Guitar

From Young Composers

Andre Segovia once said, “The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different colour, a different voice.” Except to guitarists, it may be somewhat difficult to understand what he meant, but it's essential to understanding how to write music for the guitar!

Range and Tuning

One important thing to understand is the guitar's range. The standard range of the guitar is E in the bass clef to two octaves above the treble clef. That is nearly four octaves in total. Furthermore, the range can drop to C on the bass clef and the same two octaves above the treble clef. The guitar is tuned by 4ths so it’s often best to write music in the sharp keys; however, an experienced guitarist will be able to handle the flat keys, mostly F major and Bb major (relative minors included). Anything else can make for awkward fingering. Music notated for guitar can look difficult but in reality be easy for the guitarist. For example, playing an E in the bass and an E in the upper treble can be done at the same time with no problems.

About each individual string:

The low E string is written below the treble clef. The highest that note can played on this string is the E in the upper treble clef.

The A string is written two ledger lines below the treble clef and goes up to the A above the treble clef.

The D string is below the treble clef and can go up to the D above the treble clef.

The G string is the G in the treble clef to the G twice above the treble clef.

The B string is the B in the treble clef to the B twice above the treble clef.

The upper E string is the E in the upper treble clef to the E twice above the treble clef.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that the strings can be tuned to pretty much any tuning you want. Thicker strings can always accommodate lower tunings, and thinner strings can accommodate higher tunings. Just remember, the more extreme you go, the more impractical it becomes.

Fingering

The most important impact on playability is the way what you’re writing will be fingered. Try to avoid writing a measure that crosses path. That means each measure should go either up or down, but never both, especially if you are having a note held out for the measure or two. Also, remember that the guitar has two E strings two octaves apart. That makes playing double octaves and anything in the middle of the octave easily played.

Techniques

What capabilities does the guitar have? This section assumes the guitar player to be of average skill.

Classical Guitar

Arpeggios

A good guitarist will often work for countless hours to perfect arpeggios, because they bring a great effect to the music. When writing arpeggios for the guitar keep in mind that the guitarist must free stroke the arpeggios. The reason for this is that the standard rest stroke would stop the string above the string played to stop ringing, and unless you want that, the arpeggio will be free stroked.

Harmonics

Harmonics are played differently than normal pitches. Instead of stopping the string on a fret, a harmonic is played by pushing on the string enough to stop it, but not enough for it to make contact with the fret board. This allows the entire string to vibrate, as opposed to only that part below the fret in normal playing. Taking your finger off of the string immediately after plucking it allows the harmonic to ring out more freely.

Harmonics can be played at virtually any point on the strings, even in between frets. However, certain points on the strings have stronger harmonics. The 12th frets have the strongest harmonics, and strong harmonics can also be found on the 5th, 7th, and 9th frets. Harmonics, however, are not necessarily the same pitch as the fret it is sounded on ( although the harmonic at the 12th fret does sounds the same pitch as if were played normally). For example, the 5th fret harmonic sounds an octave and a perfect 5th higher than if the note were played normally. The best way to write for harmonics is to do so with a guitar in hand.

Here is the key to how harmonics sound:

-Where harmonic is sounded--note relationship to string

-12 fret--octave

-7,19 fret--octave and fifth

-5,24 fret--2 octaves

Tremolo

Arguably the most difficult technique in the classical guitar repertoire, tremolo is also one of the most beautiful effects in a classical guitarist's arsenal. A classical guitar tremolo (not to be confused with a flamenco tremolo) involves the guitarist playing a bass note and then three rapid notes above it. This technique is difficult to describe in words but you can grasp the concept fairly quickly if you check out some of the Youtube videos on the subject.

Electric Guitar

Arpeggios

Arpeggios are similar on both the electric guitar and classical guitar. But, most electric guitarists will tend to sweep pick the chord. If you do not want to have it sweep picked than make it clear that it should be picked.

Barre Chords

Barre chords are chords that require the guitarist to place his or her index finger on two or more strings at once. When writing a barre chord remember the index figure will hold onto more than one note so you can write for more than 4 notes at a time; even 6, if you want. To avoid the index finger from moving, remember to keep the ring/pinkie finger in a 4 to 5 fret range from the index finger.

This is not limited to merely the electric guitar. In classical guitar, a barre chord is used instead of a capo for easier mobility.

Harmonics

Harmonics on electric guitar work the same way as they do on classical guitar. The only difference is that amplification on electrics make weaker harmonics more viable.

Legato

When writing a legato passage for guitar, keep all the notes very close to each other. Large jumps or even medium-size jumps ruins the flow of the legato. When writing a slur, it is important to remember that this is played by leaving one's finger off of one note and then slamming it down onto another note. It’s hard to keep a slur going on for a long time so try to make the slurs a short to medium-size phrase.

Vibrato

Always assume the guitarist will use Vibrato when holding out notes longer than a half note. Don’t bother writing it in, but if you don’t want a vibrato somewhere make sure that it is clear in the music. Playing without vibrato is sometimes referred to as "white tone".

Sweep Picking

Sweep picking is when the guitarist drags his pick up or down the guitar, without lifting it up at all and simply letting it drag. The fingers move with the pick and never stay down once the pick passes its string. It's a very difficult technique, so not all guitarists will be able to do it well.

Bending

The bend is a very useful tool for songwriting. The guitar can bend a note anywhere from a half step to 2 whole steps.

A common technique when writing a bend is to have a note be played on the B string and have the note on the E string bend to the octave higher than that note, causing an illusion of dual harmony.

Useful Videos

Carcassi: Carcassi Studies

Tarrega: Lagrima Capricho Arabe

Bach: Suite Movements Inventions

External Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/index.html Loads of CG scores to analyse

See also

Guitar Tablature