How do you work on articulation?

[pamosmusic]

Hi all … used to post on here quite a bit but haven’t in several years …

… anyway …

I’m curious how some of you work on articulation. Slurs (hammers and pulls), accents, ghost notes, slides, and the like.

The big one I’ve been interested in lately is slurs. Guitar has some natural limitations for how we go about this (string changes, being a problem when you’re hammering and pulling), but there is next to no literature about this kind of thing. And most of what you do find is purely technical — meaning getting hand strength and accuracy going but without tying slurs to any musical context.

I’ve found that a bit unusual since it can be such a huge part of making jazz sound like jazz, and it’s such a huge area of study for horn players (Arban, Clarke, etc).

Anyway … weird question, but I’ve been working a lot on ideas for this kind of thing, and I’m curious if anyone has things they like to do?

[James W]

I work on articulation AKA phrasing by copying musicians I like. For example, I transcribed Mike Stern playing Stella a few years ago but only recently got round to getting some of it under my fingers - though my transcription doesn't include many of the aspects of articulation like slides and slurs, and I never bother tabbing my transcriptions out so I'm having to listen to it quite closely again to really become intimately acquainted with all those nuances and details of his phrasing/articulation, not to mention the things that you can't write down like the sense of swing.

So yeah, since you distinguish articulation from technique, it basically boils down to a sense of taste and knowledge of the jazz idiom - or rather, jazz idioms - as to how you decide to articulate. Mike Moreno talks about this in one of his MyMusicMasterclass videos, about how he came about his techniques to produce the kind of phrasing or articulation he wanted, which was based on how horn players create that eighth-note bop kind of phrasing. So it's not really separable from technique - if you decide to focus on slurs more than e.g. alternate picking that's already affecting how you're going to articulate. Having said that, I find that while I focus a lot on my picking technique, when improvising I still tend to use a blend of picking and slurs, even though sometimes I feel I'm just tickling the guitar in a way i.e. my right-hand is taking the backseat when I would prefer it to be more accented and stronger. I'm still working on it though so hopefully it'll get into my improvising soon enough. I recall a Kurt Rosenwinkel interview where he says he likes to be able to pick all the notes in the exercises and patterns he practises, even though he might not necessarily do that when improvising.

[pamosmusic]

So yeah, since you distinguish articulation from technique, it basically boils down to a sense of taste and knowledge of the jazz idiom - or rather, jazz idioms - as to how you decide to articulate. Mike Moreno talks about this in one of his MyMusicMasterclass videos, about how he came about his techniques to produce the kind of phrasing or articulation he wanted, which was based on how horn players create that eighth-note bop kind of phrasing. So it's not really separable from technique - if you decide to focus on slurs more than e.g. alternate picking that's already affecting how you're going to articulate.

Right … I didn’t intend to separate articulation from technique. Kind of the opposite. I mean that guitar players tend to articulate for technical reasons, rather than musical reasons. Like a guitar player might slur a portion of Donna Lee because it’s easier than picking every note, not because the slurs make sense in the context of the rhythms going on.

I’ve spent a lot of time organizing myself around slurring into downbeats on eighth note phrases. But that was kind of a philosophical shift. I’ve found I’m kind of lost when it comes to deciding what to do with a triplet phrase.

My horn player friends, on the other hand, have made slurring and accenting in different rhythmic and melodic patterns a part of their practice since they were in band class. So I’m trying to figure out how some of these things might work on guitar and if guitarists are already working on some of these things.

[pamosmusic]

And point taken on the transcription. I have some thoughts maybe that I’d like to gather on that.

Were there any particular aspects of the articulation that you found difficult, if you remember?

[NSJ]

Articulation = phrasing. Phrasing = legato v staccato, vibrato, slurs, hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides and glissando, long vs. short, string bends, pianissimo, forte, controlling accents, and for me, I would add, learning to use slides to create swaras.

[pamosmusic]

Articulation = phrasing. Phrasing = legato v staccato, vibrato, slurs, hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides and glissando, long vs. short, string bends, pianissimo, forte, controlling accents, and for me, I would add, learning to use slides to create swaras.

Yes.

So do you have any ways you like to work on these things?

I guess maybe I could put it like this. We get ideas for lines from transcribing also, but still we work on scales a bit. We work on arpeggios a bit. That way, when we sit down to learn an idea from a recording, we have the tools. Right?

