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#1
08-23-2014, 10:43 PM
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Questions about playing Melody/Solo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiCHKypBjgU
I really love their performance! Don't you? For the guy on the left hand side, he apparently plays the solo(or improvising) and melodies. My question is: Does he memorize all the notes he plays or he just makes up those notes when performing; in other words, he doesn't play the same notes every time when he plays this song? In order to be able to play like this, what do I need to know about? (ex. scales / chord-melody relationships / ear training (?) ... ... ) Thanks! Last edited by mrkpower; 08-23-2014 at 11:44 PM. 
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#2
08-23-2014, 11:35 PM
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Others will probably have some more useful things to say, but here are a few thoughts:
First, I would not be at all surprised if this is an arrangement that he has worked out and practiced to the point where he might play this the same way each time (as another example of this, listen to my family's recording of Star of the County Down at my link below - I typically play the guitar part note for note the same way every time we perform that). In this nice performance you posted some of what the guitar player on the left is doing is built directly off of chords (the melody or contermelody line is coming from emphasizing certain notes in the chords he is playing). Some of it seems to be more based on his ability to play scales (melodies are really just select portions of scales). Also, at some points (particularly some of the times when he is way up the neck) he is playing arpeggios on chords. Mostly what he is doing is not too complex (though until you figure out what is going on it probably seems pretty complicated and mysterious). Some folks are quite good at taking a chord progression and playing melodies, approximations of melodies, and harmony lines built around that chord progression on the fly. I can do this to a certain extent when playing chords by emphasizing or selectively playing certain notes in the chords (in some keys with some melodies I'm really pretty decent at this), and in this sort of context I don't find it hard to vary what I do on the fly (though these variations largely consist of picking and choosing from a variety of pre-programmed "modules", which in many cases were pre-programmed in my brain simply by learning lots of different pieces, internalizing their component parts, allowing me to later call up these parts on the fly in novel situations). Personally, I'm not so good (yet) at that sort of thing where he is playing more scale-based variations up the neck unless I work out all the notes and fingerings in advance. I think a lot of improvising that people do is, fundamentally, not quite so much improvised on the fly as it seems. I think a lot of it basically consists of calling up what in computer programming terms might be called preprogrammed subroutines in novel situtions. Others can probably give you some better advice as to how to get to the point of getting good at all of this.
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A few of my early attempts at recording: https://www.youtube.com/user/wcap07/featured Last edited by wcap; 08-24-2014 at 02:22 AM.
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#3
08-24-2014, 01:39 AM
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The guy on the left? Formulaic stuff, not too hard. He's probably played this song before but I'd bet never the same way twice.
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#4
08-24-2014, 06:42 AM
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Quote:
I'd have to see a second performance to tell you. My best guess is he's pretty familiar with the neck, knows his arpeggios, and scales, and parallel 6ths and 3rd because he used those and sprinkled in some nice octaves once as well. He wasn't fumbling to find them, and stayed very relaxed as he played. They also handed off some of the bass runs and lead runs a couple times which says they are planning, rehearsing and remembering. For you to play like this, you need to know (in the key that's being played in) arpeggios for chords, scales, bass and lead runs, parallel 6ths and parallel 3rds, and octaves (as well as the chord progression) and have your guitar setup well enough for you to play to the 17th fret. He didn't have paper (or the other guy's iPad) in front of him.
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Baby #1.1 Baby #1.2 Baby #02 Baby #03 Baby #04 Baby #05 Larry's songs... …Just because you've argued someone into silence doesn't mean you have convinced them…
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#5
08-24-2014, 09:50 AM
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Quote:
The other fills he plays could have been improvised on the spot, but are based on (a) knowing the song (its chords and melody) well first, and (b) knowing plenty of shape options for those chords - so he can play alternative partial shapes higher on the neck. (eg, at 2:02, he plays an arpeggio of the chord the other guy is strumming.) In general, what he is doing is filling in small lines between notes in the chords (and obviously between the vocal phrases, rather than playing over the vocal too much). As with all improvisation (of which this a typical example) it's probably a mix of phrases he knows already, and things he made up on the spot. It's a little like having a conversation or dialogue with someone about a specific topic. You might have thought about it before, and have some definite ideas you want to say; but also you will be responding freely to what the other person says. You won't be reading from a prepared script! But neither will you have to invent what to say with no prior knowledge of the topic at all. Quote:
Then - to make stuff up as play - you either need an extremely good ear (and a good imagination), OR, you need to have played the song through many times first, getting used to all the chords and their positions: mapping out the territory, IOW. (Not only mapping the fretboard, but the song itself.) It also helps to be able to play the vocal melody on the guitar (this guy occasionally refers to it in his phrases - eg at 0:53, where he echoes what the singer just sang - he could have done it by ear on the spot, but he probably knew the tune already).
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"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen.
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