Guitarpixel

2006-09-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

The Diatonic Fingerboard - Part 2

2006-09-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

The open strings of the guitar are tuned (from low to high);

(6) P.4th (5) P.4th (4) P.4th (3) Ma3rd (2) P.4th. (1)
E A D G B E

This arrangement of intervals is the result of an evolutionary process intended to enable the guitar to function diatonically. The high and low strings are precisely two octaves apart in pitch when played at the same fret ... The four low strings are tuned to PERFECT 4ths, and the P.4th is also the interval between the two top stings. The split between the 2nd and 3rd strings is a MAJOR 3rd. It would seem that we have an asymmetrical arrangement - but there are hidden symmetries. Discovering the geometrical symmetry of the fretboard should not be put off or saved for advanced study.

Imagine playing the piano without the benefit of the different physical keys for natural tones and enharmonics. Playing piano in the key of C might be a bit more difficult to master. Having physical references or analogs for the tones of an instrument is a big part of finding the note you want, when you want it. The guitar offers certain landmarks, such as FRET MARKERS or dots. Also the special significance of the 12th fret (usually prominently marked) and the open strings. But unless you can connect the fret markings to some logical system of navigation it is difficult to have a true picture of the tones of the diatonic system.

The Diatonic Fingerboard - Part 1

2006-09-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

The guitar fingerboard - it's strings and frets - are laid out to accommodate the same system of tones as the piano keyboard - minus an octave or two. I'm referring of course to the Diatonic System, which is the basis of western music theory.

Just how is this symbiosis accomplished? What logic underlies the specific tuning of the strings to E A D G B and E? And what importance should the guitar student (and teacher) place on the theory behind the diatonic system?

The guitar is part of a family of instruments which predate the diatonic system and are far ranging in shape, size, numbers of strings and tuning configurations. Each instrument is intended to function within a certain musical context, and the modern guitar is - like the piano and the harp - intended to play chords and melodies which are drawn from the diatonic scale.

The real question is, why isn't a basic understanding of the Diatonic System at the core of every guitar student's experience? It really shouldn't be under-emphasized.

If one accepts the challenge of actually learning music - not just a few chords and scale patterns - but the language of music, there are plenty of interesting twists and turns along the path. Much more satisfying to have a clear sense of direction, than being put in a little box at the start of the Journey. I believe some guitar teachers treat their students like pet cats that have to moved from one concept to another in secure boxes with only small windows to peek through and see the bigger picture.

I've worked with more than a few intermediate students who've had several teachers and still don't know how to play octaves, can't tell me the difference between a minor and major chord, or know what a mode is. I believe the reason for most guitar methods imposing a kind of myopia on students is well intentioned. Get them started playing open position chords, maybe a pentatonic scale, and they'll be happier sooner. Why complicate matters by having them play scales up and down the neck before they fully master the first five frets?

My experience has been that there's nothing essentially more difficult about playing notes on the 9th fret than the 5th. The only real difference is that you may have to learn a couple of basic theory concepts and increase your vocabulary by about a dozen words. If someone is serious about learning the instrument, these are easily achievable goals.

In fact, once you are away from the open strings things are actually simpler....

(more soon)

Syncretic Blues

2006-08-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

The Blues is syncretic. All forms that are derived from the Blues are based on the essential syncretic nature of the Blues (If you don't know what 'syncretic' means, you can look it up. This is the internet, you know).

Nice to know that there is a word which aptly describes the balancing of otherwise irreconcilable forms. I'm referring primarily to the simultaneous use of the Mixolydian and Aeolian modes without which there would be no Blues as we know it.

When I teach basic Blues forms I like to emphasize the fact that Blues was not accepted as a legitimate musical form by late 19th and early 20th century musicologists because these formalists couldn't handle the idea of any music being 'Major' and 'minor' at the same time.

About my first guitar...

2005-02-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

I was 9 when I got my first guitar. I had been in love with the sound of the guitar since the first time I heard it. I remember begging my parents for a guitar and going to the music store on the upper west side. A dimly lit place where, from the shadowy shelving that loomed over my head, the salesman pulled a nylon string guitar. My father examined it with an important expression on his face. He was an aeronautical engineer and I could be assured that he would notice any structural defect in the instrument, even though he knew nothing about guitars. When the man put the guitar in my hands I looked at it in awe.

"This is a real good beginner guitar," he said.

The salesman wore a pale blue sport shirt which was stretched tight against his relaxed gut, and was tucked into gray slacks and a thin, well worn, leather belt. He didn't look that different from the shoe salesmen at the shoe store on Orchard Street where my mom took me to get my Hush Puppies.

The guitar was a HyLo, made in Japan out of shiny plywood. A full size classical style nylon string with a slotted peghead. It cost, as I recall from 1966, $20.

We took the guitar home and, after one guitar lesson at the local community center where I learned to tune the thing, I committed myself to learning to make the sounds I'd heard on the records and television. The guitar lessons at the community center - the Educational Alliance - on East Broadway in Lower Manhattan, were a group affair... about five or six kids, most of whom appeared to me to be unclear on why they were there. After the second lesson I decided to set out on my own. I had learned to tune the guitar faster than anyone there and felt as though bringing the strings into tune had also changed me in some way. I felt the vibrations enter me through the back of the guitar. I didn't need to be an a classroom - i needed to be alone with the guitar. And so I spent as much time as I could exploring the sonic possibilities of the six strings. I immediately started writing songs, and figuring out how to play the songs I already knew.

Guitarpixel Lives

2004-11-19T01:59:00.000-08:00

It's too late and it's too early. On and off. There is too much to write about to have the faintest idea what to say. Like the supermarket shelves - overburdened with products of every description - twenty kinds of asprin - a hundred brands of potato chips - until there's no way to know which one to choose. You have to filter out the undesireable...the undeserving.

Too many things to say - no way to know what it means.