SloopJon4 hours ago
I'm probably preaching to the choir in a story about guitars, but if you're looking for some good 12-string music, Leo Kottke's 6 and 12 String Guitar is a good start.
If you haven't heard (or seen) Michael Hedges play a harp guitar, there's some background and links to videos here:
indymike5 hours ago
The author is Gregg Miner, and Gregg has an extensive library of harp guitar music. A long time ago I met Gregg when one of my friends Brad Hoyt (a keyboard and harp guitarist as well) hosted a harp guitar convention here in Indianapolis, and I got recruited to help. Gregg and the rest of the artists that were there were extremely approachable, and most of the crowd were musicians (some pretty famous ones, too) checking out one of the more interesting variations of the guitar... and what you could do with one. Fun times.
faxmeyourcode2 hours ago
Apparently there was a gathering of harp guitarists here in North Little Rock at a guitar shop that recently opened just down the street from where I live last year: https://www.harpguitars.net/2025/11/29/hgg23-in-north-little...
I was totally unfamiliar with harp guitar but I am sad that I missed such a special gathering!
babblingbrook6 hours ago
What I love about links like this is that we see information being shared just for the love of it. This person has done a lot of work simply to share knowledge with the world about something they are passionate about. This is what great about the internet and is easily lost amongst all the commercial content.
dhosek2 hours ago
I’m a bit skeptical of the claims given that multi-course tunings are almost as old as guitar-family instruments.
pluc6 hours ago
12 strings is one thing, but how about microtonal? That's instead of adding strings, you add frets!
If you haven't heard them yet, you're in for a wild ride: https://www.youtube.com/@AnginePoitrine
adzm3 hours ago
It is still worth noting that the microtones used by Angine de Poitrine are usually just transient notes, and could instead be played portamento with smooth transitions between the notes (eg on a fretless board) in most situations. It still sounds really cool, though, and certainly a technical and musical accomplishment. But the music itself still follows the usual patterns closely.
defrost6 hours ago
A bit spotty, but alright; meanwhile the Italian instrument makers said guitar-harp? Hold our expressos, this'll take some discipline:
swiftcoder3 hours ago
Never having played a harp, whats the advantage here (beyond cool factor) over an equivalent electric guitar?
bilegeekop6 hours ago
That's the first time I've heard microtonal work in a rock setting. Pretty good!
I see your added frets, and raise "add frets on the fly using Lego":
functionmouse5 hours ago
> That's the first time I've heard microtonal work in a rock setting. Pretty good!
Really? I highly recommend Flying Microtonal Banana.
dizhnan hour ago
Awesome band. Most of their songs sound so familiar to me because they are actually influenced by our folk music. :)
stronglikedan3 hours ago
> Really?
Really? Most people's first intro to microtonal guitar is recent and brought to them by Angine de Poitrine.
jagged-chisel6 hours ago
Why frets? Orchestral strings don’t use frets.
bilegeekop6 hours ago
For plucked instruments, besides ease of use, it adds clarity and sustain. Orchestra AFAIK only has Pizzicato where that would matter.
dmoy2 hours ago
Sustain
in college a good friend was a very good Oud player (plucked, some number of strings.... more than 8? I forget), and it definitely sounds different from guitar due to less sustain. Clearer notes and chords, but they don't linger as long or loud.
Edit: apparently it's 11 strings? ok.
analog316 hours ago
Frets make chords possible.
You only have to put your finger somewhere in between two frets to get a particular note, so you can play more than the tiny handful of chords that can be played on something like a violin.
There are non-fretted guitars but they are rare, and I think early banjos were not fretted.
anentropic44 minutes ago
Isn't it the curvature of the fretboard (to allow for bowing individual strings) that prevents chords on a violin rather than lack of frets?
jagged-chisel6 hours ago
Frets make chords easier
BigTTYGothGF5 hours ago
It makes hard chords easy, and impossible chords possible (if not easy). Most barre chords, for example.
ErroneousBosh5 hours ago
> Frets make chords possible.
What do you think double-stops are?
bluGill4 hours ago
There are those who say it isn't a chord until you have 3 notes. I'm going to skip the complex music theory behind the arguments (I haven't studied them enough to understand much less form an opinion).
Of course in most music contexts there is more than one instrument playing and so the others can fill in the missing note making a full chord. Only a "one-man-band" really feels the loss.
ErroneousBosh4 hours ago
Power chords only have two notes (although more than two octaves, I don't know if you count that)
williamdclt3 hours ago
It's self-consistent: those who say that a chord must have at least 3 notes also say that power chords are not technically chords
dahart3 hours ago
What do you mean about more than two octaves? The basic power chord is 3 notes, for example E2 + B2 + E3. One of those is an octave.
BigTTYGothGFan hour ago
"Power chord" sounds cooler than "power dyad".
amanaplanacanal5 hours ago
Whimpy-ass chords. You need three or more notes for a serious(tm) chord.
ErroneousBosh4 hours ago
Five for the Hendrix Chord, E7♯9 ;-)
That's E, G♯, B, D, F
anentropican hour ago
I read a pretty good argument once that this chord should really be called a b10 (no one does though...)
telotortium3 hours ago
Every jazz player knows you can drop the fifth, and the root too if the bass is filling it in. That gives your fingers room to add even crazier extensions
ErroneousBoshan hour ago
Oh man have you seen the Adam Neely video "Seven Level of Jazz Harmony"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz3WR-F_pnM
If not, stop and watch it. But make a cup of tea to enjoy with it first, and maybe put a cloth over your keyboard for when you inevitably splutter tea all over it.
ErroneousBosh5 hours ago
What's the difference in sustain time between a cello played pizzicato and a plucked guitar string?