Arranging songs for YOUR guitar

Robin, Wales · #1 05-25-2021, 10:55 AM

I find that I do tend to arrange songs based around the tone and playability of my specific guitar (I only have one that I regularly play). I know what sounds I can get from it. I know what works and what doesn't on it. And I know what pitches I can sing in that will carry across the guitar. So, my "interpretations" are usually a little different, by necessity, from the original tracks I'm listening to and using as a basis (I don't read TAB but work by ear and perhaps watch a youtube performance when learning new songs).

If I pick up a friends guitar then I usually find I'm altering my arrangements on the fly to suit the new guitar - or I pick a different song!

Does anyone else have this chicken and egg type situation where their guitar dictates their arrangement of a song rather than working to a generic arrangement that could be applied anywhere?

rick-slo · #2 05-25-2021, 11:55 AM

To a small degree. However often I will start composing a new tune on a particular guitar. Usually no particular reason for that guitar other than it is was the most readily at hand. Once started on a new composition I get used to the sound of it on that guitar and usually stick with it. However sometimes I later record the same tune on another guitar or two.

Doug Young · #3 05-25-2021, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rick-slo

To a small degree. However often I will start composing a new tune on a particular guitar. Usually no particular reason for that guitar other than it is was the most readily at hand. Once started on a new composition I get used to the sound of it on that guitar and usually stick with it. However sometimes I later record the same tune on another guitar or two.

Agree with Rick. I sometimes write or arrange on some guitar (at random), and then feel like it sounds "right" on that guitar. But later, if I record it, I may very well try other guitars and change my mind, so I think it's more a psychological thing than anything else.

Andyrondack · #4 05-26-2021, 06:34 AM

Not that I have ever tried to play any of them but Robert Johnson's blues arrangements are said to be particullarly difficult to play note for note, he had very long fingers and played a short scale guitar so if you don't have that it becomes an issue copying him exactly.

mr. beaumont · #5 05-26-2021, 09:38 AM

Generally, I'd always rather play MY guitar. It's what's familiar, and there's no "adjustment period" when I pick it up.

rick-slo · #6 05-26-2021, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Generally, I'd always rather play MY guitar. It's what's familiar, and there's no "adjustment period" when I pick it up.

You mean you have only one guitar? I have a few different ones I play.

mr. beaumont · #7 05-26-2021, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rick-slo

You mean you have only one guitar? I have a few different ones I play.

Oh definitely not, my wife will attest. But I'm familiar with all of my instruments, they're set up the way I like, with the strings/gauge I prefer, etc.

I might be hanging with a friend, and he hands me a Strat strung up with .09's and says "Hey, play something" and there's gonna be a minute or two where I need to get acclimated, if not more.

rick-slo · #8 05-26-2021, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Oh definitely not, my wife will attest. But I'm familiar with all of my instruments, they're set up the way I like, with the strings/gauge I prefer, etc.

I might be hanging with a friend, and he hands me a Strat strung up with .09's and says "Hey, play something" and there's gonna be a minute or two where I need to get acclimated, if not more.

Yes. Worse as has happened to me several times is being handed some really cheap toneless high actioned guitar and being asked to play some pieces.

jseth · #9 05-26-2021, 12:05 PM

I've been performing as a solo guitar and voice player for so long that I tend to "try" to arrange songs in E, A or D (with a dropped bass), just so I can have that low note to "pedal", during the song... gives some extra "oomph" to a solo rendition.

Of course, I have to be able to do the vocal convincingly, so I choose arrangements that allow for that, as well...

Not every tune that I love can be shifted around, though... and there are many that I simply don't play, because I don't like the sound or the feel of the piece in a different key.

Of course, I do play songs that are in other key signatures, but I tend to favor having that low open string to pedal when appropriate. If I'm doing the song on a 12 string, then other keys work; the paired courses tend to give more impact to a low G or C as the root...

I only have one acoustic 6 string guitar and one acoustic 12 string. The reason I have only those is because they make the sounds I want to hear from my guitars!

Gordon Currie · #10 05-26-2021, 12:31 PM

I actively try to avoid arranging for a particular guitar.

These days, I rotate between three very similar guitars - all long scale, 14 fret, cutaway, small jumbo. Only the wood combos differ.

I find that each guitar inspires me in different ways, and as others have posted, a specific guitar might help generate a novel idea or composition.
However, I try to eliminate dependencies when it comes to arranging and playing an actual tune.

A guitar is an instrument, which implies a tool. I prefer to control the tool rather than the other way around.

rllink · #11 05-30-2021, 10:31 AM

I don't change a song up just because I'm playing it on one guitar or another but if I'm playing a cover I don't try to do it note for note, word for word, like someone else did it. I make it mine. And my guitar may be one factor in it.

DukeX · #12 05-30-2021, 01:40 PM

I'm not as advanced as the other folks on this thread, but I write and arrange my own stuff. I find I will naturally play a particular piece slightly different depending on the guitar. I like that.

Robin, Wales · #13 05-31-2021, 11:47 AM

Thanks everyone for your replies. It looks like there is a mixed bag of approaches. I certainly am developing a "style" for song accompaniment, which I think for me works best on a small guitar that's quite "fundamental" and punchy and not too messy. "Messy" is probably a bad word to use as I'm talking about guitars that are rich and full of overtones, and probably expensive! My guitar is basically a 000 with cherry/maple plywood b/s and a spruce top. I think that if I had a "finer" guitar then I'd have to change the way I play songs. And I know that I do struggle with most dreads to get the riffs and rhythms that I want to stand out clean. So I'm sort of tied in to a certain type of guitar with my present arrangements.

I wouldn't go so far to say that the tool is controlling me but there is some chicken and egg going on. I knew the sound I wanted and was struggling with my dread, so sold it and bought a smaller guitar to get the sound I had in mind - now my arrangements work for that sound but also that sound dictates my arrangements.

If I bought another guitar I'm sure that I would adapt to it, and would expect to have to change my arrangements to really suit it's tone and playability.

cedartop52 · #14 06-04-2021, 04:04 PM

I only have one acoustic guitar and only play in DADGAD. As a result, I'm fairly certain I shape my arrangements to align with the strengths of the Lowden as well as my own playing styles/techniques.

Bushleague · #15 06-19-2021, 03:12 PM

I have 3 guitars that all sound quite different, while I tend to leave them in different tunings, I like to rotate them a bit since I have definitely notice that I tend to play in different directions when using different guitars. Specifically one of my guitars has this brash "In your face" character, while another is darker with more overtones. I know that if I only owned one of those guitars my playlist of original material, at least musically, would be less diverse.

Once the song has been developed however, I'll play it about the same on any guitar.