Tuning for The Sympathetic Harp Guitar
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Suggested tunings for the fretted Sympathetic Harp Guitar.

With the main strings of a regular fretted 6 string guitar tuned: EADGBE, the 14 string harp can be tuned chromatically with
the Equal Temperament (ET) intervals  from low A to high A#: A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A#.
This tuning can be used with chords in any key for Jazz, Rock, or world music.

You can change that tuning slightly to play a fretted modal style around a tonic. Some of the notes of the harp can be
tuned away from the ET scale, and include some of the pure tuning intervals to give a sweeter sound.
You can exclude some of the ET non-tonic related intervals.
 For the tonic of "A": A B C D D# E F# G G# A B C C# D 
 The tonic "A" related chords: A, D, E7, F#m, BM, will sound fine, but other unrelated chords wont sound in tune: Eb Bb Ab etc.
Tuning the harp with a the tonic of "C": G A B C D D# E F G A B C D E  "C" related chords will be OK.
 

Suggested tuning for the Sympathetic Harp using the unfretted slide set-up for Indian raga style guitar.

Starting with the tonic of C, the 6th main string is replaced with a .012" steel string and is used as a Chicari (rhythm string). This set up requires a Chicari post to be mounted on the rail near the upper bout. Once this string is mounted on the Chicari post it is tuned to High C.

The remainder of the main playing strings, the 5th to 1st strings are tuned: G C G C F
In this instance, the Harp is tuned to the pure tuning intervals of Bilawal THAT - which is the pure tuning C major scale.
For variety you can include any other interval. In the following example we have included an F# accidental : F G A B C D E F F# G A B C D E.
There are 10 Indian THATS from which come all the Classical Indian Music ragas.  These THATS need to have the pure tuning 22 note scale to make the raga mood come alive.

We have devised a system for tuning to the pure tuning 12 note octave. The 12 note pure tune intervals come from the 22 Shrutis used in North Indian Classical Music Ragas.  Equal Temperament tuning moves the pure tuning intervals variously from 2 cents to 28 cents away from their pure tuning positions. In Equal Temperament tuning there are 100 cents in every semitone (halftone), and 1200 cents in one octave. 
Using this system to tune to the 22 Shrutis shown in the charts below,  you will need an electronic guitar tuner which  has a needle dial. Such tuners have the Equal Temperament Scale as the default tuning. (See the pictures of  tuner dials below) You can  tune the strings of a Sympathetic Harp chromatically to the pure tuning intervals by doing the following:

The intervals above are the simplest fractions in the 22 Shrutis (microtones). Some of the more extreme intervals are as much as 28 cents (a quarter tone) away from the ET intervals. Within the 22 Shrutis there are three flatted seconds, two major seconds, 2 minor thirds, and so on. Which of these to use depends on the tonal center of the particular THAT selected.   I have not included all 22 intervals as they are specific to the more advanced ragas and cannot be discerned by electronic tuners. A study of the Ten THATS will be necessary to understand the more obscure Shrutis. The exact cents are not given above as guitar tuners cannot accurately resolve such fine frequencies. For a fuller explanation of the Shrutis and the
TEN THATS visit: http://www.perfectthird.com/Perfect%20Third.htm

EQUAL TEMPERAMENT

Equal Temperament (ET) uses a 12 note octave which has been gradually adopted by western music to replace the pure tuning 22 note octave, (called Just Intonation or JI) Just Intonation revolves around a fixed tonal center and limits the modern concept of modulation.  The 12 ET notes are based on a mathematical formula that makes each of the 12 intervals the same distance apart on a decreasing scale.  The formula is:

This system of tuning allows each note to act as any interval within the octave,  giving modern music the ability to have sequential chord structures. Bach was one of the first to realize the potential of this system, and a full exploration of these principles is found in Bach's 12 Tone Inventions. Bebop to the Beatles, Beethoven to the Bangles all use the ET system.  The 22 Pure Tuning intervals are still used as passing tones which function as sweetening sounds in order to overcome the slightly sour sounds of some of the intervals of Equal Temperament.

Guitar and Other Tunings

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