The Microtonal Scales of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - a Primer and Compendium

1: Overview (1/2) King Gizzard's discography and their use of unusual musical techniques.

2: Overview (2/2) The influence of Turkish folk music on King Gizzard's microtonal music.

3: Quarter Tone Basics (1/3) Comparing quarter tones (24-equal tuning) with 12-equal.

4: Quarter Tone Basics (2/3) Turkish and Persian folk music is not tuned to exact quarter tones. Ottoman classical music is conceptualized as 53-equal.

5: Quarter Tone Basics (3/3) Exact 24-equal is used in Arabic music, and is a good 'best guess' tuning in a Western 12-equal setting. Consider fret spacing as well.

6: The Makam System A cins (3-5 notes) can be connected with another cins to form a makam. Makams may have the same notes but different cins/seyirs. 

7: The Hüseyni Makam (1/2) The Hüseyni makam, with a neutral 2nd and neutral 6th is the basis for one of King Gizzard's most used microtonal scales.

8: The Hüseyni Makam (2/2) The Hüseyni scale can be thought of as 'in between' the Dorian and Phrygian modes. All of these scales have 'tetrachord symmetry'.

9: Notation, etc. A few notes on notation, including how notes are color coded to reflect specific microtonal intervals.

10: Melting This song uses only the B Hüseyni scale.

11: Sleep Drifter This song uses only the F♯ Hüseyni scale.

12: D-Day This song uses only the E Hüseyni scale.

13: Greenhouse Heat Death This song uses only the F♯ Hüseyni scale.

14: All is Known This song uses only the A Hüseyni scale.

15: Some of Us This song uses only the F♯ Hüseyni scale.

16: O.N.E. This song uses only the F♯ Hüseyni scale.

17: Supreme Ascendancy This song uses only the F♯ Hüseyni scale.

18: Variations on Hüseyni The Ushaq Masri scale changes the Hüseyni's neutral 2nd to a major 2nd, while the Uşşak scale changes the its neutral 6th to a minor 6th.

19: Anoxia This song uses primarily the B Ushaq Masri scale, resulting in a slightly happier sound than Hüseyni through an implied A major chord.

20: Flying Microtonal Banana This song uses both the F♯ Ushaq Masri scale (such as the main zurna melody) and the F♯ Hüseyni scale (such as the ending guitar part).

21: Straws in the Wind By incorporating the C♯ Ushaq Masri's major 2nd into the C♯ Hüseyni, this song enables a very 12-equal-sounding chord progression.

22: The Neva Scale The Turkish version of the Neva makam uses a slightly flattened major 6th, which can be used to define another Hüseyni variation.

23: Doom City This song's opening bass riff uses the major 6th of the F♯ Neva scale, before reverting to the F♯ Hüseyni scale for the rest.

24: Oddlife (1/2) This song's vocal melody uses the major 6th of the F♯ Neva scale, while the other instruments use the F♯ Hüseyni scale.

25: Oddlife (2/2) The guitar solo in this song incorporates both the F♯ Hüseyni scale's neutral 6th, and the F♯ Neva scale's major 6th.

26: Pleura (1/2) The vocal melody in this song incorporates the C♯ Neva scale's major 6th, while the guitar incorporates the C♯ Uşşak scale's minor 6th.

27: Pleura (2/2) Later in this song, the vocals incorporate a major 7th in order to create a G# major (V) chord (ostensibly, a borrowing from 12-equal).

28: Rattlesnake This song primarily uses the F♯ Hüseyni, but in the long bridge section, employs a major 3rd.

29: Minimum Brain Size (1/2) This song primarily uses the F♯ Hüseyni, but the vocal melody incorporates a neutral 3rd, and the guitar uses the Uşşak scale's minor 6th.

30: Minimum Brain Size (2/2) Later in this song, the Uşşak's minor 6th is used to enable a very 12-equal-sounding chord progression with a Dmaj chord.

31: Billabong Valley (1/2) This song uses the G Hüseyni, but the main zurna melody incorporates both a neutral 3rd and a minor 2nd.

32: Billabong Valley (2/2) Later in this song, the vocals and piano use the E natural of the G Neva scale, resulting in a very 12-equal-sounding chord progression.

33: Variations on Hüseyni In general, the Ushaq Masri, Neva, and Uşşak scales can be thought of as a compromise between the Hüseyni's microtones and 12-equal.

34: The Book (1/2) Initially, this song uses the E Hüseyni scale with a spicy added sharp fourth scale degree.

35: The Book (2/2) Later in the song, microtonality is abandoned entirely.

36: Nuclear Fusion This song's only digression from the F♯ Hüseyni scale is a microtonally chromatic walk-up, corresponding to KG's guitars' fret spacing.

