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RETUNE
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34
PIERRE BENSUSAN
Continuing his prolic career of ever developing musical talents and vocabulary, Pierre
Bensusan paints diverse musical masterpieces with his latest oering Vividly
44 John Renbourn
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ACOUSTIC ISSUE 55 JULY 2011
06 ACOUSTIC MAGAZINE JULY 2011
48 Harry
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Contents 55_BC.indd 6 25/05/2011 10:32
Acoustic Techniques
Welcome back to my column.
Following on from the previous
article, Im continuing with the hugely
important topic of sight-reading
and how best to improve it.
Note Finding
A guitar teacher will often stress that,
when sight-reading, maintaining the
rhythm of a piece of music is much
more important than playing all the
correct notes this is sound advice.
However, if the rhythms are the most
important aspect of sight-reading,
why do I suggest beginning the
article with note fnding? The answer
is simple: the rhythm provides a
deadline to arrive at the next note or
chord, but when sight-reading you
may encounter a note or chord that
you are unable to fnd in time and the
rhythm will be interrupted while you
search for it. As a starting point, its
crucial that fngerboard knowledge is
secure and confdent.
During the process of sight-
reading it can be very tempting to
go back and correct an error that has
occurred, but by doing this the error
is compounded and the pulse is lost;
time doesnt stand still and certainly
doesnt go backwards. If you were
playing in an orchestra or ensemble
it would be unrealistic to expect the
other musicians to stop and wait for
you to catch up.
Unlike the piano keyboard, where
there is a clearly recognisable pattern
of white and black notes, the frets on
the guitar fngerboard all look very
similar, therefore we need to start
by establishing some fngerboard
landmarks. Many guitars have
position dots on the upper edge of
the fngerboard; if your guitar does
not have these you may fnd it helpful
to add a tiny dot of correction fuid or
sticky paper at the 5th or 7th fret as
an aid to left-hand accuracy.
Begin by choosing a landmark
note pitch I suggest E as a number
of them can be found in the lower
positions of the fngerboard.
Obviously, if you are a player of less
than intermediate standard it will be
a waste of time and efort learning
the notes in the higher reaches of
the fngerboard at this stage. Judge
the required range from the notes
encountered in the more advanced
pieces in your repertoire. Its essential
that notes are identifed by their letter
names rather than just fret positions
the reason for this will become
apparent very shortly.
Find the Es; those up to and
including the 12th fret are shown
below:
Example 1: Dont move on until you
are able to locate these notes quickly
and accurately.
Set a metronome to crotchet
(quarter note) = 60, ie one beat per
second. Repeat the open 1st string E
exactly in time with the metronome,
and while you are doing this think
where another E is found. Without
interrupting the rhythm, switch to the
new note. The metronome provides
the deadline for arrival at the next
note. Think now where a further E
is located, and so on. If at any time
you have trouble fnding a new E, go
back to a note played earlier. Try to
avoid playing the notes in the same
sequence each time.
When the process is secure and
accurate, continue the exercise by
repeating each E just four times before
moving, thus giving yourself less
thinking time. Continue by playing
each note twice and then just once.
You can, of course, stretch yourself
further by setting a quicker tempo.
Once Es are completely secure,
repeat the procedure using the note
F. If you know where each E is found,
F will be one fret (or one semitone)
higher. As there are no open Fs,
left-hand position shifting will be a
little trickier. Continue by choosing
another note: it could be F sharp or
perhaps G. Initially, the closer to your
original landmark note the better.
Avoid taking on too many diferent
pitches in a short space of time as the
notes will quickly become confused
and little will be achieved.
Sight
Reading
Let Ray help you improve your
sight reading with some note
finding exercises.
RAymond
BuRley
Classical Guitarist
Skill Level: Intermediate
Biography
Raymond Burley is an
accomplished classical
guitarist, composer and
arranger. One of his most
recent projects was the album
Double Vision - a collection
of Giltrap pieces arranged for
two guitars.
Techniques
Skill Level
This is suitable
for intermediate
Example 1
114 acoustic magazine march 2011
Ray Burley.indd 110
02/02/2011 11:18
Acoustic Techniques
110 acoustic magazine march 2011
Fingerings
and Positions
Chris helps you find the most efficient
way to play any given piece, with fretting
hand positions.
One of the main hurdles the guitarist
has to jump is evaluating the most
efective left-hand fngering for a
piece of music. Unlike a pianist, where
each key represents a note and is
immovable, for the guitarist playing
C above middle C it can be found in
three diferent locations:
1st fret, 2nd string
5th fret, 3rd string
10th fret, 4th string
15th fret, 5th string
Logically, the decision of where to
play is determined by the range of
the melody the left hand is located
where it can reach the bulk of the
notes required and then extend into
higher or lower registers via a series
of shifts.
There are no hard-and-fast rules
for this because each guitarist
has a style which favours certain
fnger combinations, but there are
certain precepts which provide an
ergonomic basis for any performance.
This frst article in a series of six will
look at the issues of when to play in
position and when to deviate.
So lets look at frst principles
Playing in position refers to placing
the left hand so that the 1st fnger
is located at a particular fret; thus, in
the 2nd position the 1st fnger covers
all the notes at the 2nd fret, the 2nd
fnger covers the 3rd fret, 3rd fnger
the 4th, and so on. Because no open
strings are involved, the fngering
pattern is movable, so shift up one
fret so the 1st fnger is at the 3rd fret
and you have a scale of Ab major in
the 3rd position, one fret or semitone
higher than G
The open position uses open strings
and thus cannot be shifted in this
manner, and a new fngering must
then be learnt for Ab major in the
open position.
So lets look at some options for the
scale of G major in Ex 1.
The frst fngering option is using
open strings; here the left-hand
fnger is the same as the fret on the
tab: 3rd fret = 3rd fnger etc.
The second option is utilising the
2nd position. Look at the left-hand
fngering and fret numbers; the 1st
fnger is always at fret 2, 2nd fnger
always at fret 3 etc.
The third option is a special case.
Here we are using extended fngering
where the left hand is spanning up to
fve frets as opposed to four, as in the
one fnger per fret rule. This is ideal
if, for example, you wish to play the
notes very rapidly in groups of three
using hammer-ons on the way up or
pull-ofs on the way down, with an
extra stretch between the 3rd and
4th fngers on the 6th and 5th strings
(see Ex 2).
CHRIS
GIBBONS
Composer
Skill level: Suitable for all
Techniques
Skill Level
Suitable for all
players
Biography
Chris is not only a
guitar teacher but also a
composer and producer
having worked on
many orchestrations for
television and recordings
alike. He has many years of
experience in performance
and helping others
develop their playing
potential to
their best.
G major scale
Chris Gibbons.indd 104
02/02/2011 11:15
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110 Gordon Giltrap
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114 Pierre
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JULY 2011 ACOUSTIC MAGAZINE 07
Contents 55_BC.indd 7 25/05/2011 10:32