Category : guitar

Making your own chords

Things to know if you want to make chords:

 

• Know the notes in the chord
• Know the notes on the neck of the guitar

 

Knowing your key signatures is good, too. I’ll address that in the next post. For now I’ll just use the key of C major. No sharps or flats to worry about.

 

Figure out the notes in any 3-note chord

 

The key of C

C   D   E   F   G   A   B   C    D    E    F

1  2   3   4  5   6   7   8    9  10  11

 

I take the scale up to the 2^nd F (11) so you can visualize leaping every other note starting on every scale degree.

 

Take the 1^st note (C), the 3^rd note (E), and the 5^th note (G). You’re just leaping over every other note. Those three notes make a C major chord. If you know where all the notes are on your guitar, you can now start making a whole bunch of C major chords. A lot of people think there are only two – the open string C major and the barre chord. As it turns out, they’re wrong.

 

 

Make some chords

See if you can make 5 different shapes using C, E, and G. That’ll give you 5 different C major chords. All you have to do is find those three notes, and play them together.

 

Now do this starting on D. Take the D and skip over every other note and you’ll have D, F, and A. That’s a D minor chord. Make 5 different shapes for this chord.

Interview with Colin Labadie on augmented guitar

Colin Labadie is a composer/guitarist who began working on a prototype for an augmented guitar in 2010.  He’s currently working on a second augmented guitar with a wider variety of sensors and more complex signal processing effects. Check out his website for more.

http://www.colinlabadie.com/projects/prototype_augmented_guitar.html

 What does augmented guitar mean for you in your work? Is it a way to create a new sound palette for the instrument? Do you see it as a way to present the guitar in a less conventional light? Do you approach it as a guitar, or do you think of it more generally as a sound-producing interface?

 

I’ve always loved the potential of the electric guitar for finding new and interesting sounds. When I discovered Max/MSP, I felt that it was a bit of an untapped resource since it hadn’t been used much with the electric guitar despite being extremely powerful in terms of sound processing. The problem was that I when I was performing, the only control I had over the processing was with a computer mouse, and I was tweaking the sounds so often that I felt like I was playing the mouse more than the guitar. Augmenting the guitar was really a solution to that problem, as it freed up my hands from the computer so I could play the guitar while still manipulating its sound the way I was imagining. It has the added benefit of allowing more subtle real-time control than the feet (where processing is usually controlled), since as a guitarist my hands are naturally more dexterous.

 

The augmented guitar definitely presents the guitar in a less conventional light, not only in terms of sound but also in terms of visuals, since it can look a bit like a Frankenstein. I like pretty guitars as much as the next person, but I also really like the DIY aesthetic of an augmented guitar. There’s something about it that instantly arouses curiosity. But ultimately I don’t see it as being unconventional for its own sake; for me it’s really a byproduct of seeking out new sounds.

 

For me, I think of the augmented guitar as either a guitar or a sound-making interface to more-or-less degrees depending on the context or even the mood I’m in. When I was first using it, I was so fascinated with the sensors that I would usually just use the guitar as a drone and played more with the effects, but lately I’ve started to incorporate more guitaristic playing. It really varies.

 

 Have you modified the electronics of the guitar itself? Or have you added controllers/sensors to the guitar? Both? Describe these modifications.

 

I’ve just added controllers/sensors to the body of the guitar. The first prototype I build had a couple of buttons, knobs, a switch, a force-sensing resistor (FSR) for pressure, and an accelerometer for tilt. I could map these onto the processing parameters however I wanted, and I could also change those mappings on the fly. I’m working on a second version that will have a few more controllers/sensors, and these will be able to communicate wirelessly with the computer via XBee/arduino so that I’m not bogged down with additional cables, and so that the laptop can potentially sit off-stage.

 

At some point I do want to modify the actual circuitry of the guitar. I work a lot with lo-fi op-amp chips and it would be great to be able to switch into a hard-wired lo-fi guitar mode. I’d also like to wire up the frets and strings so that my body’s capacitance can alter the sound, like a kind of circuit-bent guitar.

 

 Describe the work that you have done as a performer on augmented guitar.

 

I’ve used it mainly in improvisation, either in my improv duo MUGBAIT, solo, or ad-hoc performances with other improvisers.

 

Have you composed any music specifically for augmented guitar, either solo pieces or as part of an ensemble? If so, how would you categorize this work? Improvisation? Ambient? Noise?  All of the above? Other?

