Practising/Playing melodies on a single string.

[brent.h]

There were a few mentions in this forum about doing this and how Frank Vignola recommends this.

I've been trying it out, and man, it's hard... especially those large interval jumps.

Has anyone done this extensively? What benefits did you notice in your playing as a result of this?

[grahambop]

Yes I do it sometimes, it’s something that’s also advocated by Mick Goodrick, John Abercrombie and Jim Hall.

The main benefit is that it trains your ear, because it’s harder to find the notes instantly (since you can’t rely on familiar position-based patterns).

Also if you try improvising on one string, it tends to lead to more motif-based playing (like Jim Hall) rather than playing your usual licks etc.

[kris]

When you play on one string, you simply play linearly.
Like on Sitar:

[GuyBoden]

Yes I do it sometimes, it’s something that’s also advocated by Mick Goodrick, John Abercrombie and Jim Hall.

The main benefit is that it trains your ear, because it’s harder to find the notes instantly (since you can’t rely on familiar position-based patterns).

Also if you try improvising on one string, it tends to lead to more motif-based playing (like Jim Hall) rather than playing your usual licks etc.

Yes, it's from Mick Goodrick's legendary book "Advancing Guitarist"

See below:



Interestingly, this "single string playing" was the way we learned Pop/Rock as teenagers when we knew nothing (We were actually children, but we would never admit that.)

Edit: I was taught this single string playing again by Paul Bollenback in a masterclass in Wales about 20 years ago.

[bako]

1. Develop greater ease shifting, and just landing on the intended note
2. 3 motions: horizontal, vertical and combined
3. Each string has a unique string color, a chance to explore this
4. Each string requires a different attack to engage, a chance to explore this
5. It teaches organizing notes into coherent groupings-
6. Messes with our ability to rely on more practiced finger patterns.

[brent.h]

5. It teaches organizing notes into coherent groupings

I don't quite understand. Could you explain with an example?

[JazzPadd]

I also do this from time to time, especially when learning a new GAS standard. I agree, it helps with ear training. It also helped me to get a handle on the guitar having the same pitch in various places to navigate the fretboard.

And beyond guitar, it’s a main feature of some world musics. The sitar was already mentioned and I’d add the Iranian tanbour, which I studied for some time. It’s essentially a one stringed lute. It has three strings, one is a drone (mostly) and the other two are a double string on which melodies can be played linearly.

I think Gabor Szabo had brought some of that back to the guitar. I don’t use it much playing jazz, but it provides another way of looking at the guitar fretboard.

[AllanAllen]

Kind of similar thing.

I've been listening to a lot of Ed Bickert, Kenny Burrell and Bruce Foreman. They all do this harmonized melody thing going up and down the neck. I think Wes Montgomery did it too, but I don't listen to him as much for some reason. So I've been working on playing up the b string with a string jump around the 7th fret. This way I can add a handful of chord inversions under the melody.

Right now, everything is worked out for the heads.

[pamosmusic]

There were a few mentions in this forum about doing this and how Frank Vignola recommends this.

I've been trying it out, and man, it's hard... especially those large interval jumps.

Has anyone done this extensively? What benefits did you notice in your playing as a result of this?

I do this ALLL THE TIME. Been doing it for years. Got if from The Advancing Guitarist (naturally).

Great for the ear. Makes you really know the intervals and the skips and the contour of the melody. I love it. It's my desert island practice. If I only had time for one thing.

[brent.h]

Hopefully with enough practice I can do wide interval leaps without looking...

I just spent the past half hour playing an Fmaj7 arpeggio on the D string. Seem to be gravitating to some fingerings naturally. I tried the same arpeggio on the G string. Really like this one because I suddenly am reminded of 2-string arpeggios for 4-note 7th seventh chords. I don't always use them, but this restrictive practice is surfacing some stuff that's quite practical!

I'm starting to see that not only is muscle memory in the fingers important, but in the position of the hand/purlicue with respect to the neck as well.

[Jimmy blue note]

Mick called this the skating rink. You learn to move all directions with equal facility. It was the most decisive step leading to me feeling confidence in moving anywhere in the melodic realm without positional convenience shutting down the ear being in control.
I can get speed across the fingerboard by using position (across the neck) playing but I get lyrical freedom by always being aware of pitch movement. For me, it's much more natural for me to find the lyrical line by moving up and down the neck lengthwise. Combine movement in both directions and you've got control of your guitar.

