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Post by king2b on Sept 27, 2017 10:13:53 GMT
Any acoustic players out there. The guitar tutor that visits my school was teaching next door and I quickly wrote this for him. Some king size stretches in it but possibly playable, unless you have other ideas?! |
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Post by Dave Dexter on Sept 27, 2017 11:12:13 GMT
For solo guitar? This kind of playing isn't my specialty but it sounds very demanding.
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Post by fuguestate on Oct 3, 2017 16:30:59 GMT
I'm an amateur guitar player, and while it does seem quite idiomatic, I concur with Dave that it looks quite difficult, especially the 16th notes in mm.9-15.
Also, the chosen key (B minor) does have some trickiness to it. Generally speaking, guitar music tends to prefer open strings, unlike bowed string instruments like violin, where stopped strings are preferred. Especially for bass notes, the sonority of the low open strings gives it a more solid sound.
IMO, a minor key piece for guitar generally would be best in E minor or A minor, to take advantage of the open E and open A strings. I'd choose E minor if I want to emphasize the tonic -- that low E string gives it a good, solid bass sound; A minor if I wanted to emphasize the dominant, e.g., to hold a dominant pedal on E before cadencing to A minor.
Of course, this advice may not apply in certain styles of music; e.g., some guitar solos primarily take advantage of barred chords for their soloistic flair. For such styles, things like A major would work well.
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Post by king2b on Oct 3, 2017 17:13:32 GMT
Thanks for your comments. I will address the technical problems with my friend tomorrow. I would like observations on the music if you have any.
Thanks
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Post by Bob Porter on Oct 3, 2017 18:36:02 GMT
Depending on the music, I think all the reasons for not using open strings on violin, also apply to guitar. Consistency of quality, for starters. Prove it to yourself: Play the open A string. Then finger the low E on the 5th fret. Same pitch. Different sound. And it gets worse. Two different players can play the A on the E string on the same guitar and they can sound different. Guitar and string quality, pressure on the string, and finger density can all make a difference.
Sure, an open string can be a cool effect.
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Post by fuguestate on Oct 3, 2017 19:27:04 GMT
Bob Porter: OK, it could possibly be a matter of personal preference, then. Since I mostly strum rather than play melodies on the guitar, I suppose I'm biased towards maximizing the sonority of a strummed chord (and simplifying the fingering!) by using as many open strings as possible. Barred chords have a tendency of some strings not being fully stopped, which truncates the note and also alters the timbre, sometimes significantly. I suppose if you're playing a melody you'd want to keep timbral consistency between notes, so exclusively using stopped strings could be the ticket. But the difference in timbre between a stopped note and an open note on a guitar, vs. a stopped note and an open note on a violin, is quite different, because on the guitar the stopped string is vibrating against the fret, a solid object, whereas on a violin the stopped string is vibrating against your finger, a soft object. You can't vibrato a guitar note the same way you vibrato a violin note (you can bend the guitar note by pushing the string sideways with your finger, but that has a different timbral effect). So if you press the guitar string down firmly, the fret pretty much behaves like the end of an open string, and the only difference is the timbre produced by the fret vs. the end of the string. Whereas on a violin the difference is much more pronounced. Of course, if you don't stop the guitar string completely, so that it's only partially stopped by the fret, then you'll get quite a different sound. When playing fast music, this can become quite common, since you won't have much time to push the string firmly against the fret before you have to sound the note, so I suppose one could argue for keeping consistency by stopping all notes instead of using open strings. Speaking of cool effects with open strings, I used to tune the lowest E on my guitar to D when strumming chords in D major, just so I can hit the low D for a strong bass note. Of course, it makes some chords more difficult (or maybe impossible) to finger, but depending on the music, it could work quite well. OTOH, when playing C chord (on normal tuning), I usually prefer to finger the G on the low E string in addition to the other chord notes, because it produces a firmer sound; otherwise you'll either have to mute the E string with your thumb or finger, or get the unstable-sounding 1st inversion produced by the low E.
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Post by Bob Porter on Oct 3, 2017 21:39:24 GMT
Let's take this off of this thread because I have much more to share with you  |
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Post by fuguestate on Oct 3, 2017 22:07:29 GMT
king2b: Sorry for getting sidetracked. I listened to your piece again a few more times. Overall, I liked it, the unexpected chord changes gave it a particular character and kept it interesting. However, I found the transition back to the home key in mm.15-16 a little awkward. It sounded like some other chord should be inserted somewhere in there to ease the transition a little. But that could just be my classically-biased ears speaking.
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Post by Bob Porter on Oct 3, 2017 23:14:45 GMT
I have little idea of the play-ability of this piece. I've seen professional lute players do wondrous things with piano parts. I question the B (m) (?) chord in m16. I think this measure could be reworked so as to not upset H S's delicate ears That and the full stop in measure 8. I feel these two measures should match, rhythmically at least. |
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Post by milo1865 on Oct 4, 2017 0:12:59 GMT
Hi, Kevin;
A nice piece, with just a few problem positions.
On first glance, I spotted:
The slur from D to E in bar 6 is probably too much of a stretch, as is the chord on beat 1 of bar 7, which entails a barre on 7th fret, combined with a little finger stretch for the F# up to the 14th fret.
I'm sure your guitarist friend can point out any other anomalies.
Otherwise it seems playable without much difficulty. Bm is a nice key for a serendipitous mixture of open and closed strings, as demonstrated in some of your chords.
John
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Post by Bob Porter on Oct 4, 2017 3:01:02 GMT
king2b,
Turn up the volume on you mixer. I assume this is Sibelius. The default virtual instruments setting is low. Bring it up to 0.0. As it is, it is so soft I can hardly hear it with all volumes up full blast.
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Post by fuguestate on Oct 4, 2017 3:43:35 GMT
I can hear it okay on my headphones, but I do have to crank the volume to max, which is almost double the volume I usually listen at. Definitely increase the playback volume.
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Post by king2b on Oct 4, 2017 7:03:00 GMT
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Post by Bob Porter on Oct 4, 2017 14:54:24 GMT
Yes. Thanks.
You may not be interested, but you can add rit and holds (definable in the Inspector) to this to make it more natural. Real performers might like those markings, also. I know this is just a quick sketch of a piece, but there are many things you can do in Sibelius that are very easy, and can aid you in composing.
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