Trumpet players do the same thing with articulation patterns, accent patterns, glissandi, etc. So when they go to transcribe Clark Terry or someone, then they’re not try to make their chops do something that is totally foreign.

Granted, this is probably more important for a trumpet player because they can hurt their chops by forcing things they aren’t technically equipped for.

But still, it’s unusual that guitar players don’t systematize it in the same way.

maybe that makes more sense?

[pamosmusic]

I guess an example:

I ran across an Adam Rogers thing where he was talking about accenting different patterns against different rhythmic groupings.

So accenting every three notes in a group of triplets, or every four or five notes in a group of triplets.

so I’m curious if anyone has gotten into this world much?

[NSJ]

Yes.

So do you have any ways you like to work on these things? maybe that makes more sense?

Simple. Work on Tunes. Make the music come alive, like the human voice.

[pamosmusic]

Simple. Work on Tunes. Make the music come alive, like the human voice.

Got it.

I’m thinking about trying to figure out some systematic ways to stretch the technique in this respect.

For example … you mention the human voice. My wife is a classically trained singer and took multiple semester-long classes on diction, even outside of her private lessons.

It just seems like other instruments have articulation more thoroughly incorporated into their technical stuff than we do. I’m interested in it is all.

[carvingcode]

My horn player friends, on the other hand, have made slurring and accenting in different rhythmic and melodic patterns a part of their practice since they were in band class. So I’m trying to figure out how some of these things might work on guitar and if guitarists are already working on some of these things.

Early Larry Coryell lived in rhythm and accents.

[NSJ]

My theory on playing guitar is that it should be piano like and approximate (in a very truncated way) aspects and sections of the orchestra, both in term of timbre and color (Segovia said when giving advice on playing, “listen to the orchestra”), but also n terms of representing soprano-alto-tenor-bass.

At the same time, it can do expressive things no piano can do, given that it is a stringed instrument: bending, troweling, sliding, glissando,. As big as the orchestra: as smal and expressive as the human voice.

That’s my theory, and I’m sticking to it!

[Christian Miller]

I read that as ‘guitar playing should be piano like and approximate’ and I thought, well at least I got one of those down…

[rpjazzguitar]

A few years ago I was in a lesson with a top pro. He said, "don't do this" and played a Cmajor scale at a brisk tempo. Sounded fine. Sounded like I sound when playing it.

Then he said, "Do this" and played the same Cmajor scale at the same tempo with every note absolutely pristene. The difference was dramatic.

How you work on that depends on your technique. For me, it's mostly concentrating on trying to play things cleanly. It goes south if I don't maintain some ongoing awareness.

That's one aspect of articulation, as I understand the term.

As far as the other aspect of articulation, you asked what people like to do. I don't have monster chops and I have to work around that. So, I'm very interested in how the notes speak. In no particular order:

1. Sliding into notes expressively where possible, usually at lower tempos.

2. Bending.

3. Palm muting, and I work on getting closer to a smooth transition between muted and non-muted sounds.

4. Hammers and pull-offs, partly to enhance speed and partly for the sound.

5. I use a pedal board to get different sounds. I guess that goes beyond what people think of as articulation.

6. To get fast and clean when reading a fast passage, I have to plan. I need to find left hand fingerings that allow me to pick cleanly. That often involves getting multiple notes on the same string to avoid awkward skips. Sometimes it's finding a good position to play the line in.

[pamosmusic]

(Segovia said when giving advice on playing, “listen to the orchestra”)

Good point.

Classical guitar has a bit of method for working on various articulation and timbre (Segovia’s scales, for example). But the whole problem is simplified by some of the more straightforward articulations (slurs, accents, staccato) being written into the music, and the player having the opportunity to practice things in either way.

A jazz musician needs to improvise, articulation included.

Improvising changes the way we practice scales and arpeggios, so maybe it might change the way we practice articulation too?

[pamosmusic]

As far as the other aspect of articulation, you asked what people like to do. I don't have monster chops and I have to work around that. So, I'm very interested in how the notes speak. In no particular order:

1. Sliding into notes expressively where possible, usually at lower tempos.

2. Bending.

3. Palm muting, and I work on getting closer to a smooth transition between muted and non-muted sounds.

4. Hammers and pull-offs, partly to enhance speed and partly for the sound.

5. I use a pedal board to get different sounds. I guess that goes beyond what people think of as articulation.

6. To get fast and clean when reading a fast passage, I have to plan. I need to find left hand fingerings that allow me to pick cleanly. That often involves getting multiple notes on the same string to avoid awkward skips. Sometimes it's finding a good position to play the line in.

