Finding Your Place in the Groove with Robben Ford

This vid is from D’Addarios “the Stage” Musicians hub. Some good points about getting started improvising

Dynamics

Dynamics is an important concept to grasp, especially because digital recording trends, the over-use of compression and trying to make the overall recording as loud as possible, is changing the way people hear music. In this article http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/kids-prefer-poor-quality-mp3 kids actually prefer the sound of MP3s over CDs!

You can tell rather quickly whether a band or performer has an understanding of dynamics. If you play at a steady consistent level, with no breaks or variation, listeners will get bored quickly.

There are a couple of ways to avoid getting stuck with no dynamics. #1 (Electric only) Always leave room on your Guitar’s Vol control, to turn up for a solo. It’s a little tricky, as you must choose a space to stop playing(picking) before the solo, then again at the end when you go back to playing rhythm.

Some players prefer a boost pedal, some use distortion or EQ pedals for their solo boost. If your amp has 2 channels, you can set them up for “lead” and “Rhythm”. Some players engage a 2nd amplifier during solos for a boost. Many just play softer for Rhythm and dig in, when playing a lead.

The use of Drone strings is an interesting effect but it’s the contrast and balance of the melody on top of the drone, that makes it sound good. Drones by themselves are fairly useless. You can play without dynamics purposely as an effect, but you have to have some kind of counterpoint to make it work.

Practice playing scales, chords and melodies at varying levels of intensity, from soft to loud. Also practice building intensity, starting soft and gradually playing harder.

I’ve heard players that are technically great but play everything full out, as loud and hard as possible. It’s kind of a relief when they stop. To me, it doesn’t leave anywhere for the solo to go. Kinda like a comedian blurting out the punch-line, before building a premise.

When listening, imagine what the song would sound like with different variations in dynamics. Playing certain parts louder or softer, especially  the build-up during a solo. Even film-makers rely heavily on dynamics in soundtracks. If you haven’t heard the term “Tonal Gravity” you need to look at this

Building a Good Guitar Solo part 2

I think that one of the most important ways to describe the difference between lead and rhythm playing isn’t chord/melody. It’s either playing rhythmically and somewhat predictably, or making use of accents and playing the unexpected.

One of the hardest things to teach, is how to underplay and leave spaces that don’t sound forced or awkward. By underplaying I mean leaving yourself space to “turn it up a notch”. I see many Guitarists that have a great sense of pitch and play tastefully phrased lines but they don’t break it up.  Don’t play a steady stream of notes all the time. Start out a solo playing fragments. Simple 2-5 note phrases that you can build on and flesh out. For me, I would estimate that I’m only going 100%, for less than 1/4 of each Guitar solo.

Balance is very important. The way you balance tonality and dissonance, loud and soft, fast and slow, bass or treble. When I catch myself playing anything too much, I’ll consciously do the opposite. Playing in same range, in a steady, predictable,  pattern is just plain boring.

Tonal gravity is a very interesting concept. Everyone, whether they are musicians or not, has a built in understanding of how pitch and rhythm effect emotions. If you look at the notes as vibrations, the higher the note, the more energy is required to sustain it. A note is a living thing and we expect it to die.  Make the rests of your solos as deliberate as the notes and the accents. Even the speed of vibrato effects how the notes make you feel.

We use it every day in our speech. Pitch and tempo can change the meaning of words or phrases. Cats and dogs don’t understand our language but they can tell what you mean, by the way you say say it.

Different styles of music use the elements of tonal gravity differently. This is what gives different styles of music their own sound. The more styles you are familiar with, the easier it will be for you to control and manipulate tonal gravity to your advantage.

Major and minor are polar opposites. Being familiar with the characteristics and the differences of each, is crucial for creating and releasing tension. Maj chords sound happy, with a rising sensation, minors are sad, with a falling sensation. This only applies to western music, middle eastern music uses “happy” minor themes.

Understanding tonal gravity will help you to balance learned technique, with “feel”. And it will help keep your solos interesting. Try listening to some of your favorite players and pay attention to how they use tonal gravity. If you’d like to read more about how Music effects our brains. have a look at Music Instinct at PBS

Style Points

Don’t gets so carried away in the pursuit of technical excellence, that you start ignoring simple, tasteful playing.  It’s fairly common, when you start to feel comfortable playing an instrument, to overplay.  Even playing at 100% consistently is bad, you need to leave yourself someplace to go during the climax of your solo’s.

Also playing live, you have to pay attention to situations and surroundings. When improvising, try to make all your choices A or B. Fast or slow, mean or fancy, major or minor, high or low register. Never put yourself in the situation(live) of thinking “gee, there’s so many thing’s I could play here”.

Now style is a kind of vague thing, just like good music, everyone has their own idea of what style is. The easiest way to tell if you are developing your own style, is ask the question “who do I sound like”? If you find yourself borrowing from one particular player exclusively, then you are going to fall into the trap of being a copycat.

Everybody learns note for note passages, and this can do wonders for your technique, but music is a communication skill. If all you do is communicate someone elses message, then you are essentially performing the task of a tape recorder.

I’m not sure who said this but “being creative means NOT BEING AFRAID TO MAKE  MISTAKES, being an Artist is KNOWING WHICH MISTAKES TO KEEP”. So when you make a mistake and it sounds ok, make a mental note of it. The more obscure your influences, the more unique your style will sound.

To me a big part of a Guitarist’s Style is the way they balance melody and dissonance. Try experimenting with noises, sound effects, if you can control a noise you can make it part of your sound. The only way to come up with new sounds is to try unorthodox techniques.

Mixing two or more styles of music together is an obvious way to sound different. The more different styles you can play competently, the more unique choices you’ll have, writing or playing. It’s definitely not a waste of time for a Rockabilly Guitarist to learn Celtic music or Klezmer music. Look at Paul Pigat, he has a degree in classical music. Or Roddy Radiation from the Specials, he started out playing Rockabilly and you can really hear it in his playing. Jeff Beck plays some mean Cliff Gallup lines and I’ll bet he bases part of his sound on those solos, whether it’s note for note or just the feel.

No matter how many notes you can play and how fast you can play them, if your granmother can’t recognize you when she hears you on the radio, what good is it?