Why Ron Jarzombek’s clock system can help you create wild new riffs

Tap into Ron Jarzombek's organized chaos to give your songs unique movement

Through his work with Blotted Science, Watchtower, and Spastic Ink, Ron Jarzombek has made a career out of ripping up the rulebook and defying musical conventions. His music is weird, atonal as all hell but oddly satisfying. And most importantly, it's unique.

And we can tap into that. There’s a secret behind his methods called The Circle of 12 Tones.  

Jarzombek likes to write from concepts or theories, giving himself a platform to leap off of, and so, in a bid to break out of “the normal theoretic writing systems that I've been using for decades,” he devised this clock-like system.

Based on the circle of fifths, he uses a clock-like system to map out all the 12 notes we musicians, regardless of instrument, style and taste, have at our disposal. He then sections off those notes into different fragments or groups in various ways – that could be in simple quarters to generate two clusters, every other note to create two, and so on.

Once this rule is applied, he begins writing within those very specific confines. The order of the notes generated on the clock face is typically randomized and distributed without much tact before THEN trying to decipher riffs and ideas from what's left.

Simply, it generates an element of organized chaos. For instance, the intro to Blotted Science's Synaptic Plasticity works off three groupings of four notes, and each one offers a unique flavours.

You can check out the clock diagrams and tab for the song here, which mercifully lists the note grouping above each part of the riff it relates to. This is great to understand how he applied it in a practical sense.

Check out the Synaptic Plasticity tab.

Those groupings, and how Jarzombek interpreted them, are listed below:

B E F F#

All these notes feature in the b minor blues scale, with that F/F# interval most notably nodding towards it. So there is an easy logic to apply there.

Red dots = Ab C D Eb

This grouping outlines an A minor chord, but with a #4, which adds in a Lydian vibe. 

Yellow dots = G A Bb Db

Jarzombek deciphered this as a G add 9 chord.

That’s all well and good, but how does it work in practice? Well, the intro riff builds off these three segments, with the first grouping doing most of the heavy lifting, save for some flourishes from the other groupings.

Most importantly, what this helps Jarzombek achieve is guidance; he can be creative within certain confines, making it easier to build his core riff. Beyond that, the other groupings provide him with extra seasoning, which he can add into the riff when he feels it needs it. That’s why the second and third note groupings are used sparingly. It ensures the song is anchored into a certain tonality, but not entirely restricted by it, either.

The song uses a total of five clocks to build out its different part, which means the song has an ever-shifting tonal centre. It can be a great way to experiment with songwriting for those who feel they always gravitate to the same keys.

The cool thing about the system is that you don’t have to be enslaved by it. You could simply use one clock face – be it pre-existing, like the ones used for Synaptic Plasticity, or make your own – to force yourself into using note combinations you wouldn’t normally.

For another example, check out the playthrough (plus diagram) of Cretaceous Chasm below. 

Soloing – but make it weird

Another way his clock system can be used is to generate sequences of traids, which can be generated by this nifty website he’s built called Abstract Clocks.

Simply drag notes onto the clock face as you choose, and the rest will be automatically generated. You can choose the time signature and tempo, but the main thing here is that the backing track the app will give you is full of strange harmonies, meaning traditional scales and soloing approaches must be cast aside.

Instead, it forces you to figure out the best way to play against each triad, ultimately piecing a solo together that goes well against what you know. The result might not be the prettiest, but it forces you to think differently, and when that happens, great results can happen. It’s good to be thrown out of your comfort zone.

It also helps double down on what type of lead playing sounds like you, so it can be treated like a 'finding yourself' exercise, if nothing else.

Levi Clay has made an in-depth video detailing how he broke his oddball chord progression down to create tasteful, but still atonal leads over the top of it. 

You can check out that video below, and find Abstract Clocks here.

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