A very interesting thing I didn’t know about: the Xavian scale, Steve Vai’s “own” scale. Well, did you know about that? A very interesting topic that I have never thought about. Really, it shows you how deeply involved in his music Steve Vai really is.
For me, all those scales out there contains some of the same 12 notes in a “standard” chromatic scale and honestly I have never thought about another way of dividing the space between 2 octaves. Well, I guess somebody else did…
Think about taking this available “space” and divide it in another number of equal intervals, not in 12 as we commonly know. Divide it in 10 spaces, or in 8, or in 9, or in 20 spaces…whatever… The result? Well, you could name it “another chromatic scale”, I guess. This is exactly what Steve Vai did: took this space and divided it in 16 equal spaces and then, by experimenting a lot, he took 10 notes out of 16 and built his “own scale”, Xavian. Speaking about playing like Steve Vai…
Of course, you won’t be able to do this with a regular guitar, no matter how good you are, since it is not built for this. Vai couldn’t do it either so he asked Steve Ripley to build such a 16 intervals guitar for him. He also has a 24 intervals guitar…
Seems that Deep down into the pain song is the only record where he actually used the Xavian scale. Listen closely the end of the song. I know that Steve Vai uses strange modes all over his music, but his own scale with notes outside the known Universe, man, that’s weird…
What do you think about this? Read more about this here and come back and comment, I would like to know your thoughts on this!!
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8 Responses to “Xavian scale, Steve Vai’s own 10 unknown notes scale”
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Ovidiu OprescuRomania, 31 years
Playing the guitar since 17 and enjoying every moment of it!
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J
August 27th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I proclaim today as officially the Guitar Flame Make-up-your-own-scale Day! Now go do it, people!
(p.s. –I named my scale “Bigglesworth” ’cause it sounded funny)
Ovidiu
August 27th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
You make fun of me, Dr J
By the way, do you teach in school such things? I speak about why the scale it is like this and the fact that there may be other ways to split it. I mean, beyond the fact that there is a reason I guess for which the standard chromatic scale is composed the way it is, I guess such a thing may be seen as a great “think outside the box” exercise.
Tennyson Williams
August 27th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
That’s a sweet song, but that’s just it! a fellow guitar enthusiast that I know just came up with a completely original blues scale and asked a bunch of knowledgeable guitarists to try it out and see if such a scale already existed. The verdict was no. There are so many possibilities left, it just takes someone who is will to experiment. Vai has always been that person and comes up with amazing stuff, even when improvising - its imaginative. It just requires a lot of time and playfulness.
Jon
August 28th, 2008 at 1:37 am
Microtonal music is not a new concept its just that western music has been standard for so long we forget about scales used in Asian music going back hundreds of years that fall outside of the standard chromatic scale that we use. I suppose really the possibilities are endless but at the end of the day our western ears like diatonic scales?
Ovidiu
August 28th, 2008 at 8:36 am
@TW: Indeed, if I would be asked to think of somebody that is most likely to do this kind of experiments, well, this would be Steve Vai. He seems to have the profile for it.
@Jon: Indeed, the fact that we are used to our standard chromatic scale makes us like it and only see other scales like the oriental ones as a strange and interesting concept that we would probably never consider more than an experiment. I know that some ancient, traditional instruments make use of such scales but we probably don’t have the ear for them. I remember once I was at a show where a Japanese guy played some traditional music for us. It was very strange music, as you probably know, I have always wondered if that music could be played on a “normal” instrument. It may be that the scale was also different…
MG
August 28th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Oh gosh-sorry about this, I always seem like a butt head with these comments, but I to me, this modal stuff is way out there-too much for me. It’s not melodic or catchy. I have to admit though, I am not a Vai fan, so that might be something to do with it! I just think though, that the farther you get from the “roots,”the blues, melody, the tones and notes we as humans are hardwired somewhat to hear, the less it is listenable. Yes it’s unique. Yes Vai is a great “scientist” on the guitar-making up his own scale, but I don’t know if this would ever be a “catchy” idea. Probably he doesn’t want it to be!
Ovidiu
August 28th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Depends on what you love the most. For sure you love blues, but for people loving “alien sounds” Vai is the man and such kind of things, beyond the marketing buzz bring somehow a new approach or a new sound, a new something that pushes limits.
Roy
August 30th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
@Ovidiu: Here’s a new approach, a new something that pushes limits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-lv9ltZ2cw Enjoy.