I love the inclusion of the pedal board in here.

As for that and the other five things — do you find yourself working on particular things to get your chops going with these different elements? Or is it just something you try to be especially conscious of when you play?

[paulkogut]

This is an important, and sadly often overlooked, aspect of jazz guitar technique. I'm glad to see it's getting some attention here.

Who are your role models? Is there a guitarist you admire with similar picking technique and instrument/amp setup to your own? Some careful listening and copying can point you in the right direction.

There are any number of exercises you can invent, taking a line or scale pattern and applying different accent patterns and dynamic shapes, for example accent the first of every 4 eight notes, then the second, etc, etc. When I was doing a lot of this type of practice, my first tendency was to overplay the accented notes, which didn't sound too good. Eventually I realized that my normal (at the time) picking WAS the accent, and it sounded better to lighten my touch for the unaccented notes.

Best wishes for your music!



PK

[princeplanet]

Regarding articulation, I've recently experimented with forcing myself to pick every note, but mainly alternate picking while resisting the natural inclination to slur, sweep or "economy" pick. I'm a few months into this "experiment" and I've stuck at it because I was noticing certain qualities that I quite liked. My instinct to slur , slide, hammer etc is of course a hangover from playing distorted rock with skinny strings and low action.

But for the last 15 years I've been using much thicker strings with much higher action because I like the sound. And yes, it's harder to sound authorative when slurring/hammering etc with tough action, especially with a clean sound, but over the years I adapted and reached a point with my technique where clarity and articulation was unlikely to improve. TBF to myself, it sounded no worse than the articulation of some great players, but after listening to a lot of Pat Martino, I decided his articulation was more "Boss" than most other players, so I wanted some of that piano like attack, and less of the horn-like thing, which let's face it, is nothing like horn phrasing at all! I mean it can be with distortion, but with a dead clean tone slurring can often sound like "mis-hitting" notes, even with the best players. It's the reason most jazz guitarists don't sound compelling (to non jazz guitarists at least). The ones that do always have
solid articulation, with no weak areas. Players like CC, Django, Pat Martino, GB etc had very strong articulation. Interestingly, the guy that surpasses them all is probably Wes who had the "opposite" thing going on with that fleshy touch and slides and slurs everywhere. But that is because his articulation was range bound towards the softer end of the spectrum in terms of attack- there were no spiky plectrum hits followed by feeble (in comparison) slurs that characterise most players.

Sure, as we've discussed in other threads, picking every note a là Pat Martino can sound rangebound at the other end of the spectrum - too "attacky" all the time. But it doesn't have to. When we listen to piano players with good articulation, they play with a lot of dynamics. It's been very interesting trying to cop the articulation of say Sonny Clark, or Bill Evans, and it's easier to get closer to that by alternate picking than it is to economy pick with slurs. The reason is that if you were to play a line that, say, contained 32 notes where you relied on slurring, then depending on which position you are playing, you will be governed by what's playable in that position. Hence if you played that line in 5 different positions, then it sounds different for every position. Now some of you may celebrate that - vive le difference!

But that is not controlled expression, because the guitar is playing you! if you get my drift. If you were to play the same line using double picking, you could, if you wanted to, play with the same dynamic expression in every position.
I'm probably not going to be a strict alternate picker, but I have renewed respect for it, and no longer think it leads to limited expression. On the contrary, when you have some control of it, your guitar playing can sound more compelling.
You find yourself listening to more piano players too...

[rpjazzguitar]

I love the inclusion of the pedal board in here.

As for that and the other five things — do you find yourself working on particular things to get your chops going with these different elements? Or is it just something you try to be especially conscious of when you play?

It comes up while working on songs. A lot of the time it's figuring out fingerings that accommodate the pick. I can't do rapid sweep-picking and I'm not particularly fast at alternate picking either, but I can usually figure out a fingering that will work for a given passage. For example, I tinkered with my fingering for Donna Lee for several years, eventually reaching my goal of 220bpm with reasonably clean articulation.

I have practiced the muted to non-muted thing, although I don't know that it helped much.

The rest is mostly awareness.

Oh, except for the pedal board. I've spent hours dialing in the four sounds I use.

