Guitar Mastery Simplified: How Anyone Can Quickly Become a Strumming, Chords, and Lead Guitar Ninja (17 page)

A
bend
is represented by the symbol ‘b’ or an arrow bending
up or down.  A bend occurs when the guitarist physically pushes the string
across the fret board causing a change in pitch.  Since bends vary in
duration and style, often times each arrow is illustrated differently.
 Often times, the word “full”, or “1/2” will be written along with this,
indicating that the note should be bent up either one whole-step or one
half-step.  Bends of larger intervals can occur.  Typically the
actual pitch change will be denoted.

A
slide-down
is represented by the symbol “/”.
 A slide-up occurs when a note is picked and slid up to another note.
 The second note is not picked, but instead is still vibrating from the
previous pick and the agitation of the string during the slide.  Opposite
of a slide-up, a slide-down is represented by the symbol ‘\’.  A slide-
down occurs when a note is picked and slid down to another note. 
Typically, mastering the slide-down takes more time than mastering the
slide-up.

Vibrato
is a pulsating effect by bending the string
in a rhythmic fashion.  This technique is created by bending the string up
and down rhythmically or shaking the string.  This effect works best after
a string is picked.  A vibrato is usually represented by ‘v’ or ‘~’.

The
tapping
technique is similar to a hammer-on,
except it is done with the picking hand.  It is almost always followed by
a pull-off.  The technique is performed when the picking hand taps the
string hard enough to push the string against the fret creating a note to sound
at that specific fret.

A
harmonic
is a “chimed” string.  This technique
is produced by plucking the string while lightly touching the string over the
indicated fret.  The fret is not actually played in the traditional sense.
 When done correctly, a chime-like sound will be produced.

Artificial harmonics
are also known as a
pseudo-harmonics, pinch-harmonics or “
squealies
.”
 This technique requires allowing the string to lightly graze the side of
your thumb after picking it. Don't try to over-think the process.  When
you pick a note, allow your thumb to keep traveling towards the string until it
mutes it.

Once you get the hang of that, try letting the thumb just
barely touch the string.  If done properly, you will hear a slight chime.
 Pseudo-harmonics are typically easier to produce on lower pitched strings
and lower fretted notes; however, if the proper technique is used, an
artificial harmonic can be produced on any picked note.

The term “
trill
” is typically used when referring to a
continuous back-and-forth, hammer-on and pull-off of two notes.  Mastering
the hammer-on and pull-off techniques will allow for quick and precise trills.

Tremolo
picking refers to fast, repetitive picking on
one note.  This technique is achieved by quickly picking a note up and
down.  Typically tremolo picking refers to single notes (not chords).

Palm muting
refers to the muting of strings with the
picking hand in order to create a percussive or staccato (sharp attack) effect
on notes or chords.  This technique is achieved by placing the picking
hand palm on the bridge of the guitar just where the strings meet the bridge.
 Backing the hand further towards the bridge creates a more standard, open
sound.  Moving the hand slightly closer to the strings will create a
tighter, more closed-type sound.  This technique can be used for all
genres of music but is most prevalent in rock and heavy-metal rhythm guitar
parts.

There could be a whole book written on this subject, but
since most intricate tremolo work is done in hard rock/heavy metal music we
won't be delving into the matter fully.  Slash marks used for this
notation direct the player to move the note down or up, or both in some
fashion.  Often times the targeted note will be denoted by the fret
number, meaning that the designated fret number should be the desired pitch.

This notation is used in tablature, musical notation and
charts.  An increase in volume is denoted by a “V” on its side like “<”.
 A decrease in volume looks like the opposite “>”.  Changing the
volume can obviously be done in numerous ways.

Below is an example of numeric
vihuela
tablature from the book "
Orphenica
Lyra
" by Miguel de
Fuenllana
(1554).  
The red numerals (original) mark the vocal
part.

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Before we start learning how to play a song by ear, there
are some things we need to define and explain:

Key
: the tonality of a composition (song)

Chord
: a simultaneous (at the same time)
combination of at least three different pitches

Melody
: a succession (series) of musical tones

Diatonic
: the tones of a major or minor scale

Major Scale: a scale built from 2 whole steps, 1 half step,
3 whole steps, and 1 half step (or W
W
H W
W
W
H)

99.9% of the time, the melody, chords, bass-lines,
accompaniment, etc. will all be centered
around
one
particular note or tonic.  Some music is more tonal than others. Pop,
blues, rock and country tend to be very stable in this regard.  “Atonal”
or “12 tone” music is on the extreme opposite end of this spectrum and we won’t
be studying it here.  Think of the key as one particular note that all the
other notes and chords dance around, point to or compliment.  Every
melody, bass line or chord progression that is played, points to a particular
key.  The key is like the title or idea of a song.  If the title was,
“Love Gone Wrong,” your lyrics would probably be about a love that isn’t going
so hot.  The lyrics would support the title.  I know that sounds very
elementary, but if you fully understand this concept it will help you
TREMENDOUSLY.

Another example is if you had a report due, you would start
with a thesis and all the other words, paragraphs and thoughts SHOULD support
the thesis.  If not, you would be considered to be “off the subject;” in musical
terms you are falling out of the key.

So humor me for another moment yet…if your friends are
sitting at a table talking about guitar and you pull up a chair and start
talking about drums, things are going to get a little socially awkward.
 It’s not to say that you could not reference drums as to how it might
compare to guitars, but anything more than that and you are changing the
subject.  If your friends (the rest of the band or ensemble that you are
playing with) decide not to change subjects (keys) with you, then you are going
to be the odd man out, and YOU will be playing out of key.  If you manage
to get all those guitarists to start talking about drums, then you have managed
to change the subject (key) for all your friends (band). Get it?

If you do reference drums and it pertains to the
conversation regarding guitars, without intent of changing the subject, then
musically we can do the same by suggesting another key temporarily without
totally committing to that new key.

Often times a song will begin or end (or both) on the tonic,
or “1” of the scale.  This is often called the 1 chord, or 1 scale note.

Here is the method that I use when creating charts, melody
lines, bass lines, or deciphering music by ear in any capacity:

1.
Listen intently to a small part of the song you
are trying to decipher.

Determining what melody or chords are being played will help
you find what key the song is in.  Finding out the key will make
unlocking
the rest of the song a breeze compared to NOT determining the key.  It’s
the 1st thing that I always attempt to do when transcribing.  You MUST be
able to “hear” the note before trying to play it on your instrument.  If I
were to murmur something under my breath (that you can’t accurately hear) and I
ask you to repeat it, it would be a waste of time for you to guess at the
infinite possibilities of what I COULD have said.  So, normally you would
ask me to repeat it, right?  So when you are listening to a passage of
music, you might need to listen to it over and over again until you can
actually HEAR it accurately.  Not being distracted by other noises (a
friend trying to hum the melody or a T.V. on in the background, etc.) is also
very important.  I will even close my eyes so as to heighten my
concentration on my aural sense (hearing) awareness.  Hearing it right and
playing it right
are
two TOTALLY different things so
let’s not rush this process.