Ro3b
Well-known member
I wonder if anyone here has experimented with just intonation? Ths may be something all you lot figured out early on, but it's new to me. Over the weekend I was thinking of something I'd read long ago about how Eddie Van Halen tunes his B string to a just (not equally-tempered) third relative to his G string, and this gave him some greater flexibility playing chords with thirds using high distortion. So I tried it: I got "in tune" in equal-temperment fashion using an electronic tuner. Then cranked up the distortion and played my open D, G, and B strings. It sounded cluttered and awful, as expected. Then I lowered my B string, and before my astonished ears, the overtones got in tune, and suddenly I had a rich, harmonious triad ringing in the air. I whipped out the rhythm lick from "Running with the Devil" and started grinning.
Of course this only works for chords where there's a third between the second and third strings; other shapes sound kind of awful. But this is a cool little trick to know. Just thought I'd share.
Of course this only works for chords where there's a third between the second and third strings; other shapes sound kind of awful. But this is a cool little trick to know. Just thought I'd share.
