Guitar Voicing Guidance Needed
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Discussions about composing, arranging, orchestration, songwriting, theory and the art of creating music in all forms from orchestral film scores to pop/rock.
Discussions about composing, arranging, orchestration, songwriting, theory and the art of creating music in all forms from orchestral film scores to pop/rock.
Guitar Voicing Guidance Needed
I'm starting a project that includes guitar and I know almost nothing about writing for it. The only thing I do remember is that drop-2 generally works well.
Can anyone recommend a book that covers writing for guitar?
**Leigh
Can anyone recommend a book that covers writing for guitar?
**Leigh
I don't care what you play. I care how you play.— Karl Berger
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- Rick Cornish
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Re: Guitar Voicing Guidance Needed
I don’t have a book for you, but—if you want to notate specific voicings—you can safely use drop-2, drop-3, and drop-2&4 formulas for 4-note chords. Any triad should work. Remember, guitar is written an octave above where it sounds. And no 7-note chords.
Of course, if you are writing pop, rock, country, or another style that uses standard chords, you might just notate with chord symbols and slash notation and let the player come up with what’s appropriate for the style and sound s/he’d be using.
Of course, if you are writing pop, rock, country, or another style that uses standard chords, you might just notate with chord symbols and slash notation and let the player come up with what’s appropriate for the style and sound s/he’d be using.
Rick Cornish
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Re: Guitar Voicing Guidance Needed
Thanks, Rick. That's enough to get me started.
**Leigh
**Leigh
I don't care what you play. I care how you play.— Karl Berger
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Re: Guitar Voicing Guidance Needed
How do these look? I'm particularly wondering about the first one.
This one is a slow ballad tempo:
For this one, quarter note = 100:
**Leigh
This one is a slow ballad tempo:
For this one, quarter note = 100:
**Leigh
I don't care what you play. I care how you play.— Karl Berger
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- Rick Cornish
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Re: Guitar Voicing Guidance Needed
(Revised… see below)
Last edited by Rick Cornish on Fri Feb 16, 2018 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
Rick Cornish
DP 11 on M2 Mac Studio (64mB mem. + 2tB int. SSD + two 2tB ext. SSDs, and Mac OS Sonoma). VIs from MOTU, Spectrasonics, NI, UVI, 8dio, Soniccouture, East West, Spitfire, Heavyocity, Vir2, and more; plus Waves 14, Brainworx, iZotope, Wavesfactory, Oeksound, Final Mix, JST, SPL, PSP, UVI, Valhalla DSP, and other FX plugs, Roland A-88, Apogee Quartet, iCON Platform Nano, Genelec 1032a and Westlake BBSM4 monitors, Gibson HR Fusion III. rickcornish.net
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- Rick Cornish
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Re: Guitar Voicing Guidance Needed
OK—I read through these.leigh wrote:How do these look? I'm particularly wondering about the first one.
This one is a slow ballad tempo:
For this one, quarter note = 100:
**Leigh
Cue 1: ravensgtr
• Do you really mean for the cue to be played an octave up from where written? It's probably not playable that way as an octave up from high C would be the very highest note (or nearly so) on most guitars
• Assuming you want it played as written (without the 8va indication—which will sound an octave lower as compared to a piano)…
--Not sure what the slur or tie from the low E to the middle D at the end of the first bar means. What do you want there? Just a legato E?
--The first 6 bars are not characteristic (i.e. not chord structures a guitarist would be familiar with), but they are playable.
--The chord at the beginning of bar 7 is not playable as written, though it would be if you left off either the top or bottom note
Cut 2: maxinegtr
• The individual chords are all playable
• That said, I don't know anyone who could play through this very smoothly at 100bpm as written (and I know some really good guitar players)
• If someone handed me this part on a studio call, I would just play the top 2-3 notes of every chord. You might consider writing it that way to make it more playable.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
Rick Cornish
DP 11 on M2 Mac Studio (64mB mem. + 2tB int. SSD + two 2tB ext. SSDs, and Mac OS Sonoma). VIs from MOTU, Spectrasonics, NI, UVI, 8dio, Soniccouture, East West, Spitfire, Heavyocity, Vir2, and more; plus Waves 14, Brainworx, iZotope, Wavesfactory, Oeksound, Final Mix, JST, SPL, PSP, UVI, Valhalla DSP, and other FX plugs, Roland A-88, Apogee Quartet, iCON Platform Nano, Genelec 1032a and Westlake BBSM4 monitors, Gibson HR Fusion III. rickcornish.net
DP 11 on M2 Mac Studio (64mB mem. + 2tB int. SSD + two 2tB ext. SSDs, and Mac OS Sonoma). VIs from MOTU, Spectrasonics, NI, UVI, 8dio, Soniccouture, East West, Spitfire, Heavyocity, Vir2, and more; plus Waves 14, Brainworx, iZotope, Wavesfactory, Oeksound, Final Mix, JST, SPL, PSP, UVI, Valhalla DSP, and other FX plugs, Roland A-88, Apogee Quartet, iCON Platform Nano, Genelec 1032a and Westlake BBSM4 monitors, Gibson HR Fusion III. rickcornish.net
Re: Guitar Voicing Guidance Needed
Thank you so much for taking the time to play through them, Rick! I really appreciate it. Your feedback is very helpful and I know the guitarist will be very grateful, too.
**Leigh
**Leigh
I don't care what you play. I care how you play.— Karl Berger
iMac Pro 3 GHz 10-Core Intel Xeon W, 128GB RAM, Mac OS X 14.2, DP 11.3
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- mhschmieder
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Re: Guitar Voicing Guidance Needed
If you own one of several guitar libraries, they might be capable of serving as a sanity check for playability, if that's your main concern. I can't remember exactly which libraries show the fret and string, and you might have to slow the tempo to follow things in the score and in the GUI for the guitar library to verify no notes are being dropped or are impossible finger stretches.
Sometimes, when I am doubtful about a part being playable and my own skills aren't up to the task, I'll split it in two, verify that I am happy with the voicings and articulations, get some sense of playing positions and frets/strings/fingers, and only at that point see if it is realistic to recombine. A few notes might be dropped here and there at that point, after careful analysis. But that is indeed a time-consuming approach, and not for everyone.
One thing to be aware of with guitar, is that you can get away with a lot more than you can with piano, in terms of switching octaves for different notes here and there, both due to the timbral difference at different playing positions and the harmonic richness of plucked strings.
Sometimes, when I am doubtful about a part being playable and my own skills aren't up to the task, I'll split it in two, verify that I am happy with the voicings and articulations, get some sense of playing positions and frets/strings/fingers, and only at that point see if it is realistic to recombine. A few notes might be dropped here and there at that point, after careful analysis. But that is indeed a time-consuming approach, and not for everyone.
One thing to be aware of with guitar, is that you can get away with a lot more than you can with piano, in terms of switching octaves for different notes here and there, both due to the timbral difference at different playing positions and the harmonic richness of plucked strings.
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RME Babyface Pro FS, Radial JDV Mk5, Hammond XK-4, Moog Voyager
Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35
Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, Johhny Marr Jaguar, 57 LP, Danelectro 12
Eastman T486RB, T64/V, Ibanez PM2, D'angelico Deluxe SS Bari, EXL1
Guild Bari, 1512 12-string, M20, Martin OM28VTS, Larivee 0040MH