37: Automation This song primarily uses the F♯ Hüseyni scale, but towards the end switches to the C♯ Hüseyni scale for a bit before returning.

38: The Hungry Wolf of Fate (1/2) Despite using the F♯ Hüseyni scale, this song emphasizes a root note of C♯, implying a scale with a strange, half-flat 5th.

39: The Hungry Wolf of Fate (2/2) Later, the song uses the C♯ Uşşak scale.

40: Non-Hüseyni Scales Despite the prevalence of the Hüseyni scale, there are 10 songs where other microtonal scales predominate.

41: The Subminor Phrygian (1/2) Like the Phrygian scale, but with the minor 2nd and 6th lowered to the subminor 2nd and 6th, creating a scale with quarter steps.

42: Open Water This song primarily uses the G Subminor Phrygian scale, but occasionally uses the minor 2nd instead of the subminor 2nd.

43: The Subminor Phrygian (2/2) The 5/4 steps in the Subminor Phrygian scale imitate the wide 3/2 steps of some 12-equal scales, but don't require major intervals.

44: Ataraxia (1/2) While this song's guitar uses the A Subminor Phrygian scale, its vocals stick to the 12-equal A Mixolydian scale, written to avoid clashing.

45: Mixolydian Over Minor Other songs that superimpose Mixolydian melodies over minor key riffs, though none are as extensive as 'Ataraxia'.

46: Ataraxia (2/2) Later, this song switches to the D Subminor Phrygian scale before returning (and also incorporates the minor 6th in order to harmonize).

47: Intrasport (1/3) This song's initial melody uses the G Subminor Phrygian scale, but also incorporates the neutral 3rd and major 3rd.

48: Intrasport (2/3) Like 'Open Water', this song also occasionally reverts to the 12-equal minor 2nd instead of the subminor 2nd.

49: Intrasport (3/3) Midway through this song, a brief synth melody reverts entirely to 12-equal tuning.

50: See Me The scale used by this song incorporates both the Subminor Phrygian scale's subminor 6th, and the Hüseyni scale's neutral 2nd.

51: If Not Now, Then When? This song alternates between the F♯ Hüseyni scale and a G Subminor scale with a major 3rd and major 7th (note enharmonic equivalents)

52: Neutral Hicazkar Scale The Turkish version of the Hicazkar makam uses a 3rd and 7th that are slightly lower than the Arabic Hicazkar's major intervals.

53: Static Electricity (1/2) This song uses the G Neutral Hicazkar scale - a scale whose neutral 3rd and 7th entail tetrachord symmetry as well as wide 5/4 steps.

54: Static Electricity (2/2) Most of this song's melodies emphasize the C (perfect 4th) as a chord tone instead of the dissonant B half flat (neutral 3rd).

55: East West Link This song acts a bit like an extension of 'Static Electricity', and likewise uses the G Neutral Hicazkar scale.

56: Ontology (1/3) This song initially uses the E Neutral Hicazkar scale, but also emphasizes a root note of A before eventually modulating to C♯.

57: Ontology (2/3) The C♯ scale in this song is like a major version of the Uşşak scale - it gives us a major chord that acts like a V to the next section's I.

58: Ontology (3/3) This new F♯ is like a major version of the Hüseyni scale. Many of this song's modulations rely on 'common tones' between the scales.

59: Honey (1/3) This song's trilled notes make the scale in use unclear - though the F♯ Rast scale, with a neutral 3rd and 7th is a good fit.

60: Honey (2/3) Later, the song reverts to the F♯ Hüseyni scale, though incorporating the major 3rd hints at its previously sharper-sounding tonality.

61: Honey (3/3) Towards the end of the song, the C♯ Hüseyni scale (which shares a few notes with the F♯ Rast scale) is superimposed on the F♯ Hüseyni.

62: K.G.L.W (1/3) The scale used in this song can be seen as a synthetic makam using a lower Hüseyni pentachord and an upper (neutral) Hicaz tetrachord.

63: K.G.L.W (2/3) This song's 5/4 breakdown incorporates a few new notes that simply form nice intervals with certain notes in the original scale.

64: K.G.L.W (3/3) This song's final scale borrows some notes from earlier scales, as well as a couple more to harmonize a melody in fifths.

65: A Microtonal Inventory (1/2) Every song and its main scale - Hüseyni and its variations (green); Subminor Phrygian (purple), Neutral Hicazkar (orange).

66: A Microtonal Inventory (2/2) A Venn diagram of the different scales used throughout King Gizzard's microtonal discography.

67: Scale Families (1/2) The main scale families all have tetrachord symmetry, even if they occasionally digress into variations which do not.

68: Scale Families (2/2) The use of only 3 scale families leads to certain preferred intervals - the 'other intervals' are hardly used in King Gizzard's music.