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DouglasNiedt's
GUITARTECHNIQUE
TIPOFTHEMONTH

Yes,it's"Doug'sDirtyLittleSecrets"

(DougsubtitledhisTechTipas"Doug'sDirtyLittleSecrets"afterreading
someone'spostedmessageonaguitarwebforum.Thewriterassertedthat
professionalvirtuosoguitaristsallhadsecretstheykepttothemselvesand
wouldn'ttellanyoneelse,sonoonewouldplayaswellasthem!)

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Tambor

ByDouglasNiedt

CopyrightDouglasNiedt,AllRightsReserved.Thisarticlemaybereprinted,butpleasebe
considerateandgivecredittoDouglasNiedt.

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Thetambor(Spanish)ortambour(French)ortambora(AfroCaribbean?)isaneffectusedinclassical
andflamencoguitarplayingtoimitatethesoundofatuneddrum.(Thetamboraisactuallyapercussion
instrumentwithalowrangethatmakesalowdeepsoundyoucouldthinkofitasabassdrum.) Some
writerslikentheusageofthetamboreffectinsomepiecestothesoundofthetimpani.Itcanbe
notatedinseveralways.

NotethatthewordsTambor,Tambora,TambourortheabbreviationsT,Tam,andTamb(andprobably
others)maybeused.Thewordorabbreviationcanbefollowedbyeitherasolidordashedbracket:

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ThenoteheadsmaybewrittennormallyorasIprefer,withan"x"replacingthenotehead:

Sometimesitismoregenericallyindicatedassimply"Percussion"orinSpanish,"Percusion,"againwith
theoptionsofbracketsoralterednoteheads:
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Iftamborsareinsertedbetweennontambornotesorchords,itcanbenotatedinseveraldifferent
ways:

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Initsmostbasicfunctionsolelyasadrumeffect,itisusuallyproducedbyrapidlyrotatingtheforearm,
wrist,andhandasoneunit,thumpingthestringswiththesideoftherighthandthumb,parallelwith
andclosetothebridge.Itisimportanttorotatetheforearmtoexecutethemovement.Donotliftthe
armofftheguitar.Donotusetheupperarmtomakedownwardverticalhitsorkaratechopsofthe
handontothestrings.Thatproducesextremetensioninthearmandhand,wreakinghavocwith
whateverfollowsthetamborpassage.Suchexcessivetensionalsomakestheexecutionofthetambor
itselfmuchmoredifficultthanitshouldbe.

Youhavetowatchthis.

Thetonequalityofthetamborcanbealteredquitedramaticallywithtwobasicadjustments.Thethumb
positioncanbechangedfromparallelwiththebridgetoanangledposition.Wecanalsochoosetouse
eithermoreofthehardbonypartsofthethumborthefleshiersofterpartstohitthebridgeandstrings.
Theseadjustmentsenabletheplayertoproducemoreorless"wood"andvaryingdegreesofpercussive
attackinthesound.
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Also,keepingthethumbclosetothebridgeproducesthemostdrumlikesound.Asthehandismoved
awayfromthebridgeandclosertothesoundhole,thesoundofthedeepdrumdecreasesandthesound
ofthestringsbecomesmoredominant.

WatchasIdemonstratethesevariations.

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Keepingthethumbclosetothebridgealsopresentstheopportunitytomixthetamboreffectwith
percussivehitsonvariouspartsofthesoundboardusingtheotherfingers.Theeffectcanbegreatly
variedbywhatthelefthandholds(ormutes)astherighthandexecutesthepercussion.

Checkthisout.

Hereishowtheseeffectscouldbenotated:(Composersandarrangers/copyistspleasenoteitisan
excellentideatoprovideadiagramindicatingwhereontheguitarpercussivehitsaretobemade.Such
effectscanbeverydifficulttodescribeinwords.)

Thisphotoshowswhereeachfingeristohittheguitar:
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Notationforsametypeofeffectbutholdingchordsonlefthand:

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Insteadofusingthethumb,thetamborcanalsobeexecutedbyhittingthestringswithanyoftheother
fingersoreventheedge(side)ofthepalmbelowthelittlefinger.Forthatmatteryoucouldalsousethe

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faceofsomeorallthefingerstogetherasoneunit.Youcanproduceveryfasttamborhitsordrumroll
effectsbyalternatingtwoindividualfingers(usually"im").

WatchasIdemonstratesomecommontechniques.

PlayingaMelodywithaSimultaneousTambor
Acommonlycalledforeffectinguitarmusicistoplayamelody,chordalaccompaniment,andtamborall
atthesametime.Thisisdonebyfingeringthemelody(usuallyonthefirstandsecondstrings)and
chordalaccompanimentwiththelefthandandsimultaneouslyexecutingthetamborwiththeright
handthumb.
Butthereisakeydifferenceinexecutionthatsetsthiseffectapartfromothertamboreffects.The
melodyhastobebroughtouttosoundmarkedlylouderthantheaccompanimentanddrumeffect.To
dothis,thethumbandarmarekeptrotatedmuchmoretotheleftsothethumbisalmostupsidedown
inrelationtothetopofthesoundboard.
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Tothumpthestringswiththethumb,theplayerstillmovesthehandbyrotatingtheforearm.Butnow,
thebackofthethumbnailstrikesandbouncesoffthetreblestringwhichresultsinaccentuatingthe
melody.Atthesametime,therearofthethumbhitsthestringsclosetothebridgeorthebridgeitself
toproducethetamborandtoresonatethestringsoftheheldchord.

Thisisfun.Watch.

Herearesomenotationalexamplesofitsuse:
FromGranJotadeConciertobyFranciscoTarrega:

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FromAconquijabyAgustinBarriosMangore:

FromChopibyPabloEscobarinEmajorguitartuning:

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AVariationonPlayingaMelodywithTamborAccompaniment

Inacorrectlyexecutedtambor,therotationalmovementoftheforearmallowsthehandtostay
relativelysteady.Therefore,shouldthemusicrequireit,onecouldusethefingerstoplayasimple
melodyatthesametimethethumbproducesatamboraccompaniment.Thistechniqueenablesthe
executionofindependentrhythmsbetweenthemelodyandtamborandmorecontrastofvolume
betweenthemelodyandaccompanimentthanthecommonsimultaneousmelody/tamborexplained
above.Ihaverarelyseenthistechniqueused,butitiscertainlyworthexploring.

Watchthisone.

Hereismynotationforwhatyouarewatching:

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Thetamborisaverycolorfultechnique.Asyoucansee,itcanbeexecutedinavarietyofways
dependingonthedemandsofthemusicandthesounddesiredbytheperformer.

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SIGNUPFORTHEGUITARTECHNIQUETIPOFTHEMONTH
The"GuitarTechniqueTipoftheMonth"isavailableinnewsletterform,whichcanbe
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BESURETOVISITDOUG'S"SECRETVAULT"
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GuitarTechniqueTipsoftheMonth