Fretless Guitars and Alternate Tuning Systems

The idea of a fretless guitar has been interesting me lately because of its capabilities to play outside of the conventional western equal temperament tuning system. Regular fretted guitars of course can only play the note that the fret allow. This divides the audible hearing spectrum into twelve repeating notes, but I see no reason why we shouldn't want to use the sound possibilities in between.

I think most people would agree with this, but the problem is that the equal temperament system has been so ingrained into our culture that it is hard to escape its draw. Even with the advent of computers, notation and music production programs are built around the standard tuning system.

Many composers have dealt with this by composing in just intonation, and that is fine, but it is still limiting in its own ways. Now is the time, i believe, to start looking for ways to create music without tuning system constraints, and instruments like the fretless guitar can help in that pursuit.

What can benefit this cause is to focus on more ear based and non-tuning-system subjective musical learning methods. Meaning the focus on learning a fretless instrument should be one based on learning the relationships between notes by ear, and when I say notes, I mean playing any frequency in the spectrum.

The great thing about learning music like this with instruments like the fretless guitar is that they can still play all of the music that has already been written for fretted instruments. They may be a little more difficult to play, but the benefits they offer are great. It is time to start examining the possibilities that are out there with fretless guitars and getting into some different tuning systems in order to keep music moving forward.

Is it Possible to Create Guitar Chords on the Fly?

This is a question that has long plagued me with the guitar: can you create novel guitar chords on the fly, or are you stuck with the same old chord shapes forever. Sure the common chord grips work well in sight reading situations and they can help you get by in a pinch, but shouldn't there be more out there to explore?

How would you be able to create new and exiting tonalities while playing through a piece? One of the only ways I can think of is to really learn intervals and slowly get better and better at them. With this method, you can start out just playing single intervals for a chord. For example, if you are supposed to be playing a Fmaj7, you could just play a perfect 5th with F as the root. Or you could play a major third from F.

Once you get really proficient at playing those single intervals, then you could move on to three note chords of any type. You could play an F major triad over Fmaj7, or you could play something like the root, third, and seventh. In this fashion you could keep getting more and more advanced until you are creating pretty full chords on the fly, and running into some interesting combinations of notes in the process.

Not only would this give you a more interesting approach to chords, it would also help you really understand music theory in general and probably increase the effectiveness of all of your playing.

If you are getting tired of the same old guitar chords, give the interval method a try and start building your own chord shapes from scratch.

Working with Guitar Effects

Guitar effects can be a great way to expand the sound of your instrument and let you explore all of your creative impulses. With them, there are virtually no limits to what the guitar can emulate or produce in terms of tone and texture, this is why it is important to consider using them and which ones you need.

Guitar overdrive is one of the most common effects and although it is simple and basic, there are a lot of creative ways to use it that most people gloss over. For example, there is one jazz guitarist who uses a bit of overdrive to make a flute like sound with his instrument. Since the flute tone has the imperfections of breath involved, to emulate it on the guitar you need to add in a little bit of some kind of distortion. Overdrive works well for this and can give the guitar tone a nice additional aspect.

Of course, most people know about overdrive and distortion for the more extreme rock uses, but there is a lot more to it than that. The band My Bloody Valentine redefined how intense overdrive and distortion could be thought of, and used them to create dense but delicate walls of sound that characterized most of their songs. When you really start to experiment with things, you will find a lot of things to do with just guitar overdrive alone.

Drawbacks of Guitar Charts?

Something that I have been thinking about lately are possible drawbacks to using guitar charts both in your own studies and when teaching a student. The problem is that when they learn a scale by the visual pattern they don't really understand the notes they are playing and they are unable to really hear them one by one. Patterns can get you going quickly, but they do not work well in the long run when you need to do more and more complex things on the instrument.

The better way to learn things is by ear so that you can play them in any part of the fretboard. When you learn the guitar by ear you don't just develop the muscle memory to play certain patterns, but you develop an actual ear for music and you learn to connect you fingers with your ear. You also become better at improvising because it forces you to make more mistakes and tactfully recover back into the proper notes. This is great practice that will pay off in the long run.

Site About Customizing Guitars

This is just a heads up about a great site out there that deals with modifying a guitar and the different methods and materials you can use in the process. One of the nice things about this particular instrument is just how many after market parts are available to change its look and feel. No other instrument really has that going for it.

The site in question has a lot of posts about different modifications that you can easily perform yourself. Many of the best guitar modifications are also pretty cheap. Thanks to online sites like ebay and other specialized retailers, you can find just about any type of part that you may want for your instrument.

Take a minute and check out the site, and then maybe you will start thinking about some ways to improve your own guitar. A good point is made that it is more than just vanity; the better you like your instrument, the better connection you will have to it and the better music you will make.

Video About A Street Musician

This is a nice little documentary about a street drummer in DC that I saw posted at another site. Not exactly guitar related, but sometimes guitar players do play on the streets as well and it is interesting in any case. Here is the link: street drumming

This strikes me as a more feasible and noble model for homelessness; instead of preying on people's evolutionary emotions, this street drummer provides them with something for their money. Any guitar players out there should be glad they can play an instrument just in case they ever find themselves in this position. It also may be wise to have some kind of acoustic guitar so you dont have to haul around a small amp and all of that, thought I have certainly seen people playing electric guitar on the streets in various cities.

The documentary points out how much money can be made, and it actually seems like it could be a decent living. At the very least, a living.

What A Better Truss Rod Cover Can Do

Many people do not think much about the truss rod cover of their guitars, but it can be a great piece to upgrade or customize. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that it can easily be taken off, and a new one can easily be put on. This allows you to do the procedure all on your own, saving you time and money.

There are plenty of new truss rod covers out there to choose from as well. They come in all shapes and sizes and for all types of guitars. You can get a nice wooden one to give your guitar a more classy appeal, or you can go for something more modern and sleek. The main thing is, whatever you do, it will probably be better than the stock plastic one you have now.

If you are looking to add a little more flash to your guitar, or looking to make it a little more personalized, think about getting a new truss rod cover and improving your instrument a bit.