Looking for the most elegant and musically correct way to write this simple song accompaniment on guitar. In all bars the arpeggio should ring until the end of the bar or the next played note. So the problem is what to do with the rest when the arp does not complete a bar. I’ve already hidden the 1/8th note rest, I started out using three voices but then reverted to one voice for simplicity - too many rests to deal with multi-voiced.
I will add the instruction - let ring throughout - to the start of the song. I could use larger note heads and state that all notes are 8th notes, I could simply remove the rests, I could put an instruction to ignore the rests.
Hi Dan - yes I could do that but it still leaves the minim rest, and of course the other notes not LV - but if that is considered sufficient then so be it!
Hi Rob, it’s not in 3/8, that’s the point of the ringing arp - it’s a very leisurely and rubato piece but def a 4/4 pulse I’d have said - you’re not seeing the vocal line in the screen grab, but I’d welcome a second option - here’s the song:
perhaps a combination of LV on the early notes and extend the last note would be OK
just spotted I need to replace the rest or rather put a 1/4 note in second bar etc to make the time up, I’d hidden the rest and I guess it’s still counting it
I agree with Dan. Full disclosure: I’m not a guitar player. Yet this is unambiguous to me. I believe it is understood to let ring all strings without explicitly showing l.v. for each note. And Rob’s is the penultimate of clarity.
This could be my own limitation, but if I’m playing the simpler version I will probably just play what is most simple or natural and let the ringing be whatever it naturally is. Like, letting open strings or barred strings ring sure, but if I have to lift my finger (effectively stopping the previous note from ringing) to more easily play the next - I likely won’t lose any sleep over it.
But if you write it the second way, I will take more time and do my best to find a position to do exactly what you asked - even if its more awkward or unusual. So my answer is - just how important is it for a particular note to ring for the indicated time?
Thanks for all the suggestions - I’ve gone for Dan’s and had to lose the TAB anyway due to space limitations - this had to be the last 3 pages in a songbook (it has to round up to multiples of 4 pages) - I’m not concerned about it playing back with pedal or sustain.
Guitarists - what would you expect seeing this? Do check the Spotify link earlier in this thread and see if this makes sense. Thanks! It’d be good to get a working guitarists opinion I suppose, and whilst I studied classical guitar nearly 40 years ago, I cannot be sure of general rules on this sort of thing - my brain…
Here’s what I have: