Guitar playing techniques
The guitar as an instrument polyphonic involves many, many playing techniques appropriate to different kinds of guitars and different styles of music performed. The guitar virtuosos have often been the inventors of new approaches to guitar, both musical and technical.
General elements
The guitar can produce one note per string, but has several strings and can play chords. The single note is easy to produce: just plucking a guitar string to vibrate and thus produce a sound. Pinching is usually done at the soundhole on an acoustic guitar, above the microphone on an electric guitar, but he can play on the stamp by varying the position: a plucked string near the bridge will sound sec, loaded into acute, conversely, the more one moves away, the sound is full and loaded with low frequencies. To produce an acute note that returned by the string vibrating load, it suffices to reduce the length of the open string with one finger by pressing on the other hand one of the squares of the key. If the pressure is strong enough and fit correctly, the string is pressed against the wood. If the handle is provided with frets, it is even locked on top of the hoop adjoining box. In both cases, the vibration after pinching can occur only up to the finger or fret, and the pitch of the note increases. The string thus gives the lowest score that can be achieved with this rope.
The guitarist can take his guitar sitting position (between the knees to the classical guitar position or "folk" on the knees) or play standing up (guitar wedged in elbow to the guitars, light or suspended from a strap holding regular electric guitars ). The seating position gives better stability to the instrument, the upright position permits greater freedom of movement. In a less academic, such as some guitarists Keith Rowe and Ben Harper play the guitar "flat" (that is to say while sitting in a chair, the guitar laid flat on a table or on the knees in a position called lap in English).
The convention is to employ the terms "right hand" to describe the hand pinching or scratching the strings, and "left hand" the hand that runs the strings on the fretboard. This distinction right / left is relevant only for musicians or rightists who learned to play their instrument as handed. The left-handed musicians should consider reversing the notions of left and right relative standard designations.
Accessories
* The pick or plectrum is a small piece of plastic, metal, felt, bone, shell or other material more or less rigid for vibrating strings, which holds between the thumb and index.
* The tab is a flat piece of plastic that surrounds the rigid thumb or other fingers and ends in a point to hang the rope. It is a convenient way to overcome a lack of nails or produce a louder sound with the strings harder. It is used in blues guitar electro-acoustic.
* The bottleneck is an accessory cylindrical glass hard and smooth as the neck of a bottle - hence its name - or metal that is slid over the strings as a band for varying height Note. It is also the name of the playing technique associated (also known as slide guitar), particularly used in blues.
* The capo is a device that, by blocking all the strings simultaneously on the same box, can play a song or agreements several shades above the original setting. It lets you quickly change the tone of the guitar to match with other instruments.
Prepared guitar
Prepared a guitar or a guitar is placed on which the stamp was changed by various extended techniques, including by placing objects between the strings of the instrument. This practice is sometimes called the table of the guitar, because many guitarists do not use the instrument in the usual way, but put the guitar on a table in order to manipulate it more easily.
Third bridge
Third bridge is a playing technique alternative of placing an object, often a screwdriver between the handle and the strings of the guitar strings to divide into two parts and thus promote the formation of harmonics. The technique is related to the prepared guitar, but it can be used on other instruments or new instruments.
Using the right hand
By convention, the right hand means one which vibrates the strings. It has two main positions:
* Hand is suspended, without support, the fingers touch the strings to play that position (classical guitar);
* The wrist rests on the bridge (position guitarist folk, country);
* The wrist rests on the departure of bass strings (E and A in most cases) at the bridge so as to muffle the sound of the strings (palm muting). This technique was overwhelmingly perpetrated by metal bands such as Metallica or Megadeth.
The key is to obtain a comfortable, accommodating the instrument of unorthodox playing techniques.
Pinch
Pinching or pinched rope is made with the fingertip or fingernail. It typically uses up four fingers: the thumb, index, middle and ring fingers (respectively denoted p, i, m, in the partition in French). The thumb is parallel to the strings, it can be equipped with a tab for easy gripping. We can squeeze more strings simultaneously. This is the basic technique used in classical guitar, particularly in arpeggios.
