The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > PLAY and Write

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #16  
Old 06-14-2019, 11:06 AM
ctvolfan ctvolfan is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Knoxville Tennessee
Posts: 616
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankHudson View Post
There are many ways to deal with this, and several have already been discussed. I agree with everything that's been said already (including the "most audiences are not all that enamored of instrumental solos by most players": these are all some of the ways to deal.

Still, speaking of arrangements/performance there are some songs where it helps to take a break from the words. For example, something happens that isn't described but only assumed, and the song's narrative takes thing up again afterward. Or something emotional or thought-provoking enough has been invoked and you want the song to hang around a bit to let that sink in.

At the height of the folk scare this is where the neck-rack harmonica solo would go. Most folkies weren't harmonica virtuosos, but it worked back then.

How good is your rhythm? If you can play your single note lines with same drive and propulsion they can carry on without the chords behind them. There's no law official or empirical that says that a whole chord must be heard at all times. If your "full arrangement" has some cross-rhythms or other timing interplay with the chordal guitar part and the melody guitar part, consider foot taps or stomps, or even one of those "porch board" style amplified stomp-percussion devices.

One doesn't have to be a virtuoso like Joe Pass to intersperse chord voicings, sometimes even partial chords inside a predominantly single note passage or the statement of a top line melody. Similarly, even for flat pickers, lower string drones and partial chords can ring out behind treble string parts. Altered tunings may give access to some lower harmony notes.
Yeah more recently I have really gotten into strumming just parts of chords like strumming an Em but not strumming the high E string. Or even say just strumming the 4th, 5th and 6th only in an E chord. Combining that with muting you can do a lot with that. It has taken a lot of practice to get muscle memory to stop my pick before contaminating the chord by hitting that E string but I am much better at it. I find that being able to do that opens up a whole new world and is like playing a totally different chord. I even like the sound of muting just one string in a chord to give it a different sound. By strumming partial chords I can alternate pick or strum to get basically a solo out of it on some songs. Not sure if that makes sense but I am not sure how else to describe it.

Again, I am decent at making solos out of chords in my more upbeat songs. Most of mine like that are actually strumming the chord and maybe a hammer on and a plucking another string or two and then strum the next chord and maybe do it again. It does break up the monotony of the just strumming a plain ol chord. But it just seems much harder to do a solo on my slow songs.
__________________
2021 Eastman E10SS SB
2021 Eastman E8D TC
1972 Yamaha FG-180 Red Label (Taiwan)
2019 Yamaha FGx5
2020 Yamaha AC3M Deluxe
2019 Yamaha FG800
2005 Taylor 214
Ibanez AEB10E Acoustic Bass
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 06-14-2019, 11:11 AM
ctvolfan ctvolfan is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Knoxville Tennessee
Posts: 616
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Silly Moustache View Post
Hi,
the answer is no I don't "have" to add a solo, but I do feel that I need an instrumental into and outro of some kind, and once I've worked them out - I might as well used them to give me a little solo part after, say the 2nd verse ... or whatever.

Almost any song melody can be found within the chord sequence, so all I need to do is find it as I play the chord progression.

This is what this video is about :



and here is another example:

Silly just watched your first video. That is exactly how I like to pick my songs. You are much better at it than I am though. I don't just strum a rhythm chord. I always integrate some picking or just pick a bass string strum, base string strum to give the song some rhythm and a bass line.
__________________
2021 Eastman E10SS SB
2021 Eastman E8D TC
1972 Yamaha FG-180 Red Label (Taiwan)
2019 Yamaha FGx5
2020 Yamaha AC3M Deluxe
2019 Yamaha FG800
2005 Taylor 214
Ibanez AEB10E Acoustic Bass
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 06-19-2019, 01:31 AM
bil bil is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Dothan, AL
Posts: 541
Default

For solo performing, I generally use a harmonica or kazoo for solos. I only have 2 songs with a kazoo part, but it always seems to please. Mind, these are originals I’m talking about.
__________________
Martin D28 Custom
Custom Hand Built OM (Clayton-Napier)
Recording King Dirty 37 RPS-7-MBK
Takamine F-451S 12 String (1977)
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > PLAY and Write

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:10 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=