For whatever reason, it seems to be an essential tool in the kit of modern players.
Check out The Advancing Guitarist and spend some time exploring the guitar as a Unitar. If it's new to you at this point, it'll change your life.

[Mick-7]

Mick Goodrick's solo on this tune illustrates a benefit of this exercise, it's one of my favorite guitar solos on a ballad of all time.

[pamosmusic]

Mick called this the skating rink. You learn to move all directions with equal facility. It was the most decisive step leading to me feeling confidence in moving anywhere in the melodic realm without positional convenience shutting down the ear being in control.
I can get speed across the fingerboard by using position (across the neck) playing but I get lyrical freedom by always being aware of pitch movement. For me, it's much more natural for me to find the lyrical line by moving up and down the neck lengthwise. Combine movement in both directions and you've got control of your guitar.

For whatever reason, it seems to be an essential tool in the kit of modern players.
Check out The Advancing Guitarist and spend some time exploring the guitar as a Unitar. If it's new to you at this point, it'll change your life.

the science of the unitar!

[bako]

I don't quite understand. Could you explain with an example?

Something like this:

Learn a melody on a single string.

Organize the notes into the most coherent fingering you can come up with, grouping notes into position (on 1 string)
when possible and organizing the shifts to be as efficient as possible,

Take that exact fingering organization and apply it to playing it inside a single position.

The basic idea on a single string is to shift when we run out of available fingers.
In a position, the concept is the same but instead of shifting we change strings.

[befiddled]

Mick Goodrick's solo on this tune illustrates a benefit of this exercise, it's one of my favorite guitar solos on a ballad of all time.

Goodness! That really is quite beautiful. Singing melodies and amazing instrumental tone.

[Mick-7]

Goodness! That really is quite beautiful. Singing melodies and amazing instrumental tone.

I shared a transcription of it in another thread -- https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/attachments/guitar-technique/110318d1712126011-mick-goodrick-hand-carry-technique-goodrick-solo-coral-01-jpg

[brent.h]

Just spent an hour playing unitar on the G string. After which, I re-introduced the D string so that I could just have a greater range to mess around melodically (plus I could throw in 2-string arpeggios/guide-tone dyads for fun) on the tune 'Time On My Hands'.

Then something hit me. I know this sounds quite 'duh', but it's quite profound to me: It's an absolute privilege/godsend to have another string to play with! Who knew! Wowsers.

[befiddled]

I shared a transcription of it in another thread -- https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/attachments/guitar-technique/110318d1712126011-mick-goodrick-hand-carry-technique-goodrick-solo-coral-01-jpg

Very cool, thanks. Metheny transcribes with a nice hand. Obviously, using a fountain pen which is likely the right tool - but you have to be sure of yourself..

[Mick-7]

Very cool, thanks. Metheny transcribes with a nice hand. Obviously, using a fountain pen which is likely the right tool - but you have to be sure of yourself..

So... Pat transcribed a solo of the guitarist (Mick Goodrick) in the band he would soon join (Gary Burton's band), and he played with Mick on Gary's next album, i.e., this one -- Ring - Gary Burton Quintet | AllMusic

Pat would have been about 19 years old at the time.

[rpjazzguitar]

Now and then I drill my scale/mode knowledge by playing on one string.

So, for example, play all 12 melodic minor scales starting on the lowest scale note on the B string. Go around the cycle of fifths that way.
I can get some of the modes by ear, but for others I have to know the notes by name. It drills that. Of course, not everybody thinks like that.

[pauln]

I do this for a few tunes; anyone else?

- the B section melody of Girl From Ipanema
- the melody of Blue Bossa
- the A section of Cheek To Cheek
- the central interlude of an artsy original A Suffusion Of Yellow*, with lots of reverb and volume swells sounding like a conversation between dolphins and seagulls.


*The device [electronic I Ching calculator] also functioned as an ordinary calculator, but only to a limited degree. It could handle any calculation which returned an answer of anything up to 4. ...anything above 4 it represented merely as "A Suffusion of Yellow."
Douglas Adams, "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul"

[charlieparker]

I don't quite understand. Could you explain with an example?

I've heard people talk about 6 different pianos.

[Jimmy blue note]

I've heard people talk about 6 different pianos.

Steinway
Fender
Honky Tonk
Toy
Pianississimo (extremely soft)
Pianissimo (very soft)
Piano (soft)
Mezzo-piano (moderately soft)

One of these things is not like the others...

[pauln]

The six pianos means this kind of thing:

Some conceive it more comfortably like:

[brent.h]

How do I do wide interval leaps (5th and higher) on single strings with more ease?