This discussion was had forty-five years ago in Guitar Player magazine, analyzing the techniques of such players as John McLaughlin. It has also been discussed on this forum in various threads, such as this one:
microtonal/quartertonal bass | TalkBass.com , and here is an interesting article about the cultures which have indigenous microtonal music:
All About the Microtonal Guitar (salamuzik.com) .
Hello @iiipopes
Thanks for the reply.
(Slightly long reply from me incoming)
I didn't know about the jazz/fusion guitarist John McLaughlin and his band, so thanks for letting me know about them. I will go look for that Guitar Player Magazine article.
The link from TalkBass that you gave is the same one that I posted in an earlier reply, and I am aware of salamuzik and Prof. Dr. Tolgahan Cogulu.
The talkbass thread we have both linked concerns mostly heavy-modification solutions (from my understanding), but I am looking to just stick frets on my bass for now, and maybe move around, trying out 36 equal divisions of the octave or maybe even 36 EDO + 24 EDO for potentially trying out polymicrotonality given the short scale length (only 34 inches). Given that basses of 40+ inches are not the cheapest, I am seeing what I can do with my current instrument.
I think I have already seen that article from salamuzik, and I am aware of different musical traditions using quartertones and non-equal temperaments. I have bought Ron Sword's book on 24-edo scales from here :
Metatonal Music
to see what (if provided) other scales I can find outside out of Arabic and Turkish music (given that I hear a lot about them when looking up 24-edo, when I actually want to see other possible and custom scales with this temperament as well).
The main question for which I am trying to find an answer is whether the stick-on frets from fretlet have been tried by some on this forum (I feel that some must have already tried them before on here).
I am looking for this info because I wanted to know people's experience with playing more aggressive styles (sludge(core), thall, djent, clank, noise, mathcore, matallic hardcore, downtempo etc...) with stick-on frets, to see if they have had any issues. I play the bass a lot like a guitar, with sub-bass ranges and higher-end ranges.
I am asking this question as well because I have been stuck finding music that scratches that itch for new sounds + melodies and skull-crushing heaviness / aggressiveness (from spending and filtering lots of albums on Bandcamp) for a while now. So I thought I would give all this stuff a go.
Some bands and artists that have been sources of inspiration are :
- Last Sacrement (16 edo brutal death metal)
- Admiral Angry
- Sectioned
- Extinction Level Event (only Bass)
- Cryptic Ruse (many edos)
- Meshuggah
- Monegros Acid Resort (Blue-Meth Desert Album)
- The Omnific (Only Bass)
- Coma Cluster Void
- Massive Audio Nerve
- Vildjarta and Stoort Neer
- Sevish
I have been interested in the microtonal stuff for about a decade, ever since I discovered the artist Sevish. On stringed instruments though, this seems to be more of a headache to do. Instead of going down the heavy-modification route straight away, I though I would go for a non-permanent solution.
I am going to order the fretlets anyway when I can. If they don't work, I can always stick them on my fretless or my classical guitar.