[pamosmusic]

Regarding articulation, I've recently experimented with forcing myself to pick every note, but mainly alternate picking while resisting the natural inclination to slur, sweep or "economy" pick. I'm a few months into this "experiment" and I've stuck at it because I was noticing certain qualities that I quite liked. My instinct to slur , slide, hammer etc is of course a hangover from playing distorted rock with skinny strings and low action.

But for the last 15 years I've been using much thicker strings with much higher action because I like the sound. And yes, it's harder to sound authorative when slurring/hammering etc with tough action, especially with a clean sound, but over the years I adapted and reached a point with my technique where clarity and articulation was unlikely to improve. TBF to myself, it sounded no worse than the articulation of some great players, but after listening to a lot of Pat Martino, I decided his articulation was more "Boss" than most other players, so I wanted some of that piano like attack, and less of the horn-like thing, which let's face it, is nothing like horn phrasing at all! I mean it can be with distortion, but with a dead clean tone slurring can often sound like "mis-hitting" notes, even with the best players. It's the reason most jazz guitarists don't sound compelling (to non jazz guitarists at least). The ones that do always have
solid articulation, with no weak areas. Players like CC, Django, Pat Martino, GB etc had very strong articulation. Interestingly, the guy that surpasses them all is probably Wes who had the "opposite" thing going on with that fleshy touch and slides and slurs everywhere. But that is because his articulation was range bound towards the softer end of the spectrum in terms of attack- there were no spiky plectrum hits followed by feeble (in comparison) slurs that characterise most players.

Sure, as we've discussed in other threads, picking every note a là Pat Martino can sound rangebound at the other end of the spectrum - too "attacky" all the time. But it doesn't have to. When we listen to piano players with good articulation, they play with a lot of dynamics. It's been very interesting trying to cop the articulation of say Sonny Clark, or Bill Evans, and it's easier to get closer to that by alternate picking than it is to economy pick with slurs. The reason is that if you were to play a line that, say, contained 32 notes where you relied on slurring, then depending on which position you are playing, you will be governed by what's playable in that position. Hence if you played that line in 5 different positions, then it sounds different for every position. Now some of you may celebrate that - vive le difference!

But that is not controlled expression, because the guitar is playing you! if you get my drift. If you were to play the same line using double picking, you could, if you wanted to, play with the same dynamic expression in every position.
I'm probably not going to be a strict alternate picker, but I have renewed respect for it, and no longer think it leads to limited expression. On the contrary, when you have some control of it, your guitar playing can sound more compelling.
You find yourself listening to more piano players too...

wow this is a wonderful response. I have a lot of thoughts.

I love all your thoughts on why you’re leaning into the alternate picking.

I am a pretty big slurring guy, which I think comes from a masterclass I went to with Scofield a really long time ago. I think I’m kind of fascinated with the idea because of what Paul mentioned with his accent patterns idea. Accenting the first of every four notes or something. That seems like a great way to practice an articulation, but with slurring it becomes really weird because a rhythmic pattern might be disrupted by a string crossing.

Scofield was talking about slurring into downbeats and just getting accustomed to slurring into every downbeat that isn’t disrupted by a string crossing, and I do that. But I’ve never really gotten a handle on what to do about other subdivisions (triplets, for example).

[rpjazzguitar]

It occurs to me that I may not know what a slur is, at least for this conversation.

Are we talking about sliding into a note from a fret or two lower?

Or are we talking about that line that goes over a bunch of notes in a chart to suggest that the notes be played smoothly?

Tommy Tedesco wrote about the slide -- he liked the sound of it on ballads and used it a lot.

The slur notation might be best reflected in notes on the same string if that's possible.

[pamosmusic]

It occurs to me that I may not know what a slur is, at least for this conversation.

Are we talking about sliding into a note from a fret or two lower?

Or are we talking about that line that goes over a bunch of notes in a chart to suggest that the notes be played smoothly?

Tommy Tedesco wrote about the slide -- he liked the sound of it on ballads and used it a lot.

The slur notation might be best reflected in notes on the same string if that's possible.

Ah right … so we’re talking about multiple notes with one attack.

a saxophone playing several notes with one breath, rather than tonguing individually. Singer with multiple pitches on one syllable.

For us that’s the bend, the slide, or most often the hammer-on or pull-off.

[pamosmusic]

The slur notation might be best reflected in notes on the same string if that's possible.