 

I haven’t yet composed anything specifically for augmented guitar; like I mentioned earlier, it’s been mainly for free improvisation in both solo and group settings. But, I’m currently working on integrating the augmented guitar as part of my doctoral thesis, where I’ll compose three structured improvisations that will act as transitional interludes between the larger movements for acoustic instruments.

 

Is the way that you’ve set up your augmented guitar suited only to an experimental approach, or do you see it as compatible with a variety of  situations (pop, jazz, metal, classical, avante-garde, etc.)?

 

I’ve used it primarily for an experimental approach since it lends itself to that kind of playing. Because you can control things simultaneously, you sometimes get weird intersections between effects that you wouldn’t have found otherwise, and it becomes a launching point for exploring odd sounds, especially in free improvisation. That being said, there’s no reason why it couldn’t be used in other musical situations since it’s really just a system for controlling sound, and you can map that control to whatever you want. It’s not a surprise that Moldover (one of the better known augmented guitar guys) is using it mainly for pop music, or why the commercial augmented guitar product “Guitar Wing” is being marketed to all kinds of genres (check out http://createdigitalmusic.com/2014/02/augmented-guitar-final-hours-crowd-funding-watch-guitar-wing-can/ to see what I’m talking about).

 

The only potential problem with incorporating it into established genres is that it has a certain aesthetic that doesn’t always fit the mold, and that can be met with different reactions. It’s not as big of a deal in experimental genres since people tend to be more open, but in certain contexts you might not get called back to play again. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, depending on how bad you need the paycheque.

 

 Do you think that the electric guitar is better suited to augmentation than other instruments? If so, why?

 

There are some practical aspects that make it marginally easier to augment than other instruments. Certainly, having the pick ups built in makes for less of a hassle. It’s also relatively easy to integrate the sensors and electronics into the body of the guitar, and being able to find a decent instrument for relatively cheap makes for less qualms about drilling into it. Beyond the practical aspects, there’s also a rich history of experimentation and tinkering with the electric guitar that’s more publically visible than other instruments, which makes it seem somehow more “normal.” All that said, I don’t necessarily think that it’s useful to say whether the electric guitar is better suited for augmentations, since there have been many other fascinating projects that don’t use the guitar. I think we can learn things from people who have augmented instruments other than our own, and we don’t really stand to gain anything by having overly detailed conversations about which instrument is better suited for augmenting.

 

 Do you think that the idea of an augmented guitar brings the guitar closer to being a type of sound sculpture? In other words, does the idea of the guitar become more abstract, less tied to its conventional performance modes? This is related to the comment above about the guitar as sound-producing interface.

 

I think it depends to what extent you’re trying to subvert the electric guitar’s strong cultural associations. There are so many different forces at play when it comes to those associations that I don’t think augmentation alone is enough to completely abstract the guitar, though they can help. Ultimately I think the degree to which the guitar is abstracted relies more on the approach of whoever’s playing it, and how they treat things like performance context, playing technique, the types of sounds they’re creating, and all of the idioms therein. In general I see tabletop guitar as being a more abstract form of the guitar, since by laying the guitar flat they’re completely subverting how you’re supposed to even hold a guitar, which is pretty fundamental, not to mention conventional playing techniques and sound.  Augmentations definitely have the potential to abstract the guitar, especially in terms of sound; the types of processing you’re able to get are sometimes so far away from the typical electric guitar sound that those associations becomes blurred. On the other hand, you have artists like Moldover, who has a very sophisticated augmented guitar and interesting effects, but still plays idiomatically in a lot of ways, and so I think the use of augmentations is perceived as a kind of extended virtuosity that doesn’t affect the fundamental essence or “guitarness” of his instrument. For me it really depends on the goals, approach, and perceived intent of the performer that dictates how abstract the guitar is, and it varies from performer to performer.

 

 

 

Super Simple Fretboard

 

This is kind of useful. Displays note names in a particular key, or the intervallic relationship of each note on the neck to the tonic note.

Super Simple Fretboard – StumbleUpon.

Build your own chords

A chord is defined as two or more notes played together. Most chords are at least three notes, and if they’re three notes that’s called a triad.

 

If you want to make a three-note chord on adjacent strings, there are three ways to do this. .

 

1. place one finger across three adjacent strings
2. use one finger on one string and one finger on the other two strings
3. use one finger per string

 

Let’s look at each in turn.

 

One finger across three strings – the barre.

                 1                              2                                3

 

You can barre with any of the fingers. Use your index (pointer) finger or ring finger for now.  Barring can be painful if you’re not used to it. Change fingers from time to time.

 

Place your index finger or ring finger across all three strings in each example and press down.  Which is easiest?

