Polyphonic Guitar

[Mark Kleinhaut]

our instrument is uniquely designed for polyphony, counterpoint, chordal stacks and multi-line designs. My hope is to continue to delve ever deeper.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

our instrument is uniquely designed for polyphony, counterpoint, chordal stacks and multi-line designs. My hope is to continue to delve ever deeper.

no disagreements?

[tbeltrans]

Dang! I am going to have to start stealing some of your ideas just as we would do from records. So I guess that means no disagreements.

Tony

[Vihar]

No disagreements.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

No disagreements.

cool, who is that?

[Vihar]

cool, who is that?

Thanks. It's me, Roland Czili.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Thanks. It's me, Roland Czili.

awesome!

[Vihar]

awesome!

Thank you very much, Mark! I've read that you were originally into prog rock and fusion. I find it very interesting that on the surface, your style is rather polished and straight ahead sounding, but it does have a couple avantgarde-ish elements.

I try to post an improvised piece daily.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Thank you very much, Mark! I've read that you were originally into prog rock and fusion. I find it very interesting that on the surface, your style is rather polished and straight ahead sounding, but it does have a couple avantgarde-ish elements.

I try to post an improvised piece daily.

my roots are very old. Time has changed everything! I too enjoy many hours of spontaneous composition. You pieces have a nice folksy vibe (perhaps the instrument) that is very accessible!

[ccroft]

Just wanted say I admire you guys making full use of the guitar. My loves in the late 60's were Miles, Trane and Martino. And then along comes Coryell, Johny Mac, etc, and always in a band situation.

I remember saying to a tenor player I used to work with "I wish my axe blew like yours." He said "Yeah? But you can play more than one note at a time."

Some 40 years later I'm working on that. Pushing 70 I feel like I need another lifetime to get anywhere near what Mark does so well. It's the multi note improv that just ties my head in knots, not to mention the fingers!

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Just wanted say I admire you guys making full use of the guitar. My loves in the late 60's were Miles, Trane and Martino. And then along comes Coryell, Johny Mac, etc, and always in a band situation.

I remember saying to a tenor player I used to work with "I wish my axe blew like yours." He said "Yeah? But you can play more than one note at a time."

Some 40 years later I'm working on that. Pushing 70 I feel like I need another lifetime to get anywhere near what Mark does so well. It's the multi note improv that just ties my head in knots, not to mention the fingers!

we came up in the same era (I’m 65) where guitar had sort of a dual mode function where (a) solo like a horn or (b) comp like a piano. Problem with this paradigm is guitar is hard to compete with either of those instruments which have intrinsic advantages for those roles in a band setting. I think thats why Joe pass blew us all away the first time we heard him solo. Then came Lenny Breau and some others and the sub genre has continued to evolve. Now when I play with bass and drums, I still have the multi voice thing wired in.

[NSJ]

This is an issue I’m grappling with: in comparison to the orchestra or piano (and, when asked about advice to play the guitar, Segovia simply said, “listen to the orchestra” Meaning: we can emulate sections of the orchestra-strings, brass-woodwind-with our own little lap piano) we have to truncate proceedings in order to exercise polyphonic voices moving at the same time; some times, it’s an optical illusion, a sleight of hand (usually the right hand) that makes it possible.

But we have one HUGE advantage, as a stringed instrument, that a piano can never perform: a kind of true expression, slides, ornamentation, slurs, that, not only attempt to emulate the human voice, but can play, without even the use of a gadget or pedal, truly expressive forms of music like Indian Carnatic and Hindustani music. We can emulate the sweras-gamaks, meads, etc., just by mastering slides, pull-offs and hammer-ons.

I want both worlds: to be as big as an orchestra, to be as intimate the human voice; to express polyphony, moving voices, and counter point of the even-tempered Western chromatic scale, while, at the same time, get into the crevices the 16 note scale of Indian classical music.

A tall order. But we only have one life. The bad news: we will eventually die. But death only ones one time. In the interim, we live every day.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

This is an issue I’m grappling with: in comparison to the orchestra or piano (and, when asked about advice to play the guitar, Segovia simply said, “listen to the orchestra” Meaning: we can emulate sections of the orchestra-strings, brass-woodwind-with our own little lap piano) we have to truncate proceedings in order to exercise polyphonic voices moving at the same time; some times, it’s an optical illusion, a sleight of hand (usually the right hand) that makes it possible.

But we have one HUGE advantage, as a stringed instrument, that a piano can never perform: a kind of true expression, slides, ornamentation, slurs, that, not only attempt to emulate the human voice, but can play, without even the use of a gadget or pedal, truly expressive forms of music like Indian Carnatic and Hindustani music. We can emulate the sweras-gamaks, meads, etc., just by mastering slides, pull-offs and hammer-ons.

I want both worlds: to be as big as an orchestra, to be as intimate the human voice; to express polyphony, moving voices, and counter point of the even-tempered Western chromatic scale, while, at the same time, get into the crevices the 16 note scale of Indian classical music.

A tall order. But we only have one life. The bad news: we will eventually die. But death only ones one time. In the interim, we live every day.

Truly beautiful thoughts about what it really means to be a guitarist. I’ve always felt exactly what you’re saying but only in the last few years when all my attention has gone into solo playing have these things begun to actualize for me. Above all, every instruments has its own strengths one can play toward, and you’ve nailed it in your description!

[Vihar]

my roots are very old. Time has changed everything! I too enjoy many hours of spontaneous composition.

Please keep posting them, even your wildest ideas!

You pieces have a nice folksy vibe (perhaps the instrument) that is very accessible!

Thank you Mark.

Interestingly, the Martin Orchestra Model my Cort is modeled after was used frequently in western swing. You can see it on the right, in the hands of one of the guitar players in Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys:

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Some interesting discussions a bit back.