Hey,

Reading through a thread in the guitar forum, I noticed org mentioned this, can you org or someone else dissect the theory or explain what or how this phenomenon occurs?

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I'll do my best to explain them.

Quadritonal Arpeggios are a set of 4 mutually exclusive triads. This means that none of these triads share the same note. They are used to get a very atonal sound. Buckethead uses them when he does the augmented tapping sequences. Other than Buckethead, I have never seen anyone really use them. They add a great deal of tension to a song.

The one pattern I posted was where there's two major triads and two minor triads. I used Cm, Dm, E, F#. Of course you can move these up and down the fretboard as long as the pattern stays the same.

Here's the Cm, Dm, E, F#(Gb) pattern.

C minor triad = C Eb G
D minor triad = D F A
E Major triad = E Ab B
F#(Gb) Major triad = F#(Gb) Bb Db

If you count the total number of notes, there is 12. Meaning this uses all 12 notes of western music. Which is makes sense since 4 triads x 3 note per triad = 12 notes.

I use them in a metal context to where I just play them over simple powerchords. In a jazz context you supposed to use them over altered dominant chords.

They're just a tool used for atonality. You can read more about them in Nicholas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. It's a good book and there's lots of interesting ideas in it. Though the book isn't intended for novies you must be able to read standard sheet music, and everything is transcribed to the key of C.

Here's a more thorough explanation from a friend of mine who uses them in jazz.

I have some powertabs of some quadratonal arpegggios. If you would like just email me and I can send them to you.

cant u just attach the powertabs here??, so more of us can use it

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Wow org... that's some wild shit. Fuckin awesome explanation, I actually understand quite alot of that. I just started learning all the different triad shapes and their inversion for all types of chords in a new lesson in this months Guitar One mag, so this will fall right into roll. Thanks!

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Yes, oRg, attach those please.

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Sorry I didn't post them before. I posted while I was at work and all the powertabs were on my home computer. This one has two examples of the same pattern it's just move down 2 frets. It's basically the Cm, Dm, E, F# pattern. Of course there's lots of stuff you can do with these sweeping shapes. You can add a small tap to each sequence or you can do some octave displacement and really make them sound wierd.

Attached Files

QuadArps.ptb (1.8 KB, 214 views)

Wow,


That shit sounds wild. I hear that sort of stuff alot in jason beckers music.

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Well, I can't remember if Jason Becker used these but I know he did use something called dodecaphonics. Which are almost the same things as Quadratonal arpeggios...except they're not arpeggios. Your stil suing all 12 notes in a certain pattern. If you want to get some more examples and ideas I recommend picking up Nicholas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. Steve Vai, Buckethead, and Jason Becker all said that they've studied it. It's a really interesting read.

im gonna try this stuff when i get home, seems like some good shit.

anyways, the last chord in the first example seems wrong if ALL 12 notes are to be used, like a total chromatic scale.

its probably a typo but is this what is meant?
D|--5--|--7---|--9---|--11--|
A|--6--|--8---|--11--|--13--|
E|--8--|--10--|--12--|--14--|

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Yeah, thanks for pointing out the typo. I changed it.

org, i dont see why the Am arpeggios would sound best over an E7alt chord. and for the examples at the bottom, how are you getting those patterns and when could i use them?

I would use them over a powerchord personally, but if you want to go a little bit deeper they would sound best over a dominant chord. The thing is you would use these to create a great amount of tension so you can use them where ever you want to use them. I'm not exactly sure why they sound best over a dominant chord. I think it's because the dominant chord will impart a feeling of tonality to an otherwise atonal, 12-tone progression. The patterns are pretty much straight from the book.

edit:
I had to ask a friend of mine why the Quad Arps sound best over a Dominant chord such as an E7 and basically from ym understanding is that the E7 played against the Quad Arps adds a felling to it because of the dominance of the chord. Remember these arps are going to be very dissonant and the key is building up and releasing the dissonance.