New Eastwood Custom Shop Phase 4 MT Microtonal Guitar
We're pleased to introduce our first ever microtonal guitar: the Eastwood Custom Shop Phase 4 MT.
Go East! Microtonal music is not very common in Western music (yet), but has been a feature of traditional music in diverse parts of the globe for centuries, with popular stringed instruments such as the Turkish Saz featuring microtonal fretboard.
However, increasingly more rock artists have started to experiment with microtonality, from Steve Vai to, more recently, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard being the most obvious reference point - after all, they've even released an album called "Flying Microtonal Banana", and all three guitarists use microtonal guitars, as well as the bassist:
This shows that even in the context of alternative rock music, microtonal guitars can successfully be used.
We thought this was the perfect opportunity to launch our first ever microtonal guitar - the Eastwood Custom Shop Phase 4 MT, which you can pre-order now.
This guitar enables you to still play all the chords and notes you are used to - but offer extra frets adding "microintervals.
What is Microtonal Music - and Why Should I Play a Microtonal Guitar?
Microtonal music has existed for millennia. It basically means the use of smaller intervals than the usual tones and semi-tones used in Western music.
For instance, Ancient Greek musical intervals were of many different sizes, including microtones. From Thai and Burmese music to African and Middle-Eastern music, microtonal music has been around for a really long time.
And what more - you are probably quite familiar with micrtotones perhaps without even realising it - after all, a form of microtone known as the blue note is an integral part of rock music and one of its predecessors, the blues. You've heard it many times, that's for sure.
Radiohead have also used microtonal string arrangements on some of their tracks.
Though microtonal guitars are not common yet, some brands have manufactured microtonal guitars over the years - including known brands such as Ibanez and Revelation.
Why play a microtonal guitar?
If you want to expand your musical horizon, play notes you've never played before and broaden your musical knowledge, it'll be great to experiment with a microtonal guitar such as our new Eastwood Phase 4 MT - it might feel like a struggle and a challenge at first, but once you free yourself from the self-imposed limitations of the traditional, Western musical scale you're used to, you'll wonder why it took you so long.
Well, now there's no excuse...