 

Now play each example. If you’re strumming with a pick, numbers 2 and 3 can be tricky. The idea is to play only the three notes indicated. It can be difficult to miss the other strings. You can fix this problem by playing the notes fingerstyle.

 

One finger on one string and one finger on two strings

 

               1                              2                               3

This means that you have to barre two strings with one of those fingers. Try it with the shapes below. Numbers 2 and 3 aren’t so bad. For number 2, you can use your first finger to play the two first two strings and your second finger to play the note on the 3^rd string.

 

For number 3, use your middle finger for the note on the 1^st string, and your index finger for the other two notes.

 

One finger per string

 

This feels the most normal. Here are a few examples.

 

              1                                2                             3

 

Some of these nine examples are standard triads (especially the one-finger-per string examples). Some are not. This is a way of taking things that you’re used to playing, and using them with things that you aren’t. Part of the reason for doing this is to find sounds that you aren’t familiar with. This helps you hear harmony differently. Hearing harmony differently gives you new ideas.

 

Moving it around

 

Try these on any string set.  String set 1 would be strings 1, 2, and 3; string set 2 is strings 2, 3, and 4; string set 3 is strings 3, 4, and 5, etc.

 

Now start moving between the shapes. Try moving them to different places on the neck. This is experimentation, so don’t expect to always find stuff that you like. Just play around for 10 minutes or so, and write down the things that you like.

 

 

More two-note patterns

In the last post we created 2 note patterns with a minor pentatonic scale. Then we strung them together and re-ordered them.

 

This post is a bit more complicated.

 

Let’s take a look at the last set of patterns we looked at in the last post.

 

 

 

fig. 1

 

Change it to this.

                                          fig. 2  

For each 2 note pattern, I’ve started on a note other than A. Then I maintained the amount of distance between the notes. Compare the two notes on beat 1 in figure 1 (A down to E)  with the first two notes on beat 1 of figure 2 (D down to A). You’ll see the same amount of notes between each pair (A G F E) – figure 1; (D C B A) – figure 2.  By the way, counting back in the alphabet means you’re going lower in the scale.

 

Compare beats 2 and 3 of figures 1 and 2. Same thing applies as on the first beat. Beat 4 is the same in both examples.

 

The space between the notes is called an interval. The interval is calculated by counting up from the bottom note. The first beat goes from the low A up to the D. This interval is called a 4^th, defined by the number of notes from A to D: A B C D.

 

How many other 4ths can you find in the pentatonic scale?

Scales

Learn your scales.

This means playing them enough to have them memorized. It doesn’t mean playing them from top to bottom over and over again. That’s robot work. Guitar players do it to be able to play as fast as possible. It’s ok to do that, but don’t make it the only thing you do with scales. Other things are possible.

Guitar scales and creativity

A scale is a set of possibilities. More specifically, it’s a set of possible patterns. As an adventurous creative type, you want to discover those patterns.

There are a lot. Approach this as play instead of work and it won’t feel so overwhelming. And remember that learning a little every day translates to a lot after only a few months. Be patient.

Finding patterns

If you’re a guitar player, chances are you know the minor pentatonic scale. If not, here it is.

There are 12 notes in the scale as I’ve presented it here. The pentatonic scale only has 5 pitches – A, C, D, E, G. I’ve repeated these in the second octave; then I added the C at the top.

You can create patterns with these notes in many ways. The simplest pattern you can make is 2 notes long. Once you have some, you can string them together in different ways to create a lot of variety.

Steps for making a two-note pattern

Every note that you use in this exercise has to be from the pentatonic scale above.

1. Choose a note. I’ll use A. Now choose a second note. Play the two notes sequentially.
2. Go back to the first note (the A). Choose a second note that is different than the second note that you chose in step 1
3. Continue until you have gone from the A to every other note in the scale. If you’re using the scale above, you’ll have eleven two-note patterns
4. Play them again and pay attention to the patterns you like the most. Write those ones down.
5. Now play the all the patterns that you wrote down in step 4 sequentially. This means that you’ll be going from the first note (the A) to another note, then back to the A, then to another note. Continue this until you’ve gone from the A to all the other notes in the patterns that you chose. You’ve just played one sequence of all the two-note patterns that you like. There are a lot more.

If my favorite choices are these…

Fig. 1

 

…then simply playing them in that order would be one sequence.

Here’s another:

Fig 2.

 

The two note patterns in figure 2 are the same as figure 1. I just re-ordered them. Find all the possible re-orderings.

I’ll explore ways of creating more patterns in the next post.