Ralph Patt

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Ralph Oliver Patt
6-string bass guitar, eight-string mandolin, banjo, oud, lute, and bazuki
Years active1950s–2010
Websitehttp://www.ralphpatt.com

Ralph Oliver Patt (5 December 1929 – 6 October 2010) was an American jazz guitarist who introduced

atonal music of Arnold Schoenberg and second the jazz of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman
.

He graduated with a degree in geology from the University of Pittsburgh. After his career as a guitarist, he worked as a geologist and as a hydrologist, often consulting on projects related to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Biography

A C-major chord in four positions.
Patt invented major-thirds tuning the better to improvise on the guitar. Chords can be shifted diagonally, horizontally, and vertically, and being shifted they maintain their shape, unlike chords in standard tuning.
The C major chord and its first and second inversions. In the first inversion, the C note has been raised 3 strings on the same fret. In the second inversion, both the C note and the E note have been raised 3 strings on the same fret.
Chords are inverted by shifting notes three strings on the same fret.

Patt was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania on 5 December 1929[1] and studied geology at the University of Pittsburgh.[2][3]

Guitar and music theory

While in Pittsburgh, Patt studied guitar under

The Glenn Miller Orchestra.[5]

After touring for five years, Patt settled in New York City, where he worked as musician both at

atonal composition. Patt wanted to be able to play and then to improvise twelve-tone music.[5]

Major-thirds tuning

Patt was inspired by the

standard guitar tuning has one major third amid four perfect fourths.[11] Patt used major-thirds tuning during all of his work as a session musician after 1965 in New York.[5][10]

Major-thirds tuning packs the

root note on the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth strings.[15]

Having exactly three

Chord inversion is especially simple in major-thirds tuning. Chords are inverted simply by raising one or two notes three strings. The raised notes are played with the same finger as the original notes.[16][17]

Guitars with seven and eight strings

Major-thirds tuning has a smaller scope than standard guitar tuning,[11][18] and so Patt started using seven-string guitars, which enabled major-thirds tuning to have the E−e' range of the standard tuning. He first experimented with a wide-neck Mango guitar from the 1920s, which he modified to have seven strings in 1963.[5] In 1967 he purchased a seven-string by José Rubio.[18] Patt used major-thirds tuning when he performed as a session musician in New York City after 1965.[5][10]

Later, he purchased six-string

pickups were manufactured by Seymour Duncan[18] and by Bill Lawrence.[10]

Besides these guitars, Patt regularly played other stringed instruments as a recording musician:

6-string bass guitar, mandolin, banjo, and oud. Patt stated that "the only guys that didn't have to double on dates were the Tony Mottolas and the Johnny Smiths";[18] Tony Mottola and Johnny Smith were famous jazz guitarists,[19][20] and "doubling" refers to a musician's switching from one instrument to another, particularly within a family of instruments.[21] Patt worked primarily as a studio musician from 1970 to 1975.[18]

Scholarship

Patt developed a webpage with extensive information about major-thirds tuning.[22] This webpage was part of a website with extensive information for jazz guitarists. Patt's website published his Vanilla book, which contains the chord progressions for four hundred jazz standards,[3][23] from "After you've gone" to "Zing! went the strings". Its title refers to "Just play the vanilla changes", advice to young pianists from Lester Young. It was updated in 2008.[23]

His website followed earlier contributions to guitar scholarship and instruction. In 1962, Patt wrote his Guitar chord dictionary (1962).[24] Living in New York City in the 1960s, he studied with Chuck Wayne, with whom he wrote The guitar appreggio dictionary (1965),[2][3][25] one of the bestselling titles from the music-publishing firm of Henry Adler.[26]

Return to geology

As a studio musician in the 1970s, Patt had to play less jazz and more rock and roll, and so he changed careers. He returned to geology while continuing to pursue jazz as an avocation. Around 1975 he began working on his doctoral degree in hydrogeology. Employed by the US Department of Energy, he specialized in groundwater contamination from nuclear waste; as a research hydrogeologist, he accepted assignments worldwide and had extensive travels in Ukraine and Russia.[27]

He was employed by Oregon's Department of Water Resources,

hydrologist), he was appointed to a panel of outside experts that reviewed and then "slammed" the U.S. Department of Energy's report on the safety of the underground storage of high-level nuclear waste at Hanford.[31]

