Non Keyboard players - what do you consider yourself to be

Here it is:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/faa7337d64/ted-nugent-hunts-and-kills-a-keyboard

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what do you mean by harmonic limitations.

frig,that was a good shot .laugh if he`d taken a finger off when he was giving it to the little one.

For start, no chord can be made of more than 6 notes. Most “complex” chords (9ths, 11ths etc.) are actually played on 4 strings (ask a jazz guitarist…), 5 if there’s an open string to use, often omitting the 5th and sometimes even the root (assuming the bassist will take care of that…) Then there are chords that are simply impossible to play on a guitar. Like closed positions with 9ths and 11ths. Sure, you can open the chord and omit a few notes of lesser harmonic importance (no need for root and 5th, especially when you have a bass player), but then it’s no longer a closed position. Even some simple triads in closed position are impossible to play on a guitar. Can you play E - G# - B starting from an open sixth string? Of course not, short of re-tuning the fifth string half a step below and the fourth string a minor third below.

With a piano, you can play an SATB choral piece exactly as it was written for choir. With a guitar, that would simply be impossible, because you can’t play 4-voice counterpoint (you can only use four fingers and they can’t be totally independent due to…human limitations.) The hardest classical guitar pieces are essentially 2-voice counterpoint with an occasional extra voice playing a harmonic pedal (Bach, Tarrega etc.), and often the pedal is an open string (like in Recuerdos de la Alhambra. It’s no coincidence that so many guitar pieces are in E or A.)

Harmony on a guitar is always a compromise between trying to lead voices and clashing with the limitations of the fretboard (and your four fingers…) But that’s fine, not saying that the guitar is an “inferior” instrument (a violin, viola or cello can’t play more than two notes at the same time, it doesn’t mean they aren’t fantastic instruments…), just that it has limitations as to how harmony can be rendered. And working within those limitations can really teach a non-guitarist a lot, and not only about the guitar.

Mexicans, African-Americans or wildlife? :laughing:

Didn’t that dude say two years ago that he’d be dead or in prison if Obama got re-elected?
Dam…I was counting on that… Either one would have been fine with me… :wink:

You asked:

Indigo wrote:
Whoa, did guitar players suddenly declared war on us keyboard guys? > :laughing:

Politics aside, IMHO this was the start.
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:mrgreen:

A 9 Chord, A,G,C#,E,B =5 notes

on a 7 string yes

tell that to Stanley Jordan

the keyboard is definitely the most perfect way to access musical notes ,a guitar is definitely the most perfect way to access musical tones .A men

Funny how you conveniently cut my quote before it says you can use 5 strings if at least one is open… And BTW, in my world 5 is still less than 6… Oh, and BTW, a 9th chord can be made of more than 5 notes on a piano, by doubling root, 5th etc. in different octaves. Also I made a specific point about closed positions that can’t be rendered on a guitar.

tell that to Stanley Jordan

Really? Do you have any example of 4-part counterpoint played on a guitar? I’d love to see it.

the example of a 5 note A7 i gave you needs no open strings just a bar on the 5th fret ,i could double the E (5th)and make it 6 note chord.

i`m sure we could find one, guitars can have more than 6 strings nowadays and can be played with both hands,a bit like a keyboard really .

The point was that the fretboard and your four fingers do have limitations. You can deny it as much as you want, but it’s still a fact. You can’t play any chord in any position on a guitar. And you can’t play 4-part counterpoint.

The number of strings is irrelevant. You don’t seem to know what 4-part counterpoint is. Still waiting for an example…

Great title of the topic.
But i think those non keyboard players are just trying to avoid the only possible logical anwser that can be given.

they do not have a midi in or out
they have no place to plug in a sustainpedal,
they are only using a very tiny part of the excellent program cubase is.
they can only record what they were playing in a primitive form of audio. Luckily they do have variaudio to correct their failures a bit.

So conclusion: guys… you are something from the past
:sunglasses:

kind regards,
R.

I reckon it’s all about the song…be it song or instrumental and it doesn’t matter how you get it out there! I know a few very good muso’s who couldn’t write a song to save their lives but they can wiz up and down the keyboard at breakneck speed…what good is that :confused: if there is no song!
you don’t need to play anything to write a song…there are a heck of a lot of muso’s out there who would have nothing to do but for songwriters… :slight_smile:

Kevin

Aloha guys,

To me the unique think about the piano keyboard is
no matter what note it is, there is only one place to play it.

Not so for most other instruments; stringed or wind.

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isn`t it the same for a sax or brass instrument only being able to play a given note in one place i dunno.the guitar offers the player to be unique in their own approach to a given melody line, cause it could be played in so many different ways, because of repeat notes.

midi guitar ,it`s actually here :laughing: .guitar synths have been here 30 odd years

As a trombonist (and MIDI guitar master ha!) I can tell you that there are several different places on that ax to play many notes.
(slide in and loosen your embouchure/slide out and tighten your embouchure)

For valved and padded instruments like
trumpets/saxes/flutes etc, there can be different fingerings for the same note.

Even pipe organs and accordions can do some of that
‘same note in a different place thang’ but acoustic pianos/vibes/pan drums etc nada.
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:slight_smile:
But these are just simplified copies of the clever concept that the digital keyboard is.
And ok, they have added some controller functions.
But you should honor the ancestor of them all and look to it with proper respect.
:slight_smile:

not really the keys have just become switches .

i respect the electronics technology ,but that has nothing to do with the keyboard.