (approximately matching perfect tuning by ear), that's when you purposely use a temperament and may need fixed pitches e.g. by using frets. Also, for an ensemble you need all the players to follow the same tuning to avoid nasty dissonance, especially in chords.

[@albertnortononymous9020]

We weren’t indoctrinated by The Sound of Music-Rogers and Hammerstein were just propagating the musical language they and their society developed as a whole. The ancient Greeks and Chinese arrived at 12edo independently based on pentatonic and 7-degree scales. Indian music also uses a tempered 12-tone scale, but not with equal divisions of the octave (every note has a higher and lower version, and the raga determines which is used). 12-tone octaves seem to be the most common result of organic musical expression. This isn’t to say that other divisions of the octave were never employed widely-Byzantine chant uses several different 7-degree scales picked from 72-EDO, and some Arabic music uses 24EDO, but your point kind of does remain-what sounds good to us is what we are accustomed to through our own musical cultures and languages. This sounds good because it’s basically a constructed dialect of western music (rock music) that just uses new tones.

[@albertnortononymous9020]

Music with no intervals is one note, monotone/monodic. Our brains can’t process infinitesimally small intervals between notes. We want our melodies to go up and down, but small enough intervals sound like the same note rather than going up or down.

[@kirillazarov6865]

I got it. It's a lo-fi hip-hop guitar.

[@emilianomartinez3124]

no

[@kirillazarov6865]

@@emilianomartinez3124 Guano.

[@ayden_woodhouse6269]

Freaking hipsters

[@borisreitman]

Sorry to be a naysayer, but the parts when he goes into quarter notes sound out of tune. The parts where he plays normal chords sound like he is doing something correctly. If you're gonna have more notes, you have to also invent corresponding harmonic theory: like the diminished chord equivalent and what it can resolve to. While the normal diminished chord is unstable, it does sound neat, rather than something out of tune.

[@carterthaxton3704]

Boris Reitman I’d have to respectfully disagree. I believe Brendan has indeed mastered, and plays by a form of music theory possible within 22-EDO. Also, these aren’t quarter tones. None of the notes (except unisons and Tritons) match up with 12-EDO. It’s a different system with different harmonies and melodic contours. To my ear, these melodies are very tasteful and in tune. Try giving it another listen now that it’s been a few months.

[@kudos4201]

technically the enire piece is out of tune

[@SCWood]

"Out of tune" lol

[@sirzebra]

This is what happens whenever someone tries something new, sincere and beautifull : theres a rock plated brain that crashes in with not the slightest understanding of what's in front of him, states a dozen factually wrong arguments, and then proceeds to say it's shit. Well done boris, you've failed your own intellect. You can dislike it no problem, but saying it's out of tune is the most ridiculous shit you could've come up with.

[@albertnortononymous9020]

Out-of-tune with what, though? With the harmonic series? Our present 12edo is out of tune with that, and every note in an equally-divided octave will be out of tune with the harmonic series to some extent. But you can’t expect 22 to be in tune with 12 because they only have one common prime factor-3 doesn’t go into 11 equally.

[@ZheannaErose]

exquisite!!!