source file: m1412.txt Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 16:05:58 -0400 Subject: RE: Steve Vai in Guitar World (Digest 1405, Topic 11) From: "Paul H. Erlich" >>Don't forget that JI scales require >>dog-legged frets. >No they don't!!! Take a look at this David Canright article >from 1/1. On his site but linked from 1/1: >http://math.nps.navy.mil/~dcanrig/guitar.html >My ji guitar will have the frets straight across the neck. I meant that if the 16- or 24-note JI scale is to appear on every string, with no extraneaous notes, and the strings are tuned to anything other than unisons or octaves, you'll need frets that don't go all the way across the neck. >>I actually find it easier to play random >>runs with the microtonal fretting. >Because the frets are closer? I'm not really sure, but what else could it be? Here's a theory: once you get used to fretting with the very tips of your fingers, the probability of landing too far behing a fret to get a clean tone is virtually nil.