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Just curious if you guys play open strings or not when playing. If the open string is a chordal tones, do you play it then? Also should one avoid open strings when arranging chord melody? With open string I mean playing for instance the d string using it as a d note.
How is the quality on tone on the open strings, compared to the fretted?
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10-05-2023 07:19 PM
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Open strings are going to give you a resonance that a fretted string will not,so i always try to use them especially when playing chord melody.
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Depends on the music. If you're comping in a staccato style, the open strings ring too much.
But, in a ballad or other better situation, they can be the best thing to play.
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For chord melody (God i hate that term) i use em any chance i can.
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I use them whenever they're available, if you don't need to fret a note you'll have an extra finger available, so you can add an extension, embellish, or whatever.
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One really nice use is to let an open string sustain through a progression of 2 or 3 chords played “around” it. You have to fret meticulously to avoid damping it. A low string can be a pedal point, and a string in the middle of the chords adds continuity. A high harmonic adds a beautiful chime. I also like to use a harmonic on an open string, as part of a chord or as a sustained note through a change or two.
Last edited by nevershouldhavesoldit; 10-06-2023 at 09:04 AM.
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This stuff is cool. Definitely used in country too. Ringing out open strings as much as you can by refingering a scale/line.
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I see guys, very good info here. What makes you omit or play a string in certain chords? Like for instance if they double some notes?
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I don’t think about omitting or playing strings, just notes.
Originally Posted by jazzpazz
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Open strings are notes Originally Posted by pcjazz
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If you want a good book of arrangements that use open strings get The Brazilian Masters by Brian Hodel.For me,every tune is really well done and he does a great job of using open strings when he can.
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Bill Frisell’s playing is chock full of open strings (and harmonics). It is very tricky to keep them ringing while moving your fingers around.
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Open strings are part of guitar technique and vocabulary. Same with string bending. I use both a lot.
Guitarists are fortunate to have several ways to play a note.Last edited by Gilpy; 10-08-2023 at 12:12 PM.
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Great question, I can talk only about tunes. Originally Posted by jazzpazz
On 'Round Midnight I like playing Bb7 like this : Bb Ab D B E (B & E are open strings).
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Me, too. It sounds so...so...so...beginner-ish? juvenile? Does it really need to be differentiated from single-note? Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
I may be wrong, but I don't think piano players or classical guitarists use something to describe using chords in a solo. They just use chords in a solo and move on.
John Galich
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Well if chord melody is too beginner for you guys, you'd better get to improvising 4 part fugues like Bach. Wtf are you supposed to call it?
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Playing a song? That's what I call it.
The popularity of the term "chord melody" reflects the mechanical difficulty of playing guitar at a high level with bass line, chords and melody. Pianists cut their teeth doing exactly that and develop those skills from day one, which is why average pianists often tend to be better musicians than many "advanced" guitarists.
As Pat Martino points out in his discussions of the "nature of the guitar," the piano is linear and uses addition and subtraction, but the guitar is a matrix using multiplication. Things that are trivial on the piano can be fiendishly difficult and even impossible on the guitar.
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Inventing new ways to be uppity. Amazing. Getting mad at music terms.
It's also a distinction that's necessary to be able to refer to using words, you do know that don't you? Whether the melody is single note or has harmony accompanying it.
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peter Bernstein makes very creative use of open strings. Just digging into it atm Originally Posted by jazzpazz
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I prefer the term ‘solo guitar’
chord melody for me suggests strumming block chords as an arrangement of a tune. Can sound great but it’s just one way of doing it.
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Great discussion. As someone above said, open strings are part of what makes the guitar what it is (along with bending, harmonics, strumming, etc.). It’s not a piano nor is it a horn.
Open strings are useful in a variety of ways. When working up a solo guitar arrangement, I look at the possibility for open strings as melody notes, pedal tones, chord tones, extensions, and so forth. For example, the open B string can be a minor 3rd, major 7th, flat 9th, etc. For me it can be fun to experiment with counter-intuitive ways to use open strings, for example how to fit in the open B or E strings into an Eb or an Ab key center. So it works both ways, in that you can think of the open string as part of a chord, or find a way to fit it in when it’s not.
There’s also the use of open strings for ad-libbing on a tune. Some players are very good at working open strings into their lines, but I’ve always found that clumsy. But I do use them for a kind of drone sound on occasion (think Gabor Szabo). It depends what you’re after.
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Jim Hall used to get his students, Bernstein, Chuck Loeb etc... to change keys on all their solo guitar things to make greater use of open strings. Look at "Up, Up and Away". I took some of my hippy friends to see him and Ron and Benny Aranov play, and when he used that drone for like 15 minutes, they were like, "Cool man, this is better than The Dead!"
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