Guitar Terms I Don Know, What are they? |
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May 9 2007, 07:37 PM
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This will be long for a first post
 "Ghost note" is a rather vague term that guitarists use to describe one of two things: 1. A non-accented (very) softly played note (usually among other, more accented notes) 2. Various types of harmonics, or, more commonly, muted "scratches" They tend to be written in tabs with parentheses around the sounding note - but note that parentheses are also used sometimes to indicate that this part is not played every time the riff appears (such as, it's played in the first verse, not in the second, then again in the third). An octave is the interval (distance) of 12 semitones (which corresponds to 12 frets). Historically, it's called an octave (octo = eight) because this difference also corresponds to 8 notes in the "standard" scales/modes, such as the major (dorian) scale, the minor scales (but note: not the pentatonic scale )8va ("ottava") written above note lines means that you should play it an octave higher than it's written. If it's written below the note line, you play the notes an octave lower than written. 15ma ("quindicesima") means play two octaves above. 15 rather than 16, because when we've reached an octave (8 notes), there's only 7 notes left until the next octave (because we don't count the 8th note twice). Acciaccaturas and appoggiaturas (also known as "grace notes") are "ornaments" - i.e., they tend to be not regarded as part of the melody, but rather "decorations" of it. Appoggiaturas are such ornaments - they're written (in musical notation) as small versions of the note you're supposed to play, and usually bound with a grace to the note following them (look below for pics). They should last as long as the note they're written as, taking the time from the following note, i.e., they're played on the beat of the following note. So, if you had a quarter note appoggiatura followed by a half note, you'd play the appoggiatura as a quarter note, followed by the actual half note - except there would only be a quarter note's time left, so that's how long the half note would last when you play it... Essentially, you could write such a melody with "standard" notes - the appoggiatura just signifies that melodically, this note is less significant than the following and in theory just suspends the following note. It's very hard to explain, as Yngwie would say Lots of baroque music ends with a figure like this: 4/4: - C2 | F2 E2 | [E2] F1 (4 = quarter note, 1 = whole note) ... played like: 4/4: - C2 | F2 E2 | E2 F2 The [E4] might be an appoggiatura, and in this case it signifies that melodically it's really there to suspend the following F1, it's not "really" a part of the melody, which might as well sound like: 4/4: - C2 | F2 E2 | F1 (sorry for the non-standard notation, I'm not so used to tabs  )Example of how they look in musical notation here (the small sixteenth notes in the first line): http://www.freehandmusic.com/preview/750x4...Y/SHBWV988I.png If you look in the very last bar, the last 5 notes are actually the figure I described above (although in a different key, and with shorter notes). Acciaccaturas are similar, but shorter and much less significant. They're written somewhat like appoggiaturas - still smaller than other notes, and still with the grace line to the following note - except they're mostly written as eigth notes (with the "flag" on the stem) which are "crossed out" with a line. Theoretically, they last "no time", they're very short notes played right before the following note, sometimes on the beat of the following note (and taking their share of duration from it), sometimes before it (taking their share of duration from the previous note). Depends on playing style etc. EDIT to give an example: The first two notes of the solo in Comfortably Numb (although muted) could be written as acciaccaturas - very short notes, which aren't really part of the solo melody, but just lead up to it. http://www.guitarpeople.com/classical/standardnotation9.gif The first note in that image is an acciaccatura. A fermata (I think you mean) is a half circle with a dot inside written above and/or below a note line to indicate that the note should be held longer than it's written (and longer than there's "room" for in the bar). It's often found at the end of a piece of music. How long to hold it is usually up to you, but when in doubt, twice as long is the standard That's how it's used these days, at least. In "the old days" it was just a sign that a musical phrase had ended, and it was time for the singer/wind player to breathe (or the guitar player to relax his fingers for a bit) Staccato, Rvddps already explained quite succinctly Phew. Hope this helps EDIT: And yes, if you play ---0-----12----, that would be a jump of an octave, and 1 - 13, 2 - 14, 3 - 15. And, of course: D --------------------------2----- A ----7---------8----------------- E --0---------1----------0-------- All three are octaves. This post has been edited by Kaneda: May 9 2007, 08:46 PM |
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May 10 2007, 12:50 AM
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QUOTE (wheeler @ May 9 2007, 03:46 PM)  20 years of classical piano + that post = Kaneda (hopefully) posting extensively on the theory board. Great post, it's good to see people putting that much effort into helping someone out with their question. Yes indeed - Its great to see the theory side of things coming alive, looking forward to more posts from you Kaneda!
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Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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But I suppose I should learn how to. As for scales and what not I am not too familiar with them except the one scale that Andrew did in caged I made a riff off of that and it sounded a lot better then when I just normally jam around. I have guitar pro 5 so it shows me the scales and I try to remember the general shape of it. Thank you for helping and is there any good sites to learn how to read music?
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May 14 2007, 01:45 PM
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QUOTE (Kaneda @ May 14 2007, 02:21 AM) I've never stumbled on any that were really good - and written for guitarists. I was considering adding a lesson to the theory board on the basics (or rather, "everything you need") of musical notation, but I know Andrew is thinking of doing such a lesson already - which I'm sure will be as accurate and understandable as all his stuff (which is to say, totally accurate and very understandable )Thanks Kaneda, and yes, due to a couple of other queries, I will be doing a lesson on music notation next, stay tuned and look for it in the next few days! -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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