1. Ralph Oliver Patt was an American jazz guitarist who introduced major-thirds tuning.
16 Facts About Ralph Patt
1. 2.
Ralph Patt invented major-thirds tuning under the inspiration of first the atonal music of Arnold Schoenberg and second the jazz of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.
3.
Ralph Patt graduated with a degree in geology from the University of Pittsburgh.
4.
Ralph Patt was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania on 5 December 1929 and studied geology at the University of Pittsburgh.
5.
Ralph Patt played rhythm guitar in the style of Freddie Green, who played a Stromberg in the Count Basie Orchestra.
6.
Ralph Patt wanted to be able to play and then to improvise twelve-tone music.
7.
Ralph Patt's tuning is a regular tuning in the sense that all of the intervals between its successive open strings are major thirds; in contrast, the standard guitar tuning has one major third amid four perfect fourths.
8.
Ralph Patt used major-thirds tuning during all of his work as a session musician after 1965 in New York.
9.
Ralph Patt first experimented with a wide-neck Mango guitar from the 1920s, which he modified to have seven strings in 1963.
10.
Ralph Patt used major-thirds tuning when he performed as a session musician in New York City after 1965.
11.
Besides these guitars, Ralph Patt regularly played other stringed instruments as a recording musician: classical guitar, 12-string guitar, 6-string bass guitar, mandolin, banjo, and oud.
12.
Ralph Patt worked primarily as a studio musician from 1970 to 1975.
13.
Ralph Patt developed a webpage with extensive information about major-thirds tuning.
14.
Ralph Patt's website followed earlier contributions to guitar scholarship and instruction.
15.
Ralph Patt returned to geology while continuing to pursue jazz as an avocation.
16.
In 2002 and 2010, Ralph Patt's hometown was listed as Canby, Oregon, near Portland.