Arpeggio
This is a regular pinching the strings one after another, usually to break an agreement normally played from a single piece of beat. An arpeggio can be played staccato or legato, that is to say so or not untied.
Stubborn and variants
It is a technique similar to pinched, the difference being that after the cord clamped, the finger will abut the next string. This allows for more volume and more about "posting" notes between stops. This technique is widely used for the melody of the flamenco guitar the "picado". The double variant is encountered mainly dedicated to the inch, what is this finger play two strings in the same movement and eventually to a stop on the next string (eg, the thumb plays the bass strings and the middle and abuts on the D string). This technique is used for example in a choros by Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Picking and variants
Picking (or finger picking, literally "by the finger pinch" in English) is a way of plucking the strings, which is typical of the North American music (blues, country and their variants). Each finger is independent of the others, allowing a great combination of sounds. Picking was popularized in France by Marcel Dadi in the 1970s. The hybrid-picking or flatpicking is based on the same basic technique as the picking, but using a pick held by the thumb and forefinger. Often used the ring as an independent third finger to play in the treble. The use of the pick allows to introduce a rhythmic accent if desired, and find new way to play in return.
Beat
In the beat, all the strings are rubbed quickly to give the illusion of a sound agreement that is to say of notes played simultaneously according to a specific musical. The beat may be down (the thick rope to the chanterelle, ie. Bass to treble), ascending, alternating ... This is the simplest technique and widely used in acoustic guitar accompaniment, as it maximizes the volume and can give a tempo to the musical phrase. The beat can be done alone or with your thumb with your thumb and fingers (alternating in the beating), or with a pick. The riffs are fast often played by the rhythmic beats.
Flamenco Techniques
The flamenco picado or stubborn is a technique used on classical guitars and flamenco, with nylon strings. In flamenco technique, the stop is used to obtain a strong, polished by rolling the string on the finger to slap it on the nail. To achieve this effect, there is strong support across the strings with your index and middle fingers outstretched. But for the proper development of the dexterity of the fingers of the right hand is used as the index / ring finger and middle finger / ring finger.
The rasgueado is a technique where the flamenco guitarist guitar strings by extending the fingers quickly one after another in a continuous motion. We found this technique extensively in the mariachi style.
The golpe (coup "in Spanish) is to hit the soundboard with the right index finger, middle finger or thumb. It can be played along with a note or an agreement, or otherwise, against time. The guitar must be equipped with a small plate of hard material called pick guards to avoid damaging the table.
Roundtrip
The term refers to return a specific use of the pinch with a plectrum which strikes a chord at a time by moving up and down alternately. The round trip can be strict or not: for example, during a string change ("jump rope"), the guitarist can choose to play other descendants or ascendants movements rather than following the strict alternation. This technique is mostly used on electric guitar and can play fast melodies nonlinear solos ... This technique is also used in flamenco with thumb: the downward movement is then exercised in the ascendant is stubborn and of course dive.
Palm mute
The palm mute or pizzicato technique derives from the golpe. It consists in using the palm of the right hand by placing it on the strings near the bridge, to muffle the sounds. This effect is common in funk, reggae or rock, where it gives an impression of power and "hold" music. Thus obtained on guitar folk, classical or electric sound approaching the bass. This technique has been widely used in American folk music by such artists as Chet Atkins was one of the master Marcel Dadi, gender specialist.
One can also see that it is one of the basics of the game's style metalcore, as the band Bullet For My Valentine or Trivium (using this same technique in their solos).
Slap
Used mainly by bassists, the slap is to "slam" a rope or by a percussion effect with the thumb or finger by a lifting hook which is perpendicular to the string table and break sharply. Slap the classic means alternating these two movements, with a first and a second time in percussive fired. This effect characterizes the sound of music funk groove. This technique is also used by jazz bassists, and has been popularized among others, bassist Marcus Miller.
Harmonics
The harmonics are the purest tones that can be obtained on the guitar. Both techniques can be used to produce them.