Yeah so this is the rub, right?

On other instruments, slurs and accent patterns are inseparable from rhythm and line shape, but we kind of by definition can’t slur over a string change. So it’s either completely reorganizing the left hand around that kind of thing, or it’s finding a way to approximate the effect.

I went to a masterclass with Scofield once and someone asked how all his weird stuff still sounds like just and he said anything sounds like jazz if you slur into downbeats and the person who asked was like “but you have string changes, so how do you even do that?” And he was like “I don’t know you just slur into everything you can and it sounds good enough”

and I’ve been kind of obsessed with this idea ever since.

[ccroft]

So... I think we're talking about articulation to include things other than picking every note? As opposed to articulate clear picking of every note? Selective application of 'articulate' articulation? Or are we just talking about playing squeaky clean?

I spent the first decades picking every note cleanly and AFAP (as fast as possible). Chasing Martino and DiMeola for EG. The last decade I've been working on giving my lines more shape thru the use of hammers, slides etc. That came about when I started playing more bop heads that were originally played on horn. I realized my hammer on/off technique was actually too inarticulate. Like...not right. I found something on youtube where a classical guy showed some exercises to improve it. There's a right way. As usual, very slow and controlled then building up speed. Helped me a ton.

Learn a head like Joy Spring and try to bring to it the same shape Clifford gives it. You'll learn a lot about articulation and how to apply it. Donna Lee? Your slurs and accents and such should be where they need to be to give it the right shape and bounce. (slow it way down and you'll find some of our gods aren't quite as articulate as they seem :-) Just for the record, I'm a crappy bop player, but what I learn there filters into everything.

Also, there's none in my life at the moment but if I knew some horn players now I'd ask them how they practice(d) it. They do different stuff than we do. I knew a guy that would set the nome way slow and play notes for like 4 or 6 seconds each. First time I heard it I was like "WTF are you doing man?" "Working on playing clean and giving every note a beginning, a middle and and end. A note sandwich." Can't really do that on guitar like them, but we can work on giving every phrase a beginning, middle and end.

So unlike Navdeep, I guess I've spent most of my life approximating horns. But that includes voice, since that's what they're approximating a lot of the time. If I had another lifetime ahead I'd start working on approximating piano...

[pamosmusic]

So... I think we're talking about articulation to include things other than picking every note? As opposed to articulate clear picking of every note? Selective application of 'articulate' articulation? Or are we just talking about playing squeaky clean?

Yeah, articulation meaning just “manner of attack.” Picking, slurring, glissando, accent patterns, dynamics, etc.

Learn a head like Joy Spring and try to bring to it the same shape Clifford gives it. You'll learn a lot about articulation and how to apply it. Donna Lee? Your slurs and accents and such should be where they need to be to give it the right shape and bounce.

Yeah this is a great exercise. I’ve been playing my bebop heads in a few different positions so that string crossings fall in different places, so that’s a useful challenge.

So unlike Navdeep, I guess I've spent most of my life approximating horns.

Maaaaan me too. Ive been asking horn players how they articulate triplets and it’s always just a “depends” kind of thing. My theory is that those things are such a part of their practice that they have the same kind of agility with them that I have with maybe the notes of a major scale or something. So they make those decisions on the fly maybe?

I’ve been having a running conversation with a trumpet player friend of mine and he’s been sending me Arban’s exercises he likes. Not sure if anything will be transferable but ????

[rpjazzguitar]

I don't recall thinking about it much when I was a young player. When I studied with Warren Nunes (who I'd heard of, but never heard when I signed up) it was clear that Warren had an unusual attack and a detailed approach to achieving it. Later still, I realized that Metheny's approach was completely different. And so on.

Now, when I play a tune I just imagine how I'd like it to sound and I try to play that, using whatever technique that gets closest. The main thing I think about it how to make it sound emotional. A lot of that is in choice of tone, picking intensity, volume (I play with my foot on a volume pedal at all times so I can play hard with the pedal pulled back, or gently with the pedal down - to vary the sound), slides, sustain, choking a note and letting the reverb carry it, palm muting, stacatto, legato, picking near the neck vs the bridge, choosing the right octave and switching if that works and whatever other tricks I can think of. Position matters too, but I rarely pick it by sound quality -- because usually there's a more compelling reason to play at the 8th fret on the E string rather then the 13th fret on the B string or something like that.

I think all this allows you to personalize your sound.