Death

In 2002 and 2010, Patt's hometown was listed as Canby, Oregon,[1][32] near Portland.[2] Having been diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2007,[3][33] Ralph Oliver Patt died at the age of 80 on 6 October 2010 in Canby[1][3] at home.[32] To honor his memory, the Ralph Patt Memorial Scholarship provided full tuition, room, and board for a college student to attend the Mel Brown Jazz Camp in 2011.[33]

See also

References

Footnotes

Citations

  1. ^ a b c "Ralph Oliver Patt: Canby, Oregon". Death-Record. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Patt, Ralph (14 April 2008). "Biography". Ralph Patt's jazz web page. ralphpatt.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Williams, Tom (12 January 2010). "RIP: Ralph Patt, guitarist". jazz_guitar: Jazz Guitar Group (YAHOO! Groups). Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  4. ^ Joe Negri and Patt collaborated in 1989 on this recording: By then, Negri was already nationally known as the guitarist on the
    Handyman Negri
    ".
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Peterson (2002, p. 36)
  6. ^ "My grateful acknowledgement to ... Ralph Patt for his valuable assistance in the preparation of the manuscript", wrote Russell (1959, p. [vi] (unpaginated)).
    Russell, George (1959). "Acknowledgements". Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization. 40 Shephard Street; Cambridge, MA 02138: Concept Publishing Company.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. ^ Patt recorded "For George Russell" in 2002: * Patt, Ralph (2002). "Streaming audio index: Audio clips". For George Russell. Ralph Patt's Jazz Web Page, Ralphpatt.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  8. ^ Griewank (2010, p. 1)
  9. ^ a b c Kirkeby, Ole (1 March 2012). "Major thirds tuning". m3guitar.com. cited by Sethares (2011) and (Griewank 2010, p. 1). Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  10. ^ a b c d e Patt, Ralph (14 April 2008). "The major 3rd tuning". Ralph Patt's jazz web page. ralphpatt.com. cited by Sethares (2011) and Griewank (2010, p. 1). Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  11. ^ a b Sethares (2001)
  12. ^ Griewank (2010, p. 9)
  13. ^ Griewank (2010, p. 2)
  14. ^ Sethares (2001, p. 52)
  15. ^ Denyer (1992, "The harmonic guitarist, Intervals, Fingerboard intervals", p. 119)
  16. ^ Griewank (2010, p. 10)
  17. ^ Kirkeby (2012, "Fretmaps, major chords: Major Triads")
  18. ^ a b c d e f g Peterson (2002, p. 37)
  19. ^ Staff (13 August 2004). "Tony Mottola; 86; Composer, guitarist played with Sinatra". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  20. ^ Denyer (1992, "Playing the guitar: Jazz guitar styles, The role of the guitar in jazz", p. 101)
  21. ^ Kostka, Payne & Almén (2012, p. 92):
    Kostka, Stefan; Payne, Dorothy; Almén, Byron (2012). Tonal harmony with an introduction to twentieth-century music (seventh ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. .
  22. ^ Sethares (2011, "Alternative tuning guide" (html))
  23. ^ a b Patt, Ralph (14 April 2008). "About The vanilla book". Ralph Patt's jazz web page. ralphpatt.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2001. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  24. ^ Patt (1962)
  25. ^ Wayne & Patt (1965)
  26. ^ Freund, John C.; Weil, Milton (1966). The purchaser's guide to the music industries. Music Trades Corp. p. 343. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  27. ^ Peterson (2002, p. 39)
  28. ^ . Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  29. ^ Associated Press (7 August 1991). "DOE (Department of Energy) says report on accidents at Hanford to be released soon". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Yakima. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  30. ^ Geronios, Nicholas K. (7 August 1991). "DOE accused of concealing report: Document may detail 125 Hanford accidents". The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA). Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  31. ^ Dorn Steele, Karen (13 July 1997). "Cracks in Hanford's clean bill of health: Congressional watchdogs want to make sure nuclear facility plugs leaks". The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA). Archived from the original on 11 June 2014.
  32. ^
    ISSN 1041-7176. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2012.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: location (link
    )
  33. ^ a b Niemann-Ross, Mark (6 August 2011). "Mark Niemann-Ross goes to (Mel Brown Jazz) camp, Friday: Proof of concept: Ralph Patt memorial scholarship for returning guitar players". Oregon Music News. Archived from the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2012.

Bibliography

External links