With his left hand, you get harmonics called "natural" on all the strings at all frets, but the most common are those of the 5th, 7th and 12th frets, as well as at the middle of the rosette on a classical guitar. To "trigger" a harmonic, we must ask the pulp of a finger just above a band, but without pressing the string on the fret or key, then remove the finger immediately after you put the string in vibration with the right hand.
With your right hand, it is possible to produce harmonics called "artificial" often used in blues, heavy metal ... and mainly in the solos. After putting in a vibrating string with a plectrum, the thumb side facing the strings and taking this accessory must touch the vibrating string on the same principle as a natural harmonic. The movement must be quick and precise: well done, it can leave the left hand execute any technique desired, including a sharp bend very expressive is often found in rock solos.
A final variant is the harmonic "tapped" which involves tapping technique. This is to superimpose a note to a full natural harmonic (or artificial), usually at very high speed. Some musicians are able to play whole pieces with this technique, the typical example being Eddie Van Halen in the intro to "Spanish Fly".
It also owns its property to allow the tuning electric guitar when the guitarist uses a distortion effect. In doing so, simultaneously, two identical harmonic but on two different strings, the amplified sound is clear and consistent if the strings are granted. However, if the tuning is not good, the amplified sound is uneven because the harmonics are not on the same wavelength. Tune his instrument so that the sound is "regular" allows to give his instrument with a precision that does not, in theory, the manual tuning "by ear".
Tapping
The tapping is to hit the strings on the fretboard rather than attacking them with your fingers or a pick. It is therefore made use of techniques of the left hand with right hand (hammer-on, pull-off ...). The left hand maintains its usual role, but using the right index finger (or middle finger or the pick), guitarist strikes the vibrating string to the fret height of a well chosen. Repeated accurately, this technique allows very impressive game speeds. The shredders like Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani or Steve Vai went popular among others by their mastery of tap. We also retain the eight fingers tapping, a variant in which all fingers are on the frets and change only the button (see especially guitarists Stanley Jordan American, Jennifer Batten, or Buckethead). Steve Hackett of Genesis in the technique popularized progressive rock in the 1970s.
The tapping has been widely popularized by Eddie Van Halen in particular through the instrumental track Eruption
Sweeping
The sweep or sweeping is a technique widely used by shredders and that is play-note arpeggios, smoothly and rapidly, using the pick to make the movement of return the closest possible. The sweeping is based on economy of movement of the right hand, which does not play the arpeggio back and forth strict, but realizes the downward movement (go) or bottom (back) one piece is ie on all strings, while the left hand playing separately, ie one after another, each note a different cord and contiguous. The difficulty lies in the perfect synchronization of motion needed both hands so that each note of the arpeggio sounds distinctly and fully, like a melody and not as an agreement. This technique characterizes especially the guitar playing rock 'neo-classical "such qu'Yngwie Malmsteen, even if it was invented in the field of jazz fusion with Frank Gambale.
Fingers or pick?
The game is typical classical guitar: the strings are plucked with four fingers and each finger is independent (note however that this is not required: Narciso Yepes plays such Recuerdos de la Alhambra Tarrega with four fingers, the thumb being bass and three other tremolos). This results in a wide variety of combinations of strings. They say that the classical guitar is essentially contrapuntal, it allows the play of running away. The possibility of counterpoint is the essential feature of the game such as "classical guitar". It has been said logically that this instrument was in itself a small orchestra. The game is also independent with fingers used on acoustic and electric guitars, especially in country music in North America that saw the finger picking style.
Conversely, playing with a pick, mostly on the guitars called modern, can play only one note at a time, or rapid friction of all the chords, a chord progression. In return, the pick allows for greater sound amplification and allows fast and brilliant game.
Some guitarists also use a compromise between the 2 techniques, holding a pick between their thumb and forefinger, and middle and ring fingers using to access at times to strings.
Using the left hand
The fingers of the left hand is used to shorten the vibrating length of string to create different notes, more and more acute. The left hand around the handle to the bottom with the thumb resting on the back of the neck or wrapped around, while the other fingers are facing the strings so nearly perpendicular. Playing techniques in his left hand are very varied and greatly influence what is often referred to as the 'hit' guitarist (his "sensitivity technique").
See also Violin playing
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